I have been to Meadowbrook everyday for the past couple weeks. Upon walking there this afternoon I began to notice how familiar I am starting to feel with the 9- acre park. My focus has been on creating maps of the study area. I have created six maps in total. Each map focuses on a different element of the landscape. The first map is the Master Map, which served as the basis for the creation of the other five maps. On the center of each map at the crosshairs is my anchor point. From the anchor point there is a radius of 100 paces (500 ft.) in four directions; Magnetic North, South East and West. From those four points I determined the circumference of my study area.
The second map I created highlights all of the roads and trails in the study area. Most of the trails are cement and are carefully maintained by the city.
The third map, Vegetation, is only scratches the surface of the numerous plants and trees in the study area. Research for this map alone could have taken up the entire quarter. But for the sake of time, I chose only the highlights one may observe when they visit Meadowbrook for the first time. Identifying all of the plants and trees has been one of my biggest challenges in this course thus far. Plant identification has also been one of the most interesting aspects of this course as well.
The fourth map is a topographical map and it was created from the data I had gathered in the field and the USGS topo maps of the area that I found online.
Meadowbrook Pond is part of the Thornton Creek Watershed. The fifth map illustrates the hydrology of the study area. I have also done a significant amount of research on the entire watershed, which will be in another post and not shown on the hydro map.
The Soil and Rocks map illustrates the variation of the ground structure. Meadowbrook contains rocky areas, grassy meadows, and wetlands.
None of the six maps resembles a professional map, but they all serve their purpose for this course and for my future experiences at Meadowbrook.
This is very interesting Christian--nice work.
ReplyDeleteDo they have you create something of an 'emotional' map? I think this would be a fascinating overlay on the more technical representations you have in each of these. For example, what do you feel/sense in particular part of the park? At certain times of the day? Etc. etc.
Exactly what I'm working on. In fact, it's a huge part of the Kamana course. I am finishing up my field packs to send off to Dan C, and to share with the cohort at the residency. The emotional part has been the easiest and most important. I is about "feeling into" my area of study. I had a strange experience when I took my father there last week when he came to visit me. My dad started rattling off the names of plants that I have been trying to identify for weeks. I was explaining to him that there was alot of wildlife in the park. Since he and I lived in an area of Pennsylvania that was populated with alot of Blue Heron I thought I would point out to him that they are listed as part of the wildlife population, although I was yet to see one. We walked around the park for a while and the Heron was in the back of my mind still. On our way out at dusk, I Blue Heron came out of nowhere (the wetland area actually) very, very close to us, like 10 feet overhead. I jumped when I saw it. What huge birds they are.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I was trying to think about coyotes, but I couldn't seem to make one appear like the Heron. OK, I didn't MAKE the Heron appear. I 'm not that woo-woo, but it was a really cool experience regardless.