Golden Gardens June 4th 2012

Environmental 280 Final

the exact point for my GPS coordinate was in the middle of the upper level parking lot at Golden Gardens, So I decided to survey the area up-slope of that point.

The area seemed to be a high traffic area, with many walking trails going from the parking lot, up the steep slope to the east. soil was very dry, with remnants of wood chips that used to cover area near parking lot. (In fact, there was a area within sight that had piles of wood-chips that I assume were meant to be spread on this area for maintenance soon).

Weather was low 50's, overcast, no recent precipitation.
The canopy of the area was dominated by Douglas fir and many big leaf maples. Underbrush edge is dominated by horsetail as well as budding Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy. A few feet away from the edge of the parking lot continuing inwards there can be seen Lady fern as well as Western sword ferns. several types of grass and are present, and difficult to identify. further in there were tall plants I could only identify as shrubs with alder-like leaves.

As an interesting note, the Himalayan Blackberry was at most only around 2-3 feet long; I attribute this lack of growth to constant maintenance by the park staff.

Overall the area seems to be dominated by fast growing species, no doubt due to the constant battery of disturbance of the area in order to keep the edges of the natural area from dominating the parking area.

Oddly, the only animal observed here were seagulls, off in the distance towards Puget Sound, and I didn't not see them, but instead only heard their calls. I suspect the lack of insects was due to the extremely low temperature.

Species encountered on this outing:
Douglas fir
Red Alder
Big Leaf Maple
Horsetail
English Ivy
Himalayan Blackberry
Pacific Trailing Blackberry
Western Swordfern

4 types of grasses
3 types of non-flowering shrubs

Posted on June 5, 2012 02:58 PM by jjensen