New Jersey Pine Barrens

 By Richard Primack

 

“The life in us is like the water in a river. It may rise this year higher than man has ever known it, and flood the parched uplands.” Henry David Thoreau in Walden.

 

The New Jersey Pine Barrens is a unique coastal ecosystem covering 1700 square miles in southern New Jersey, east of Philadelphia. The area is characterized by extensive stands of pine trees, sandy soils, and frequent ground fires. Due to its unique ecology, it is home to many unusual wildflowers. In recent decades, the region has become an important location for blueberry cultivation and a valuable source of fresh water.  

Photo 1: Stands of pine trees cover the region.

 

The region is also a premier site for canoeing and kayaking, such as on the Batsto River, a narrow brown-water river which winds through the Pine Barrens and is bordered by abundant wildflowers.

Photo 2: The Batsto River is great for canoeing. 

 

Photo 3: The water is strongly brown in color. 

 

Photo 4: Joe Pye weed and other wildflowers beautify the edges of the river. 

 

 

Bare Pond Maps

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“How little there is on an ordinary map! How little, I mean, that concerns the walker and lover of nature.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

Bare Pond, a large vernal pool in the Webster Woods in Newton, has many unique features, including being a spring breeding site for yellow spotted salamanders. Inspiring a “Save the Salamanders” rallying cry, this species helped generate public support for Newton to acquire the land containing the pond from Boston College.

I decided to examine the pond more carefully and systematically over the past 8 months. Even though I have enjoyed and investigated the Webster Woods for more than 60 years, I wondered if I had missed secrets the pond may be hiding. What would a detailed study of Bare Pond reveal to me? 

Using a measuring tape, compass, and flagging, I began my observations by mapping the outline of the water around Bare Pond on graph paper. 

Map 1: The map drawn with measuring tape and compass.

 

The whole wetland is irregularly shaped (like a dragon flying south, if you use your imagination). The pond’s open water covers about 44% of the wetland, and is about 61 yards long and 30 yards wide. 

Kris Cafaro was able to convert my messy pencil drawing into a colorful map with special features highlighted, such as a water-filled, rock-edged slot adjacent to a rock overlook, a peninsula that constricts the swamp in the south, and a 19^th century stone wall that forms the southwest border of the pond. 

Map 2: A map using a computer file and drawing tools.

 

Further refinements led to a final map with even more features included, such as paths and the bench. 

Map 3: The final map with additional features added. 

 

Using the map as a starting point, I made many other observations which I used to write an article about Bare Pond for the Newton Conservators newsletter: LINK

Dwarf Trees

 By Richard Primack

“The value of any experience is measured, of course, not by the amount of money, but the amount of development that we get out of it.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

The U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC has an outstanding collection of dwarf trees, shaped by decades of careful pruning and tending. In addition to a Japanese bonsai collection, there are also wonderful examples of Chinese penjing trees and bonsai trees produced by American experts.  

Three Chinese trees were especially notable:  

Photo 1: Trident maple (Acer buergerianum)

 

Photo 2: Dwarf umbrella tree (Schefflera arboricola)

 

Photo 3: Chinese elm (Ulmus parviflora)

 

 Three American bonsai were particularly striking:

Photo 4: Blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica)

Photo 5: Pitch pine (Pinus rigida)

 

Photo 6: Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis)

 

Museum Provides New Perspective on Diversity

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“It is remarkable that no pains is taken to teach children to distinguish colors. I am myself uncertain about the names of many.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

A trip to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC provides an opportunity to think about diversity in new ways. 

Small dioramas allow viewers to appreciate the ecosystems in which large dinosaurs and other extinct animals lived. And because these dioramas can be viewed from two sides, people looking in from the other side become part of the experience. This highlights the social component of scientific education. 

Photo 1: People viewing a dinosaur diorama.  

 

Photo 2: Herds of large animals grazing on ancient grasslands. 

The mineral exhibit showcases hundreds of different mineral types and their astonishing variation. While we often think about the great diversity of plant and animal life, there is also great variety in the non-living mineral world. Does this kind of diversity deserve protection in the same way we protect living species?

Photo 3: Purple minerals related to quartz. 

Photo 4: Pink, yellow, and orange sulfur-containing minerals. 

 

Photo 5: Blue, green, and gold minerals containing metals such as lead and copper.

 

 

Bare Pond in Summer

 By Richard B. Primack

 

 

“There is no plateau on which Nature rests in mid-summer, but she instantly commences the descent to winter.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

 

Bare Pond, a vernal pond in the Webster Woods in Newton, is a breeding site for yellow-spotted salamanders, wood frogs, and other amphibians. During the summer, the pond dries out completely. Over the course of the past eight months, I have been surveying the pond and taking various measurements to better understand its dynamic nature.  

 

Photo 1: Bare Pond dries out in summer. 

 

 

Photo 2: The depth of the pond can be measured using the water marks on the trees that grow in the pond. 

 

Photo 3: An aquatic moss, most likely the variable hook moss (Drepanocladus aduncus), grows on the ground of the dried out pond. 

  

Photo 4: An old stone wall, likely from the early 1800s, runs through the pond. 

 

 

 

 

China Friends Reunite

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“Treat your friends for what you know them to be – regard no surfaces. Consider not what they did, but what they intended.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

The City of Newton is planting the Amur Maackia, Maackia amurensis, as a street tree due to its compact size and attractive sprays of yellow flowers produced in summer. This tree is originally from China. 

 

Photo 1: A tree growing on the street in Newton.

 

Photo 2: Sprays of yellow Amur Maackia flowers. 

   

The sculpted resin bee, also known as the giant resin bee, is a new arrival from China as well, introduced into the U.S. as a pollinator. The resin bee is now the main flower visitor to the Maackia trees.

 

Two friends from China have found each other far from home!

 

Photo 3: Sculpted resin bee on Maackia flowers in Newton.

 

 

Rose Mallow Field Trip

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“Knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience.” Henry David Thoreau in A Week on the Concord and Merrrimack Rivers.

 

On August 1, I led a canoe trip upriver from Millennium Park in West Roxbury for the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) to view and learn about rose mallow flowers. At this time of the year, these plants are in full flower creating a wonderful display of their dessert-plate sized flowers. Plants vary dramatically in flower color, size, petal orientation, and presence or absence of a purple center creating an exciting opportunity for the curious plant lover.  

Photo 1: We traveled by canoe and kayak.

 

Photo 2: We landed on an island and viewed the variety of flowers on rose mallow plants.

 

Photo 3: I explained the floral morphology and showed the variety of flowers.

 

 

Photo 4: Emily Norton, Executive Director of the CRWA, and her staff explained the range of the organization’s activities.