Week 1

Wednesday April 9
9-10am
Partly Sunny, 45 degrees Fahrenheit

My fellow classmates of ENVIR 280 and I were asked to pick a local green space to observe and document throughout this quarter, seeing as I live in the Ravenna neighborhood I saw no choice more fitting than Ravenna Park.  This park is a favorite local green space of mine, the small creek running through the ravine makes for a nice spot to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature despite being so close to the city, and the lush greenery reminds me of being in some of my favorite places in the state like the Hoh Rainforest.  Having grown up on the Olympic Peninsula in the town of Sequim, where the city was small and quiet and natural spaces were abundant, being close to this park is a nice and sometimes necessary escape for me when driving to the national parks or forests is not possible.  Being in nature was a central part of my childhood as my immediate and extended family largely live in rural places.  Walks in the woods with my dad and grandpa helped shape my love for the wilderness today and while I may live in the city my time in the outdoors is essential to my well being.  While I have never truly taken the time to make in depth documentation of my nature experiences I'm no stranger to going out in the wild.  I go hiking and camping as much as I can and love to take pictures to document these journeys, and in taking this class I'm excited to add another level of in depth observation to my outdoor experiences.

I decided to head down to Ravenna Park this morning for my first set of observations, I've often noticed that the songbirds are at their most active in the mornings and that the sounds of the city might be less intrusive on my nature walk this time of day.  At around 9:00am I found a nice spot to stand on top of a stump right next to Ravenna Creek at the bottom of the ravine and decided this would be an ideal place to observe my surroundings.  It was a lovely time of day which was only made more magical by the beautiful tweeting of a variety of songbirds up in the trees, and the gurgling of Ravenna Creek.  Around me I could see a variety of greenery, small trees, ferns, horsetails, and moss were all heavily present along the side of the creek.  The ground here was extremely saturated with water from the creek and the previous days rainfall making for rather muddy conditions, but nevertheless a variety of plant life flourished in this swampy environment.

Small trees laden with moss line creek side. 

A large group of common horsetails dot the nearby slopes of the ravine.

Lady ferns and other small green-leafed plants thriving in the saturated soil.

In the immediate square meter around the stump I stood on the ground was very wet and muddy, here I saw what I believe to be are a few small patches of lady ferns growing, next to some other small green-leafed plants.  Moss was also thriving on the other small stumps and downed branches in this small area, due to the high amount of water.  The plant life at the edge of the creek compared to the larger 50 square meter area higher up the ravine was certainly a bit different.  Instead of lady ferns I began to notice the western sword fern existed in much higher numbers, and that the small creek side trees (which I believe to be red alder) gave way to big leaf maples and other larger trees.  Even more noticeable were these bushes with small pink flowers that looked as if though they had just begun blooming, hopefully those will continue to emerge and present a more vibrant display in the weeks to come.  After walking around a bit more and looking at the plant life I also observed what appeared to be some emerging ferns which had yet to open up, and a large patch of skunk cabbage which smelled very strongly.

 Western sword ferns dominated the ground level plant life.

Large big leaf maples tower above the ravine.

Underdeveloped ferns in various stages of growth.

Small pink flowers added a nice touch of color to the surrounding greenery.

A large patch of skunk cabbage made itself known through its appearance and notorious smell.

As I left the park to head home and record my observations the sounds of songbirds continued to serenade me on my walk out of the ravine, although they could only be seen in the small dots jumping from tree to tree.  I look forward to returning to this place next week to see how things may have changed, and hope that next time I might be able to snap some pictures of these birds which provide the beautiful songs.