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.