Post 1: Observations – Taylor Munro

Site Visit
The date visited is May 23, 2022 at 5:45 PM. The site that I chose to observe is a riparian zone at Centennial Park in my city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The zone is located beside the Current River that runs through the park.

Weather Conditions
Weather conditions were a mix of sun and cloud at approx. 15°C.

Physical Description of Study Area
Centennial Park is a large park area in Thunder Bay with many recreational trails throughout. The main trails follow The Current River, which is a larger river that runs through the park and has a very rocky bottom/sides. The rock is specifically shale rock throughout.

The river has an extremely high level this spring as the city of Thunder Bay has experienced above average snowfalls and spring rain events. Historically, this is the highest the river has been in over 100 years.

Approximate Size/Location
The approximate size of the study area is 20 m2.

Vegetation
Many trees native to Northern Ontario can be found here such as balsam firs, birches, jack pine, white pine, black spruce, tamaracks, etc. On the rivers edge there is a small balsam fir and birch trees. Small shrubs that were observed in this area along the riparian zone included Beaked hazelnut and red osier dogwood.

Further up from this area on a hill  facing away from sun exposure, there were strawberry plants beginning to grow and 1 other small plant sprouting that I could not yet identify (will have to come back and ID in later weeks!).

Finally, on top of the sloped area there is a tree stump with many turkey tail mushrooms growing on it. Half of the stump is in sun exposure and the other half is in the shade with mushrooms growing in both environments.

Animals/Birds
Animals seen in the area included an American red squirrel (very common to the area) and birds seen in the area included a robin and chickadee (also very common).

Questions

1. What is the unknown plant growing on the side of the ridge? Is it a riparian plant?
2. Will there be a difference in the turkey tails in the sun exposure vs. the turkey tails in the shade?
3. Will soil erosion be obvious on the banks of the river from the high water level or will the shrubs present protect from soil erosion?