Site #1
The Shape of the Land
At 3:00PM September 24th 2009 I again surveyed the Stetson Woods Parking lot.  I’m here to see how much has changed, and to get a better sense of the terrain here.  The first change I noticed was that the weather was nicer than last week, with a light breeze and temperatures around 70 degrees.  The clouds were at places wispy and sometimes fluffy but left open vast patches of blue in the sky.  The animals in the area seemed to agree that this was a nicer time to be out since I was greeted by two squirrels at the northeastern corner of the woods.
This was not the only change, however; on the northern side a maple tree had begun to turn red and defoliate.  The branches hung over the parking lot and so covered both the dirt in the woods and asphalt of the parking with brilliant yellow-red leaves.  Giving a quick survey of the outer edges of the woods before I went in, I noticed that all of the plants in the woods appeared to be less lush than I’d seen in the previous week and visibility through the woods was easier than before.  As I entered, I got caught on a small thorn bush, not remembering sighting one my last trip.  I was glad that there was still no poison ivy.
But not everything had changed, as mosquitoes still managed to get me itching about 5 minutes after walking into the center of the woods.  The central depression in the woods still appeared to be quite hospitable to them.  The shape of the forest had not changed either; it was still a rough rectangle with the chapel facing (Southwest) edge descending quickly about 25 feet to a depression in the middle of the site from which the ground ascends slightly to the northeastern corner.  I imagined the general shaped to be that of a bowl missing some of its walls.
Using my front bicycle tire as a trundle wheel I walked my bike around the enclosed wooded area to test out my bowl idea.  After measuring out each of the sides, my previous estimate of the area as ¼ appears to be just right.  The north curb is 105 feet long, the northwest is 125, the southwest is 175 and the East is 140 (see map).  When looking at the map, however, the distances may not match up exactly with proper proportions because of the nature of the sloping terrain.  In paying closer attention to corners of the curbs which dictate the shape of the site I realized that my “bowl” had four definite corners and had unfortunately been damaged beyond appearing like any serving dish.  As a result, I drew an elevation map which should do a better job of describing what I cannot.
From the center of the southwestern edge, there is a break in the trees with a series of large dark colored rocks that serve as steps (but are clearly not man-made) down to the center of the woods.  Looking up from any near central position gives you an obscured view of the sky.  Occasionally it is small trees that block out the blue sky ten feet above your head, and sometimes it is the large trees growing towards the outer edges of the site that seriously obstruct the majority of the view.  The trees positioned on the highest edge by the Thompson Memorial Chapel always had some of their wide reaching branches in view.
Aside from the early leaves turning on one of the maples at my site and the slightly less coy animal life, little had changed but my own perception.  I now saw thorns and shape like I hadn’t before.  The terrain had not changed and the plants had changed little.  I realize now, all that had changed in the past week was the shape of my ideas.

Eric Outterson

December 4^th, 2009

Natural History of the Berkshires

4:30-6:00

I came into my site expecting little to have changed since I visited two weeks ago.  It was not the same, however.  The site has now been completely defoliated.  I don’t see any leaves left clinging to any branches.  I also no longer see the pretty pink sepals of the winged euonymus.  The entire site appeared desolate.  I did not hear any small mammals moving through the leaves, nor did I hear any birds chirping in these woods.

At the north end of the site, in the depression in the ground there is still a large puddle of standing water.  Using a stick, I measured the puddle’s depth to be about 8 inches deep.  After I disturbed the wet leafy mass immediately beneath the surface of the puddle, however, I noticed many small bubbles surface.  Since I did not smell anything, I assume it was not anaerobic decomposition.  Rather, I assume that it was very small amounts of air coming up to the surface.  It appears that drainage is very poor here, although movement from the surface to sub-surface may be slow.

I next moved begin examination the largest cottonwood tree at my site.  I guessed that the tree stood about 60 feet tall.  Precise measurements of width were 171 inches around.  This meant the tree had an approximate diameter of about 54 inches and a radius of 27 inches.  In this examination, I began to core the tree and slowly but surely bored almost all the way until the tree bark touched the handle of the corer.  I thought it was going to be a good haul, and it was.  I got far more than a tree core.  As soon as I pulled the tree core out of the tree a strong stream of water jetted out from the hole that I punched into the tree.  It was as about the size and strength of a garden hose for about one and a half minutes.  The volume that came out of the tree was truly astonishing.  The flow gradually slowed down to a trickle after about 6 minutes and remained trickling for the next twenty minutes.

Examining the core later I counted somewhere between 53 and 60 different growth rings.  The uncertainty is due to variable darkening of the wood, and losing small bits of core in the process of the removal.  Since the true radius should be approximately 27 inches, but I only extracted 20, I assumed the width growth to be about the same for every year, and estimate the tree to be between 73 and 83 years old.

Having examined my site in a historical context, I’ve come to see that the site had relatively thin tree cover around 1900 and very thick tree cover about 30 years later.  This makes the cottonwood presence make a lot of sense.  Typically Populus Deltoides likes to grow in areas with high light.  It seems possible that a cottonwood may have grown in around this time.

Looking into the future of this site, however, it seems as if the cottonwoods would not be a part of it.  All of the close by land on which trees might grow either already has cover, or is maintained for grass.  It seems unlikely that more new cottonwoods will spring up.  The trees that seem likely to continue on in the site are the maples there.  Since there are no white birch in the vicinity it seems unlikely that Williamstown’s primary first succession species will take hold there.  I see many small maples throughout this site, so I’m inclined to believe that as soon as one of the large cottonwoods or black locusts falls, there will be maple to takes its place.

The winged euonymus, buckthorn, barberry, wild garlic mustard, and dames rocket all make up a large portion of the ground cover, and seem unlikely to disappear.  I imagine that it we came back in 100 years we would see a more maple heavy forest with a mix of invasive exotics on the floor or the woods.  Ultimately, however, the future of the species at the Stetson Parking lot woods, will be entirely determined by what humans do with it.  Evidenced by the three large visible stumps in the woods, people have been culling the trees here for one reason or another.  There’s no reason to suspect anyone is going to stop now.

Eric Outterson

November 20^th, 2009

Natural History of the Berkshires

History

This week, I began an examination of the past which extended beyond the speculation of past visits to the Stetson parking lot woods.  It began with a visit to the college archives to see if I could get a better look at my site through aerial photographs over time.  Linda Hall greeted me at the elementary school and asked “Are you Eric Outterson?”

When I responded affirmatively, she promptly handed me a large box with many folders.  She told me, “In this box we have folders of most of the aerial photographs of the campus, and folders of photos of areas of the campus labeled by their location.”  I stared at the intimidating box, and decided that the only way to get through it was to start opening the folders.

In the aerial photographs box I found a large collection of photographs extending from the 1930’s onwards.  Unfortunately for me, most of the aerial photography was of campus icons like Thompson Memorial Chapel, Griffin Hall or West College.  The small patch of woods that now makes up my site is situated behind Thompson Memorial Chapel and Griffin Hall.  As a result, many of the angles on my site were not great.  Most were photographs which cropped out the trees.

Though there was a slightly larger timeframe in which I could see my site, from the limited set of photographs that remains, aerial and otherwise, I have approximately 3 windows of time in which I could see my site well.

These were around 1900, 1941 and 1962.  There was also one illustration from 1889.  In the illustration, there was a small stand of trees immediately behind griffin hall (labeled 16) and behind Goodrich (Old Goodrich).

Williamstown, Mass. Drawn and published by L. R. Burleigh. Burleigh Lith. Est.

Burleigh, L. R. 1853?-1923. (Lucien R.), Troy, N.Y., 1889.

In later photographs, like those from around 1900.  In this photo dating before 1902 (we know that it’s before 1902 because the chemistry annex which is visible in the photo was removed from griffin hall), there is a shot of where my site was taken potentially taken by amateur photographer Cyrus Morris Dodd.

You can see goats in the picture grazing on the large stretch of land that is now the lower Stetson parking lot.  To determine where the current Stetson parking lot woods is, one must be careful, because in 1904 Griffin Hall’s foundation was moved 100 feet northeast.  After estimating the 100 foot move, it seems that in my site, you can see a few trees but nothing very lush.  It’s hard for me to guess what they might be exactly

Looking ahead to 1941 it looks like there are more trees in the area that are my site.  It’s still difficult to identify any of them, but they do not look at all cultivated.

In photographs that follow, it seems that woods slowly gains more density even though the areas around it are always well cut by grasses and other things.

Between the founding of Williamstown in 1753 and the first visual evidence of the land being cleared in 1890, the trees were largely cleared.  I venture to guess that the trees were actually cleared much earlier, possibly around the 1830’s when Williamstown was at its agricultural land peak or in 1827 when Griffin Hall began construction.  After Griffin Hall’s construction, the land was largely cleared and used as pasture.

From 1900 onwards it seems the small number of trees increased quickly.  In photos of the Roeper center construction the stand of trees looks very thick, approximating what it looks like today.

Eric Outterson

November 13^th 2009

Natural History of the Berkshires

Video

I arrived to film excited and ready for anything.  In the early stages of winter, however, I shouldn’t have been surprised that the only creature I saw was a solitary squirrel trying to do his best to pack on the winter pounds before the real cold strikes.  It was still a nice day, however, at about 65 degrees with a light breeze.  As a set up my camera, the bells at the Thompson memorial chapel began to play and I began a closer examination of my site.

Between the beginning of November and November 13^th, the Stetson woods changed completely.  What was once a vibrant lot with thick grass, flower and shrub cover at the wood’s edge had thinned out to only bare trees.  The leaf cover in the woods, is thick and primarily composed of maple.  Now, the wood edges, previously overrun by small shrubby plants, are all clear.

The video of my site plays as follows:

0-12 seconds:

Southwest corner.

First looking east, then panning North.

Here we can begin to see the thinned out woods bordered by the low grasses for one to three feet to the curb.  The massive trees that we see are cottonwoods.

12-31 seconds:

Southeastern corner.

First face towards Thompson memorial chapel to the south and then face north to look at sidewalk bordering the Eastern side of the Stetson woods.

Here you can hear the bells!  Since the site is so close to the chapel, the bells are quite frequently a sound in the environment.  As the camera pans down to look at the eastern side of Stetson woods, you can see the distinct separation between the woods and the grassy area.

32-41 seconds:

Northeast corner at the bottom of the sidewalk.

Pan from facing South to West.

Again, still hearing the bells, you can get a better idea of the terrain, by looking at the steepness down the sidewalk.  Panning over to the cars, you can see the maple which hangs over them

42-46 seconds:

100 yards North of the site in the lower Stetson Parking lot woods.

You can see here the huge size of the cottonwoods in Stetson Forest.  Some of them extend higher than Thompson memorial Chapel itself.

47-58 seconds:

On the edge of the forest here, I spotted the only signs of animal life here right now.  This was a squirrel engaged in picking up in a few small nuts.  In addition to this squirrel I saw one other.

59-1:04 seconds:

In the center of the woods

Begins facing south, turns east.

The camera passes a sugar maple before settling on a three and a half foot wide cottonwood at the end.

1:05-1:10 seconds:

North of the Stetson woods in the parking lot, looking south.

These are stumps at the Northwestern corner of the lot indicating the lot was recently culled.  The stumps look relatively fresh, so I imagine that this happened less than five years ago.

1:11-1:33 seconds:

This is from a central point in the woods again, and begins by facing south and slowly turns west.

The schistose rocks that I panned provided a nice home for many small mammals like chipmunks, and skunks.  They also provided me with a nice staircase down into the Stetson Woods

1:34-1:47 seconds:

In the center of the woods, I scanned from the Northeast, (Stetson is in the background) to another huge cottonwood.

1:48-1:59 seconds:

Gives a wide view of the woods from the eastern central part of the woods, and then pans over to a car on the western edge.  The cars are so prevalent, that they too might as well be a natural feature.

6:30 – 7:30

Stetson Tastes

 

I came to the Stetson woods today with an appetite.  After a great cross country meet, and an exciting fight to ensure that our mascot did not fall into the hands of the treacherous Connecticut College cross country team I had worked up an appetite.  The sky was darkening quickly but it was only 55 degrees outside, so I got right to work as soon as I arrived.

Expecting very little taste-wise, I attempted the Norway maple leaves.  My intuition was right; these leaves simply tasted like bland lettuce leaves with no texture.  Moving on to sugar maple leaves I found no improvement.

In search of any leaf taste at all, I tasted a yellow, green and yellow-orange maple leaf to see if there was any difference.  There was none at all.  Continuing throughout the site to buckthorn, ash, dame’s rocket, multiflora rose, winged euonamous, japanese bayberry and several others I found nothing different in taste; the little differences came in texture only.  The wild garlic mustard was only different flavor.

Moving on to the berries that remained at the site I opened a buckthorn and tentatively licked the dark mass inside.  I immediately regretted it.  There was absolutely no sweetness, and a terrible unfamiliar aftertaste lingered for about 2 minutes.  I realized that at this time of year, there was a reason that these berries were the only left.  In the name of natural investigation, however, I soldiered on.  I tasted the Japanese Bayberry and damned my curiosity; these berries were awful too.  I looked to the only birch tree at my site in hopes of clearing my palette, but its lowest branches were decidedly out of reach.  My taste tests were over.  There was still more to examine beyond taste.

On the Northern end of my site a (approximately) five by fifteen foot pool of water formed.  The pool looked to be about 6 inches deep (roughly) at its deepest section and gradually shallowed at the edges.  Exact measurements were impossible though.  Just like the ground around the pool, the pool bottom was covered with a thick leaf layer.  Around the outside, I spotted a new fungi that I’ve since identified as the Coprinus comatus or the shaggy ink cap.  Wikipedia claims that it is a great edible mushroom and is even cultivated in China.  It’s just my luck that only thing I decided not to taste is in fact a delicacy.  Finishing my pond examination I noticed 4 slugs around the outside which I was unable to identify but were about an inch and half long, a pale beige/white in color with a mottled back.

Thinking back to my initial visit into this site, I do not remember many open spaces.  Now, however, it seemed as if much ground cover had been smothered by a layer of leaves and they would not emerge again until next year.  But not all openness,  was seasonal.  Of the maples on the southern side of Stetson, there were three rather large branches that had been partially separated from their tree.   In the center rested many black locust branches.

As I began to leave, it seemed the entire woods seemed to be thinning out in preparation for winter.  The berries that remained seemed at best bad-tasting and at worst, inedible.  But as I prepared to leave I saw signs that this wasn’t a barren site.  A small grey moth perched calmly on a late-blooming goldenrod, apparently probing it for something more tasteful than what I’d found.  Next to it, clung a small grub about 3/4 of an inch in length.  Giving this creature a closer look before I finally left, I picked it up.  It did not appreciate my offer of hospitality.  It quickly curled up, and excreted a huge volume of foul green liquid onto my hands.  Tasteless.

Eric Outterson

Hank Art

Natural History of the Berkshires

 

A Muted Woods

Thursday October 22, 2009

10:02PM-10:25PM

I came late in the evening with the hope of discovering a new creature in my site and a chance to document its call.  Unfortunately strong storm-like gusts blew cold wind and many leaves.  There were no bird calls tonight.  Using the digital recorder, I was unable to record the noise of anything but many rustling leaves.

I did, however, see a two foot long skunk cross my path.  On the stones of Stetson Wood’s southern hillside I spotted him, and he seemed completely unmindful of my presence.  While I was fairly sure that I blended in well, I was still concerned enough that I continued my examination of the Stetson Parking lot woods around the perimeter, away from the rock under which I saw him disappear.  Unfortunately, the skunk approached closer to the curb where I had been examining the largely maple leaf cover on the ground.

Even though I had not recorded any sounds, I was afraid that I might be able to record a scent, so I left with great haste.

Friday October 23, 2009

4:30PM-4:55PM

Returning again, it was still breezy and cold in mid 40’s.  The wind wasn’t as strong as Thursday but it was still cold.  Beginning my observation anew, I saw and heard at least five different red squirrels running about rustling the thick leaf cover.  Unfortunately, however, there were no birds chirping, and the loudest noise I recorded was leaf rustling.

To record noise, I decided that I would wait on one of the rocks, hunched over.  After about 15 minutes of sitting calmly on one of the large rocks in the middle of the Stetson woods, I saw a chipmunk scurry into a hole 30 feet to my left.  Over the next five minutes I saw his exact location from a bump upward in the leaf cover wherever he tunneled.  I could barely believe it, it was like a cartoon’s rendition of mole tunneling through the earth.

My musings on the matter, however, were interrupted by a startling and gruff “what are you doing down there?”  It was Chuck Roberts, assuming the worst of a boy crouched in the middle of the woods with a mysterious object in his hands.  I naively responded “I’m recording nature.”  Finally, however, I explained myself and he told me he’s seen raccoons down in Stetson woods too.  No audio recordings of any raccoons unfortunately, but given my trust in Chuck Roberts I’ll add them to the list of species in my woods.

Sunday October 25 2009

2:30PM-2:55PM

In another attempt to record sound I came back to try once more on a day with weather Friday’s.  I saw more red squirrels and chipmunks, but again I heard absolutely no birds.  I was again very disappointed and left with only leaves rustling on my recordings.

5:20PM-5:45PM

More leaves rustling…

Monday October 26, 2009

5:15PM-6:00PM

Monday was a little warmer at about 50 degrees with blue skies obscured only by wispy cirrus clouds.  Coming this time I was unable to hear any birds coming from my site.  The only noise I heard from birds came from crows outside the Stetson woods.  The only sounds I heard inside Stetson woods were from red squirrels that rustled the leaves.

Sounds aside, I noticed that over the past five days much of the highest parts of the trees had defoliated, and many more maples in my site gained a yellow hue.  Walking into the middle of my site I spotted several of the winged euonymus that had begun to turn red.  It was very striking, as in the middle of the woods, many of the small maples and white ash (I’m almost certain the trees I tried to identify before are white ash) had remained green.  The whole woods was experiencing fall from top to bottom, from outside to inside.

Leaving the Stetson Woods, I tried to walk quietly but crunched leaves loudly with every step.  I could not step making noise if I wanted to.  If only recording the sounds I wanted were quite as simple.

 

4:30PM

5:50PM

Losing the Forest for a Tree

I arrived today to again be greeted by the singularly grey sky.  It was a high thirty degree day and I noticed that the parking lot had more fallen leaves covering it than the week before.  It was clear now that summer truly had left.  On the twenty-second of September autumn officially began, but most of it had been punctuated with beautiful and warm days harkening back to summer.  This time, autumn finally had the bite of winter.

The Stetson Parking lot woods reflected that difference.  The entirety of the interior, and much of the exterior of the Stetson Parking lot woods was covered in a layer of loose fallen leaves.  The maple, black locust, birch and cottonwood leaves all provided an easy way for me to hear where all the small animals moved.   As a result I could hear almost every squirrel and chipmunk as they walked on the ground.  Next, as a surprise to me, I saw three red squirrels.  I almost mistook the first red squirrel for a grey juvenile at first, but after seeing a second climbing down a cottonwood I realized I’d just seen my first red squirrel on campus. Keeping tally for the next fifteen minutes, I spotted eight gray squirrels, eleven chipmunks but no more red squirrels.

During that time, all animal activity was high.  I also heard a number of different birdcalls bouncing from tree to tree.  I identified one as the yellow bellied sap sucker’s trademark falling call, and the other as the Least flycatcher.  The final birdcall I could identify was a simple crow’s caw.   Until 5:10 all of the animals were very loud and then suddenly all of the chirping and movement in the wood ended.

After the animals stopped, I set off in search of plants.  Many of the trees on the Southwestern side of the woods are of this one species I am currently incapable of accurately identifying.  This is thing I noticed was a type of tree I’ve been unable to identify due to the strange shape of the tree’s leaf.  I have been unable to find a similar leaf anywhere in the Audubon field guide or online.  It is a compound leaf, made up of three to seven leaves and they are oppositely arranged.  Strangely, however, each of the leaves appears to be shaped differently.  On the tree, the leaves appear to be afflicted with a small fungus which pokes many small holes in its surface.

Today, only four different trees in the Stetson Parking lot woods had colored leaves.  Each one of the three sugar maples and had turned a nice bright yellow.  The last tree, a Norway maple was had turned very deep reds and purples, and at some points remained green.  Upon closer examination, I realized that a branch had broken off.  The large broken arm of the tree looked very strange with red leaves.  The Norway maple does not belong with red leaves.

Interestingly, as the branches of this tree reach out, the bark on the trunk quickly becomes similar to that of the wild raspberry bush.  Where the branches thin out at the ends, they darken in color and gain a white waxy coating that may be rubbed off.   The bark on the larger trees does not have a waxy coating, but rather a thick, shallowly furrowed outside with a stippled surface.

When I finally had to leave, I suddenly realized that I had spent a high amount of my time absolutely fixated on discovering the identity of one tree in my site.  I could not believe that I had suddenly become a walking talking embodiment of not being able to see the forest for the trees.

 

Edit: (I’m pretty sure this is White Ash now)

Eric Outterson

Professor Hank Art

October 9, 2009

3:00 PM

4:10 PM

55ÂşF

The Familiar

I arrived at Stetson Woods today knowing exactly how to be prepared.  I quickly greeted a breeze-free mist and my ever faithful stratus companion. I told him, “I almost thought you wouldn’t come this week!”  Seattle’s weather seems to enjoy excursions to Stetson Woods exactly when I do.  Ignoring my anything but fair-weather friend, I stepped down into the damp soil where I encountered another acquaintance, a mosquito.  After making sure that there would be no bad blood between us I moved along, confident that I knew the neighborhood well.

An unfamiliar chipmunk, however, greeted me with a quiet “cheep” and quickly darted under one of the many large schist rocks that sit on the hillside near Thompson Chapel.

Eager to be better acquainted with this shy personality, I lowered a stick into his hiding spot, only to hear “cheep” from an adjacent rock.  He quickly darted out from under this rock and under scurried another.  I searched hard, but had no luck finding him. I followed the central swath of rocks and realized that for every visible surface rock, there were at least three or four concealed beneath thin leaf and soil cover. I could see why the chipmunk could escape from me so well.

With my friend gone, I had choice but to listen to see where he would turn up.  Unfortunately, all I could hear at first were noises caused by people; cars started up and passing pedestrians talked about missing Mountain Day.  Strangely, there wasn’t even a light breeze to ruffle the leaves in the trees.  For the next ten minutes the woods failed to produce sound.

I decided to take the time to dig in the dirt around the site.  I encountered many asymmetric leaves that appear to slippery elm, but I can’t seem to pinpoint the tree.  In combing the bramble for evidence of the tree location, however, I unearthed more signs of human influence.  Mosses and leaves had helped a large block of cement masquerade as another piece of schist.  I wondered if the Stetson woods were ever a drop site for used construction materials.

Suddenly, two successive bird calls interrupted those thoughts.  The first called from high in the canopy (with a quality of sound I thought similar to a crow) that started high and then dropped in pitch “Bee-ooo.”  The other had a similar falling sound made a “tcheeew, tcheeew” sound.  I thought I heard a third, but it was the familiar and (subjectively) cute “cheep” from a chipmunk I’d stepped near.

Aha!  I saw where he was this, time and I wasn’t going to let him get away without getting his picture!  Unfortunately, auto-focus only caught pictures of branches in his front before he disappeared by a tree stump.  Examining where he had disappeared I realized that the six to eight inch schist and decaying root system provided a perfect cover for the small mammal.  Using a small stick, I could reach straight easily two feet into a tunnel system..

Brushing off leaf cover in an 8 foot radius I was able to spot 3 different escape routes the chipmunk could have chosen.  The most prominent emerged beneath the roots of red maple on the southern edge of the site.  The hole initially appeared to be a modest two inches wide, as many leaves and thin roots obscured entrance.  Brushing them aside revealed a burrow 12-14 inches in diameter and at least 2 feet in depth with a few pill bugs, millipedes, and ants.

Suddenly, my ears ring from the four o’clock chapel chimes. I was ready to give up on this chipmunk when suddenly four crossed my path.  Two stopped face to face inches apart with the other two looking on.  As the chapel bells began to play an unfamiliar song, one fell, exposing its large white belly and then began to wiggle upright.  The upright chipmunk leaped onto the recently fallen one and three or four seconds later, they and their two companions scurry off.

As everything quieted down again, I was stunned.  My visit had begun with great predictability and quiet but ended with orchestrated scene.  The seemingly familiar Stetson Woods still has a lot left to show me.

October 1, 2009

Thursday 6:30 PM – 7:10 PM

I knew had a limited time to check out the woods because I saw the sun setting.   It was 50 degrees out and I had my head lamp just in case I wanted to stay a little later.  I was finally getting a better idea of how to mentally organize the plants I saw and I realized when I recognized a couple of plants at my site for the first time.  I spotted some winged-euonymus and multiflora rose growing in several places.  I also see a leaf in the shape of a pointed oval with serrated edges and a sandpapery roughness on top (I know I’ll have to take a sample to figure out what it is later).

In the midst of all of this, I see a brown moth, about 1 inch long.  I can’t identify it for certain, but I think I should return another time at night to see what else lurks when the sun is down.

October 2, 2009

Friday 3:29 PM – 4:33 PM

I arrived late this time, having to wake myself from a deep afternoon siesta.  Staying alert was difficult since a light rain had just fallen and sky was nothing but grey.  A few, inch high, brown mushrooms appear to perk up where I had previously seen none, but the moisture does not have the same effect on me.  I wonder, is the rain I smell really a smell, or is it really a lack of scent, all pollens and aromas to the ground in the precipitation?

Either way, I knew the mosquitoes could certainly smell me.  Be it my exhaled carbon dioxide or simply my movements, they knew I was nearby.  A large one landed on my jeans and I see it stands no chance of penetrating my denim.  It pauses beneath my left pocket, probing the small ripples in the fabric.  After about 7 seconds it seems to give up, but then moves down about 5 inches, and tries again.  Once again, it moves its proboscis to reach a gap with her supplemental iron.  I watch her systematically reach the bottom of my pant leg, hit my shoe, and begin coming up my leg 6 inches to the right, checking for gaps every 6-7 inches eventually reaching my shirt, following the same down, over, up, over… pattern again and again.  Unfortunately for this mosquito, its persistence ends with an interest in my face.   The same determination that suited her before, lands her on a soft spot atop my right cheek.  I swung my right hand onto my cheek, slapping myself and the mosquito, in the first of several injuries today.

The next occurred when I spiked my right hand on one the shrubby trees I saw in the interior.  It was one of a series of young black locust trees whose trunk spikes stick straight out about half an inch.  They also appear that they are growing very quickly; a small black locust has already begun to incorporate fallen branch into its bark.

The third injury came from one of the many multiflora roses who dot the interior of Stetson after which I literally tripped upon further evidence of past human activity.  Evidently, five of the small trees in the center of the lot stem from a single stump.  Following the branches out of the stump, I see a number of large leaves that resemble an ash, (I’ll return later and check out more).  Looking at the relatively (four or five years perhaps?) young growth of these trunk trees and the growth in the core of the site it seems as if people tried very hard to eradicate the growth in the middle of the Stetson.  I again wonder if this land once used for camping.

I think the site must have been ideal.  Wild garlic mustard dots the ground, and the scent reminds me of just the spices in its name.  A single solitary black birch marks a place next to the large (2-3 feet wide) rocks in a messy pile that sit on the southern side.  I can almost imagine a campfire in the low flat area in the center of the woods with hotdogs and birch beer.  You could sleep in the Northwestern quadrant on soft ground interrupted only be a few shistos rocks.  If no one had camped here before, then I would like to be the first.

Eric Outterson
Professor Hank Art
Natural History of the Berkshires
Site #1

The Shape of the Land

At 3:00PM September 24th 2009 I again surveyed the Stetson Woods Parking lot.  I’m here to see how much has changed, and to get a better sense of the terrain here.  The first change I noticed was that the weather was nicer than last week, with a light breeze and temperatures around 70 degrees.  The clouds were at places wispy and sometimes fluffy but left open vast patches of blue in the sky.  The animals in the area seemed to agree that this was a nicer time to be out since I was greeted by two squirrels at the northeastern corner of the woods.
This was not the only change, however; on the northern side a maple tree had begun to turn red and defoliate.  The branches hung over the parking lot and so covered both the dirt in the woods and asphalt of the parking with brilliant yellow-red leaves.  Giving a quick survey of the outer edges of the woods before I went in, I noticed that all of the plants in the woods appeared to be less lush than I’d seen in the previous week and visibility through the woods was easier than before.  As I entered, I got caught on a small thorn bush, not remembering sighting one my last trip.  I was glad that there was still no poison ivy.
But not everything had changed, as mosquitoes still managed to get me itching about 5 minutes after walking into the center of the woods.  The central depression in the woods still appeared to be quite hospitable to them.  The shape of the forest had not changed either; it was still a rough rectangle with the chapel facing (Southwest) edge descending quickly about 25 feet to a depression in the middle of the site from which the ground ascends slightly to the northeastern corner.  I imagined the general shaped to be that of a bowl missing some of its walls.

Using my front bicycle tire as a trundle wheel I walked my bike around the enclosed wooded area to test out my bowl idea.  After measuring out each of the sides, my previous estimate of the area as ¼ appears to be just right.  The north curb is 105 feet long, the northwest is 125, the southwest is 175 and the East is 140 (see map).  When looking at the map, however, the distances may not match up exactly with proper proportions because of the nature of the sloping terrain.  In paying closer attention to corners of the curbs which dictate the shape of the site I realized that my “bowl” had four definite corners and had unfortunately been damaged beyond appearing like any serving dish.  As a result, I drew an elevation map which should do a better job of describing what I cannot.

From the center of the southwestern edge, there is a break in the trees with a series of large dark colored rocks that serve as steps (but are clearly not man-made) down to the center of the woods.  Looking up from any near central position gives you an obscured view of the sky.  Occasionally it is small trees that block out the blue sky ten feet above your head, and sometimes it is the large trees growing towards the outer edges of the site that block most of your view.  But the trees positioned on the highest edge by the Thompson Memorial Chapel always had some of their wide reaching branches in view.
Aside from the early leaves turning on one of the maples at my site and the slightly less coy animal life, little had changed but my own perception.  I now saw thorns and shape like I hadn’t before.  The terrain had not changed and the plants had changed little.  I realize now, all that had really changed in the past week was the shape of my ideas.