Day 1 | July 9, 2018

Intro to Class + Hazards + Bedrock Geology

Our first day we’ll spend covering the different frameworks that we’ll use for the class, reviewing the syllabus, and going over the assignments for the course. We’ll head out into the field to look at bedrock in a couple of different places in the islands. We’ll visit a cave and see lots of fossils!! And of course we’ll talk about hazards of being in the field (like mosquitos, poison ivy, and ticks). I strongly suggest wearing a light long-sleeve layer and pants to keep away mosquitoes.

Location: We will meet at CCV in Winooski and then head to + Chazy Reef + Lamoille Cave (see map below for field sites)

Read for today:

• Natural History of Vermont Mountains by Nancy Bazilchuk (PDF)

Handouts:

• syllabus
• Tree ID (leaves .DOC)
• Poison Ivy
• Common Fossils

Assignments Due Today:

• Tourist Test
• Tree Species Profile (You will choose 2 species from this list to write profiles on; you will be presenting on one of them)

Other resources: As general references in natural history, the following are wonderful resources

• List of books by Naturalists
• Natural History Radio (BBC podcast)
• PBS Nature (weekly wildlife show)
• PBS Nova (weekly science show)
• Life on Terra (podcasts, short docs on lots of subjects)
• Neature (hilarious)

Day 2 | July 10, 2018

Soils + Hydrology

We’ll look today at the stuff pasted down on top of the bedrock: till, sands, silts, and clays.

Location: CCV Winooski, Casavant, East Woods,

Presentations for today:

• Quaking aspen
• Silver maple
• Red oak

Read for today:

• Read “The Laurentide Ice Sheet and its Significance (PDF)
• Ch 9 in Written in Stone by Chet Raymo (PDF)

Handouts:

• Soils

Online Resources

• Web Soil Survey
• VCGI (in particular the Interactive Map Viewer)
• ANR’s Geology Page (particularly the surficial geology map)

Week 3 | July 11, 2018

Trees + Natural Communities

Okay – so what grows on top of all those rocks and sands and silts and clays? And how do we identify them? Today we’ll focus on trees and how they serve as indicators of disturbances, soils, and water.

Location: LaPlatte River + Shelburne Bay

Presentations for today:

• Red cedar
• Hemlock
• Sycamore
• White cedar

Read for today:

• None

Help identifying trees

• iNaturalist.org (see where your tree grows)
• Sylvics of North America (help with ecology of your tree)
• Virginia Tech Tree ID (help with what your tree looks like)
• Tree ID with Donald Leopold (podcast)

Handouts:

• Tree ID (Leaves .DOC)
• Tree ID (Twigs PPT)
• Tree ID (Buds .PDF)

Day 4 | July 12, 2018

Natural Communities

Take all those trees and lump them together again and again and again and you’ve got yourself a natural community!

Resources

• VCGI (Natural Communities mapping program)
• Slow Water Movement + ANR mapping of natural communities (link)

Day 5 | July 13, 2018

Humans + Disturbance

Our last day together is here already!! We’ll look at human disturbances to tease out how humans influence natural landscapes and what plants thrive in these types of conditions. We’ll test out our landscape interpretation skills

Location: Centennial Woods on Patchen Rd (map)

Tree Species Presentations: 

• Norway maple
• Red maple
• White oak

Due Today:

• Natural History Checklist
• Awareness Activities Journal

Read for today:

•  1-24 in Time and Change in Vermont by Harold Meeks (PDF)

Suggested Readings about Abenaki and early history

• Voice of the Dawn: An autohistory of the Abenaki Nation by Frederick Wiseman
• The Original Vermonters by Haviland & Power
• The Story of Vermont: A natural and cultural history by Klyza & Trombulak
• Changes in the Land by William Cronon
• New England Forests Through Time by David Foster

Post-Class | July 20, 2018

Trees + Uplands

Well that just flew by. Okay – now it’s time to make this (even more) relevant. Your final write-up will be a site analysis of a site near and dear to your heart (and back door). Read the handout for the type of area you should select and what your write up should include.

Due July 20:

• Site Analysis

Examples (these are from previous classes; the site analysis assignment may have been different from the one you will be completing so use as a rough guide):

• Example #1
• Example #2