Take A Hike with the Library...
Hike Like an Ecologist at the Colchester Bog Natural Area
The 180-acre Colchester Bog Natural Area is located on a peninsula in Lake Champlain, just a few miles north of Burlington. It includes an open peatland, shrub and tree dominated swamps, a sand dune, and several adjacent uplands. The bog itself consists of a forest dominated by a dense thicket of shrubs and trees and an open mat of sphagnum moss and sedges. Learn about natural communities, the processes of flooding and erosion that shape them, and the many plants and animals that inhabit them. This trip will involve a moderate off-trail walk on flat ground that may be muddy or wet. Rubber boots or waterproof shoes are recommended. Registration is preferred but not required, please email Barbara Shatara at bshatara@burlingtonvt.gov Meeting place/parking: Airport Park in Colchester
Bob Zaino is the Natural Community Ecologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. In that role, he conducts inventories and assessments of natural communities, and the myriad species they comprise, across the state as part of the Department’s Natural Heritage Inventory. He applies that information to inform land management and conservation. Bob strives to connect people to nature, and to protect plants, animals, and wild places for the future. He is a co-author of the revised second edition of the book Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: A Guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and has a master’s degree from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program.
Meeting place/parking: Airport Park in Colchester
Location of hike: Colchester Bog Natural Area