Upland Forest Upland Forest “The Whistlin’ Highlanders”

Upland ForestUpland Forest “The Whistlin’ Highlanders”

Lookout Point

Woodpecker Hole:

As you walk the Hire’s trail, keep your eyes open

and you will encounter a rather unusual White Pine. It

contains a large rectangular hole about 4 by 8 inches and

about 8 feet above the ground, complements of a hungry

Pileated Woodpecker.

Intersection of Hires and Brook Trails:

As you approach the intersection of the Hire’s

and Brook trails, note that the two trails lead to two

distinctly different types of forest. The Brook Trail

enters a primarily coniferous region, while the Hires

Trail leads to a mainly deciduous region. The

coniferous region has a heavier canopy cover, which

means that the deciduous region is better-lit and more

conducive heavy ground foliage growth.

Flowers

The Lower Brook Trail:

After crossing the road, you will enter a

section of forest, which has no dominant tree type.

These trees aren’t primarily coniferous or deciduous,

but rather a mix of the two. The main trees you will

encounter are Maple (both sugar and red), Aspen,

Hemlock, Birch, and Ash. As you near the end of the

trail you will be met by a grove of beautiful

hemlocks, which provide perfect shade for a snack by

the river.

Lower Brook Trail

Working with RocksWorking with Rocks

This gully was cut through the land by the brook

An abandoned streambed and a waterfall along the Brook trail

Rocks in the brook and Laura standing by a tree

A curved tree shows that the land is moving and the tree is curving to keep up

with it

If you hear some bird calls, it could be any one of these birds:

• American Crow - Great Blue Heron

• Hermit Thrush - Red-Shouldered Hawk

• Black-Capped Chickadee - Northern Shrike

• Red-winged Blackbird - Tufted Titmouse

• Common Raven - Canada Warbler

• Mourning Dove - Bohemian Waxwing and many, many more…………..

Make sure you don’t step on these amphibians:

• Mud puppy

• Salamander

• Newt

• American toad

• Frogs (Green/Wood/Pickerel)

As you are walking along the trail, take notice of these various mammals:

• Deer

• Mice

• Squirrels (Grey/Red)

• Chipmunks

• Beavers

• Raccoons

• Skunks

We did a Biotic Index and found out that our brook is an exact 2.0!

The indicates that our Brook is very healthy!

Biotic Index Range

0 - 3.75 No Impairment3.76 - 6.5 Moderate Impairment> 6.5 Severe Impairment

MUSHROOMS

As you continue walking, take notice of the various fungi located alongside the trail…..

Scrambled Eggslime

Chroogomphus Tomentosus

Striptree Mushroom

They fear no Weevils!!!

Pete- a fine teacher, biologist, skull collector, and Mike Morwood’s mentor.

Pete has over 25 animal skulls. All took over 6 months to process from beginning to end.

Bill- don’t ever be on the team against Bill in ultimate frisbee. A wonderful teacher, funny guy, great van-rocker, and scrap materials scrounger.

Laura loves geology and loves teaching people about Vermont’s origins.

She enjoys snowboarding andloves to laugh with us.

She drove us everywhere and always made the trip fun and crazy!

Awesome Negative Pictures…..

Cont……