We have spent 4 weeks getting to know our plot in Niquette Bay State Park, and, based on what we have learned, we would like to make a few points about managing this important landscape.
For all who use the park, education and a deeper understanding of the land and its processes are crucial. Finding new ways to inform visitors and engage them in opportunities to learn more about the ecology of the park would be good.
Also, it should be made aware that natural communities are sensitive to disturbance. With a network of trails crossing throughout these communities, extra care should be taken to assure their well-being. It is important to make it clear that hikers should stay on marked trails, so trails should be kept clearly marked and maintained.
The forests should be left to age, including any standing or fallen dead trees. Overall, the landscape should be very minimally disturbed, by visitors or management alike.
Human Impacts
Signs of humans on our hectare include the trail that leads through our plot. The sides of the trail have been worn down vegetatively by foot traffic and small bits of trash can be found occasionally. Another sign of humans are the rock walls found near the center of the plot. We decided that these walls are likely the remnants of old houses that may have been built here hundreds of years ago.
100 Years in the Future:
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| (1.) http://epa.gov/climatechange/science/future.html |
100 years from now, we predict that our hectare will look drastically different. The major contributor to this difference likely to be seen is climate change, and the push of warmer weather northward. The species that now thrive in our hectare will be pushed north with the changing temperatures and weather patterns and species that are now south of where our hectare currently is will replace them. Also with changes such as these come other changes, such as the widening distribution of harmful foreign insects, disease and invasives that may come from people who are traveling overseas. New species which have no native competitors will cause many more unforseen problems for not only New England forests, but potentially may be even more extensive (ex. Emerald Ash Borer)
Past Forest Conditions:
An important part of understanding our forest plot includes imagining how the landscape changes through time. Based on what we have learned in 4 labs at NBSP and class material, we can make an inference as to what the forest would have been like 400 years ago...
While villages of Native Americans were thriving along the shores of Lake Champlain, its discovery by Europeans had only just occurred 400 years ago, and European settlement was still decades away at that time. It seems likely that the particular spot where our forest plot is located on was old-growth forest at the time. A similar mix of species would likely be found 400 years ago on our plot, though in different composition as the forest would have much older trees present, changing the structure of the canopy, mid-story, and under-story of the forest. Similar wildlife would have occurred, with exceptions of exotic additions and extinct/extirpated subtractions.
Given that the site is near the lake and is frequented by wildlife, it is possible that the area was used by the Native Americans for hunting or fishing, but we have found no real evidence of this. Today the forest is relatively young, new growth. Certainly the landscape was deforested here not so long ago, but more recently than 400 years past. While the topography and structure of the soil makes farming very difficult on this spot, it is more likely that the area was used to pasture animals at the time it was cleared.
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To the right a map depicting the plant communities of our Site. The blue lines indicate the boundaries of our hectare. The red line shows the trail that runs through. The plant communities are depicted behind using a picture of Dry Oak-Hickory- Hophornbeam forest.
An important part of understanding our forest plot includes imagining how the landscape changes through time. Based on what we have learned in 4 labs at NBSP and class material, we can make an inference as to what the forest would have been like 400 years ago...
While villages of Native Americans were thriving along the shores of Lake Champlain, its discovery by Europeans had only just occurred 400 years ago, and European settlement was still decades away at that time. It seems likely that the particular spot where our forest plot is located on was old-growth forest at the time. A similar mix of species would likely be found 400 years ago on our plot, though in different composition as the forest would have much older trees present, changing the structure of the canopy, mid-story, and under-story of the forest. Similar wildlife would have occurred, with exceptions of exotic additions and extinct/extirpated subtractions.
Given that the site is near the lake and is frequented by wildlife, it is possible that the area was used by the Native Americans for hunting or fishing, but we have found no real evidence of this. Today the forest is relatively young, new growth. Certainly the landscape was deforested here not so long ago, but more recently than 400 years past. While the topography and structure of the soil makes farming very difficult on this spot, it is more likely that the area was used to pasture animals at the time it was cleared.
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| Shows the trails leading through our Site |
Works Cited:
1.) "Future Climate Change." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. http://epa.gov/climatechange/science/future.html
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