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Item Embargo An Ecological and Recreational Assessment of Jay State ForestJay State Forest encompasses 7,535 acres along Vermont's northern Green Mountains, and this assessment, based on fieldwork conducted in summer 2024, provides ecological and recreational data to support a Long-Range Management Plan produced by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Jay State Forest contains diverse natural communities influenced by elevation, geology, hydrology, and climate, including boreal talus woodlands, seepage forests, and a sweet gale shoreline swamp. Over 88% of natural communities found in the state forest are considered state significant. Jay State Forest also serves as critical wildlife habitat and a migration corridor for species like moose, black bear, and migratory birds. Its boreal forests and wetlands support snowshoe hare, beavers, amphibians, and numerous breeding songbirds, including Bicknell's Thrush. The forest's elevation gradients may offer refugia for both terrestrial and aquatic species adapting to anticipated climate fluctuations. Recreational use includes hiking, skiing, hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling. Illegally cut backcountry skiing trails were mapped during this assessment, raising concerns about their ecological impacts. Management recommendations address invasive species control, public access improvements, potential ecological restoration efforts, and recreational impacts on sensitive habitats. Overall, this assessment will inform future planning to balance conservation and recreation across this ecologically significant landscape.Item Open Access Big Prairie and the Lost Grasslands of Northern Alabama and The Glades & Barrens, Woodlands, and Forests of the Cumberland EscarpmentNorthern Alabama and southern Tennessee do not strike many people as a place of grasslands. This region, however, known as the Eastern Highland Rim, was pivotal in the early years of the American cotton empire. Working with the Southeastern Grasslands Institute, I hypothesized that the plantation elite used the presence of grasslands to prioritize settlement of the Tennessee River Valley. Using witness tree analysis and archival research, I developed a map of the presettlement landscape of Madison and Limestone Counties, Alabama, showing a shifting matrix of prairie, savanna, woodland, and forest. I then used early land grant data to compare settlement patterns with those historic habitat types. The overlap between cotton settlement and grasslands has major implications for the near-total loss of north Alabama grasslands, both physically and in cultural memory. In part two, I move forward in time to the adjacent ecoregion of the Cumberland Escarpment, where small remnant barrens and glades still exist on the steep slope that joins the Eastern Highland Rim ecoregion with the Cumberland Plateau. In part because these barrens and glades are locked into a byzantine network of private hunting properties, they have never been systematically botanized nor described as a unique system. I accessed and systematically botanized these grasslands, along with the woodlands and forests surrounding them, to help characterize them. In total, 36 rare taxa were identified, including one tentative state record.Item Embargo Paired Phenological Monitoring and Climate Data in the White Mountains of New HampshireThis project piloted the establishment of phenology monitoring alongside weather stations on the Mount Washington Auto Road Vertical Profile (ARVP) to understand best practices and next steps for the creation of a long-term monitoring regime that pairs phenology data with measured climate data. Organized into three chapters, this report presents a detailed examination of data from the 2024 field season and additional AMC datasets as well as a reflection of the overall field season. Chapter 1 compares the air temperature data from a new type of in-situ data logger, the TMS units, and the weather stations, using statistical analyses and correlation measures to assess their interchangeability at the site level. While data from the two sources are often correlated, results from this chapter indicate more field testing is needed to better inform the use of TMS units. Chapter 2 explores the ARVP 2024 phenological data alongside AMC's larger phenology data set. This chapter focuses on the onset of open flowering and builds models showcasing how species vary in their phenology across elevation and temperature. It also compares gridded climate model temperatures (Daymet and PRISM) with in-situ measurements from weather stations or AMC's HOBO units, demonstrating differences in measured and modeled climate data that warrants further investigation. Finally, Chapter 3 offers a qualitative reflection on the 2024 season, summarizing key takeaways and providing recommendations for future work. These insights aim to guide the next steps for the AMC and to serve as a starting point for other conservation/research groups (USFS, state/federal land management, NGOs) that wish to set up similar monitoring along environmental gradients in the northeast and beyond.Item Open Access Monitoring the Common Raven in Yosemite National ParkThe common raven (Corvus corax) has expanded its population in many areas due to increased availability of anthropogenic resources. In Yosemite National Park, raven abundance has increased substantially since the 1960s, paralleling trends in human visitation and development. A 2010 study of ravens in Yosemite examined their status and foraging behavior, raising questions about their ecological impacts. Building on that study, we conducted transect point count surveys, foraging surveys, and focal-individual sampling during the summer of 2024 to assess raven abundance, distribution, and behavioral patterns throughout Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Ravens were significantly more abundant in high use frontcountry areas than in the backcountry, with Yosemite Valley supporting the greatest densities. Foraging surveys revealed complex behavioral interactions between ravens and humans, and found that ravens are more likely to be present at a site when there are humans actively eating. Focal-individual sampling of ravens found a strong association between ravens and human food, with 72% of observed successful foraging attempts involving anthropogenic food sources. Juvenile ravens spent a significantly higher proportion of time foraging than adults, while adults spent significantly more time resting. Comparisons with the 2010 surveys indicate that raven populations remain elevated compared to historical levels, reinforcing concerns regarding their potential impacts on native species. These findings highlight the importance of understanding human-raven interactions in conserved areas and suggest that management strategies addressing anthropogenic food sources may be necessary to mitigate potential ecological consequences of elevated raven populations in Yosemite National Park.Item Open Access 1. An Inventory Informed Forest Management Plan for Centennial Woods. 2. Trail Assessment and Recommendations for Centennial Woods Natural Area(2024)This is a two document thesis focused on Centennial Woods Natural Area in Burlington, Vermont. Part one is a Forest Management Plan generated after collecting forestry data from permanent monitoring plots in the Woods. The second is a trail assessment with recommendations. Both are based on field work that was completed in the Summer of 2023. These documents are geared towards land managers to aid them in making informed decisions for the land.
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