Category: Out in the Woods

Out In The Woods

Vernal pool at the McKeon Reserve Photo: K. McKeon The Big Night By Kevin McKeon, Director, Mousam Way Land Trust About 370 million years ago, the first animals crawled out of the oceans to live on land. Known as amphibians (two lives), they still require water for part of their life cycle, and later develop lungs and legs for their life on land. They are also cold-blooded and assume a body temperature equal to their surrounding environment - warming themselves by…

Out in the Woods

Melting snow cover reveals the tunnels used by the critters in the Subnivean Zone Photo: Kevin McKeon Warming Temps Expose Survival Tunnels By Kevin McKeon, Director, Mousam Way Land Trust There are many ways that forest critters handle winter’s cold. Some, in fact, rely on snow cover for survival. In our area we can sometimes see slithery, tunnel-like and bumpy shapes on top of spring’s melting snow, as shown in the photo taken on a McKeon Reserve trail. These were…

Out In The Woods – Stone Walls Tell Stories

Like wall wardens of old, Steve Mallon inspects a wall forming the boundary between Springvale and Lebanon Photo: Kevin McKeon By Kevin McKeon, Director, Mousam Way Land Trust Earth was born in a fiery blazing tempest 4.5 billion years ago, molten lava forming a bubbling, red-hot ocean. Heavy metals sank, forming a solid inner core of iron and a liquid outer core, surrounded by an enormous pliable rock mantle. Gasses boiled up forming a primal, noxious atmosphere holding almost all…

Out in the Woods

Rotting stumps, stilted roots and various mosses and lichen decorate the forest floor along Sanford’s trails. Photos: Kevin McKeon  Stilted Roots Create a Forest Mosaic  By Kevin McKeon, Director, Mousam Way Land Trust  While you’re out enjoying Sanford’s beautiful trails, you’ll occasionally catch sight of stilted or “prop” roots at the base of a tree. This growth happens when a seed falls on a rotting piece of wood covered with moss, which makes an inviting place for the seed to germinate.…

Out in the Woods

Rock Tripe on Vigue Trail near Deering Pond  Photos: Kevin McKeon   Lettuce-like Rock Tripe is Edible, Barely  By Kevin McKeon, director, Mousam Way Land Trust  The trails around Deering Pond hold many interesting plants. One, seen covering many large, old rocks and outcrops of granite, is a type of lichen called rock tripe. Part of its botanical name comes from the Latin umbilicus, meaning navel. This is where another common name, navel lichen, comes from and describes how these lichens…