Green Mountain Audubon Center
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| Sugaring |
We visited the Green Mountain Audubon Center in mid-March. The weather was overcast with brief spurts of sunlight and the temperature hovered in the thirties. Upon walking into the wooded area around the Audubon Center we came upon the sugaring operation. There were many tapped maples with a simple bucket system for collection. The weather was still a little cold for much sap to be flowing but there was some slow dripping.
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| A beaver's unfinished business |
Beyond the sugaring operation was a young stand of hemlocks that stood in an area that beavers had previously cleared away. Past the hemlock grove was the beaver pond. There were about four dams along the waterway. The beaver home was located in the center of the top dam and there was much evidence of where the beavers had cleared the land out. In one of the ponds there were some salamanders found. They were moving sluggishly due to the cold weather. Following the beaver ponds we came upon a creek that eventually drained into the Huntington River. The creak had a mix of hardwoods around it.
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| The top of the beaver dam |
In the drainage area was evidence of some large ice flows. This area was in a sharp bend in the Huntington and collected many icebergs. In the area of the bend was a march area that had evidence of old beaver damns but had long since been overtaken with cattails and march grasses. After viewing the river we went along a higher path that took us through another area of succession. In the area the hemlocks were much larger since it was from an earlier time period. As we left the hemlock grove and headed towards the cars a light snow developed.
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| The creak that runs into the Huntington River |
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| An old beaver pond. |
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| Huntington River |
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| Some of the broken up ice flows |
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| Snowing on the sugaring trail. |
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