Blog Post #5 - Gold Park
On my field trip to Gold Park with Isa and our classmates, I observed a beautiful Paper Birch tree (Betula papyrifera). Its leaves were already mostly yellow in color and its bark was peeling papery sheets. This was my first trip inside the park, although I have walked and driven past it on many occasions. I was surprised by how a small simple local park could have so much variety of plants, trees and shrubs.For such a quick walk, I felt it was perfect for a quick outing to study local plant life, and being so close to the college helps also. I enjoyed seeing the Salmonberry Fern, which I didn't previously know was a fern. The park seemed to me to be very typical of forested parks in the Pacific Northwest, as I recall seeing many of the same plants and trees at other local parks.
On my trip to Gold Park with Michele, I observed the Salmonberry Fern and the Bigleaf Maple Tree. The salmonberry, Rubus Spectabilis, had alternating and roughly triangular leaves, long stems with thorns, flowers and berries. The salmonberry has yellow and reddish berries that are edible. The Bigleaf maple tree, Acer Macrophyllum, had broad and simple 5-lobed maple leaves, a tall trunk, and brown bark. The "Bigleaf maple carries a greater load of mosses and other plants than any other tree species in our region" (Pojar 45).Questions:
1) There was a nest in one of the trees, and I am curious if anyone might know what type of bird might have nested there.
2) With the park being so close to major streets and businesses, how can we help protect the ecology system from urban pollution, and does urban pollution impact the park itself?
Works Cited
Mathews, Daniel, "Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains", Timber Press Field Guide, 2016
Pojar, Jim and MacKinnon, Andy, "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast", Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 2014
I'm surprised to see something so official! It never occurred to me that we should a works cited for this trip. I love the photograph you two used of your birch. We saw one near the entrance of the park, but we were unable to decide if it was a paper birch or one of three or so different species. In the end we decided to skip it and found something we were more confident in. I sort of regret it now looking at that photo.
ReplyDeleteHi Michele and Isa,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you in that I have driven by this park hundreds of times, but never realized that it was actually a public park that had so many diverse plants. I am glad that we got too observe and research in a local park right by us to see many of the plants and trees that are native to Western Washington.
I like how you said that the plants are like many others you had seen at other local parks, because we were talking about how being able to identify them has really opened our eyes to really taking in what's around us! Also I had no idea that the Bracken fern has an edible shoot called the fiddlehead, that's really interesting! It was definitely great that it was so close to the college, yet there were so many plants to identify and study.
ReplyDelete