Semester 2 #4

Since the last time I visited my site, all of the snow has melted, and the ground is fully visible again. All of the plants that got buried in the snow are dry and dead, and there were around 50-75 new knotweed sprouts. There were a few ostrich ferns starting to grow, but other than that there weren’t really any living plants other than the old trees that have been there since the fall. When I first visited my site, there were many maple sprouts and a lot of living grass. I never noticed any knotweed, but I may have just overlooked it. When I visited this past week, I somehow ended up in the wrong spot (oops…) which is probably why I noticed a lot of differences, but I could imagine that the plants at my actual site aren’t exactly thriving right now after the winter either. The water also seems to be a little higher at this time of the year since all the snow finally melted. This year, I have become familiar with the bridge near my site that connects two gaps over a little waterfall, along with a tree that splits the path in two right before reaching my spot. I consider myself to be a part of this place, and I think visiting Salmon Hole multiple times throughout the year really helped me develop a sense of belonging in nature and in Vermont. I noticed that the birds were coming back out, seeing a few gulls and hearing robins and chickadees.