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The Pulse of Burlington's Wild Green Heart
May/June 2020
Special Issue No. 13
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A Letter from Dan & Alicia
Burlington naturals areas are awash in spring. In this special issue, find new ways to explore our wilds and revisit people's favorite stories from previous issues. Meet your local woodland wildflowers, learn how to tell frog calls apart, see the cute selfies that wildlife have taken in our Burlington forests, and keep an eye out for peregrine falcons on Rock Point cliffs. We hope that you can find ways for our open spaces and the nature in them to safely support and bolster your physical and mental wellness during this time of social distancing and sheltering near home.
How else can you engage in outdoor activities in Burlington? Play spring bingo with kids--you can even include some online players by sharing bingo cards with them. Below is a link to six different cards to share. Go on a self guided wildflower walk in Ethan Allen Park. Help us create a Phenology Clock for Burlington. Become a Vermont Master Naturalist. Start planting native plants in your yard and garden for pollinators.
We hope to see you (from a safe distance) in the woods,
Alicia Daniel Field Naturalist, BPRW Dan Cahill, Land Steward, BPRW |
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Spring Wildflowers, Frogs Calling, Wildlife in Our Parks, and the Return of Peregrine Falcons
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| | Red Trillium |
Guided Wildflower Walk at
Ethan Allen Park
Spring woodland wildflowers race to leaf out, flower, and bear fruit before the leaves on the trees shade them out. Join BPRW Field Naturalist, Alicia Daniel, as she takes you on a wildflower walk in Ethan Allen Park on the new Burlington Wildway Trail. She will inspire you to go out and see these lovely flowers for yourself!
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| | Northern Leopard Frog |
How to Listen to Frogs
Spring is a time when frogs and toads who have slept frozen underground come out to mate. Who is calling in our ponds and pools? Whether you are walking at the north end of North Beach or sitting near the wetlands in the Intervale, here is a guide on how to tell frog and toad sounds apart.
Click here to read the article by Heather Fitzgerald
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| | Raccoon in Arms Forest |
Tracking Burlington Wildlife Using Trail Cameras
Trail cameras set up around Burlington have created a window into the world of wildlife. Meet Gustave Sexauer and see some of the amazing wildlife photos taken in the Wildways of Burlington. Find out who is hunting, playing, and finding mates and shelter in our wild places. The answers may surprise you!
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| | Peregrine Falcon |
Peregrine Falcons return to
Rock Point Cliffs
Peregrines are considered a fairly common species today, but our parents' generation would have seen them as quite rare. Their presence is a living reminder of the ability for conservation to make a real and lasting impact on the biology and beauty of our Burlington landscapes.
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Vermont Master Naturalist BTV Program
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| | | Photo: Monica Erhart | |
Become a Vermont Master Naturalist: Application for 2020-2021
Do you love nature? Do you care about protecting what is special about Vermont? Are you curious? Do you like being part of a community of learners? If your answers are "Yes!" you now have a chance to become a Vermont Master Naturalist. VMN builds community and connects Vermonters to their place through professional training and volunteer projects. |
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| | Conservation E-Bike |
The Conservation Team Goes Green with E-Bikes and Trikes
If you see a strange orange contraption on the bike path this spring, you aren't hallucinating--it's the Conservation Team's new electronic freight trike! With pedals, a dumping bed, and a battery assist for moving heavy loads, our new trikes are more sustainable and nimbler than using large trucks for bike path and natural area maintenance. For narrower trails and additional efficiency, we are also using two new e-bikes to help our team get around with less fuel.
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| | Wildways Interactive Map |
Burlington Wildways Launches New Website: New Natural Areas Maps, and More
Burlington Wildways is a partnership that connects and protects the wild places and paths of Burlington, Vermont. The new websites features trail maps of the wild places in Burlington. People are finding refuge in the natural areas in Burlington and now they can find their way around, too, by showing their location on the mobile map. Check it out!
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| | Ethan Tapper |
Meet Ethan Tapper, Chittenden County Forester
Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester, has been leading lots of workshops, webinars, and Q&A's over virtual platforms. These programs focus on forests, forestry, wildlife, tree identification, and how to be a good steward of Vermont's forested landscape, and are all free and open to all. You can find the recordings of Ethan's programs, in addition to short information videos on the same topics, on the Chittenden County Forester YouTube Channel. You can learn about future events that Ethan is doing, in addition to related events, by emailing him at [email protected] and asking to be added to his email list.
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| | Common Mergansers at Rock Point |
Burlington Seasons Clock Updates The Burlington Wildways phenology project, known as the Burlington Seasons Clock 2020 Project, is taking off! Help us track when species are present in Burlington by documenting what you see using iNaturalist.org or their app. So far we have over 200 observations of our focus species and we are drawing the updates on the clock twice a month! Join our project here or learn more about it on the BPRW and Burlington Wildways webpages.
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Spring Bingo
Get outside and play bingo with BPRW! Split up the six cards with mixed up layouts with your family and see who can find five things in a row first!
Burlington Seasons Clock Project 2020
Burlington Geographic, Burlington Wildways, Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, and Burlington City and Lake Semester invite you to help us create a phenology clock: a seasonal clock of the natural world.
Kid's Week Activities
Vermont Master Naturalist Resource Library
Bryan Pfeiffer's Viral Spring Blog
Branch Out Burlington
Burlington Permaculture
BTV Conservation News edited by Alicia Daniel, Gustave Sexauer, and Dan Cahill
Banner Photo: Eastern Skunk Cabbage at Pomerleau Forest, BPRW
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