Natural areas in Vermont

Hubert “Hub” Vogelmann (1928–2013), a professor of botany at the University of Vermont for 36 years, wrote two booklets entitled Natural areas in Vermont, published in 1964 and 1969. In these two booklets, he documents dozens of specific natural areas, some of them well known but many of them completely unknown (at least to me). Vogelmann's intention was to make them better known to a broad audience so that they might become protected areas for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.

His lists of natural areas are amazing! In the coming months, I hope to visit some of the places he writes about. I'll record my experiences here, in my iNaturalist journal. Stay tuned!

  • Vogelmann, Hubert (1964). Natural areas in Vermont, Report No. 1. Vermont Resources Research Center, University of Vermont.
  • Vogelmann, Hubert (1969). Natural areas in Vermont, Report No. 2. Central Planning Office and Interagency Committee on Natural Resources. Montpelier, Vermont.

As noted in the comments, these booklets are available for in-library use at the Billings Library on the University of Vermont campus. My online notes briefly list the natural areas, their approximate locations, and a few other details.

Publicado el 07 de abril de 2023 a las 09:06 PM por trscavo trscavo

Comentarios

I took a class from him back in the 70s.

Anotado por hollyyoung hace más de un año

@hollyyoung any stories to tell?

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

@cgbb2004 you knew him, right?

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

Only that I wish I had been a more serious student. No stories to tell but it was the beginning of my interest in plants. He was a good teacher.

Anotado por hollyyoung hace más de un año

Do you have pdf copies of these reports that you can share ? It would be fun to revisit the sites and see how they have changed

Anotado por msundue hace más de un año

@msundue Hi Michael. Sorry, no, I do not have copies of these booklets. The Billings Library on the UVM campus has copies for in-library use only. However, I just now made my online notes public. Hope that helps.

Volgelmann gives GPS coordinates to the nearest minute of arc. In some cases, that is enough, but in most cases, the exact location he had in mind is unknown (to me). If you find one of his natural areas, please share location details. Thanks in advance.

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

@trscavo thanks for making your notes available! I will think about adding some of these to my agenda this field season. Did Vogelmann offer any other details in the booklets .e.g lists of species, or descriptions of the area? Or do your notes cover most of the content in the books? I am trying to decide if heading to Billings will be fruitful or if you have already shared what there is to know. Thanks!

Anotado por msundue hace más de un año

@msundue yes, Vogelmann gives much more detail, including a description of the area and a short list of species.

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

Hi @trscavo -- late to the game. I met him only that once years and years ago. It was probably on a Hardy Plant Club field trip; there were only about five of us. I just remember his knowledge and congenialiaty, energy, too. We were all disappointed not to find whatever rare plant we were looking forward but enjoyed his account of discovering the dugout canoe and subsequent radiocarbon dating.

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

Thanks Charlotte!

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

You're welcome, Tom @trscavo! And hah! I found the date of the trip, only about 22 years ago, August 25, 2001. I made no notes about any rare plants, so perhaps it was just a visit to introduce us to the H. Laurence Achilles Natural Area (after which I put three exclamation points -- Vogelmann must have emphasized that name :-)). He was delighted to tell us that the natural area was "now all protected except for a couple of little pieces" and that "close to 600 acres was saved." (I guess more has been saved since then?) He did talk quite a bit about the pond's size, varying depth, and sediments and told us that pollen analysis from sediments date back 7,000 years. He emphasized that the area is "extremely rich in artifacts," including campsites "all along Muddy Brook," documenting indigenous people's use of the pond for at least the last 5,000 or 6,000 years. He told us there's an area in Monkton where native people obtained stone for arrowheads. He went on to tell us about his discovery of the dugout canoe. I found this excellent article in the Vermont Archaeological Society newsletter: https://vtarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/1985-January-no-50-reduced.pdf. It contains a wealth of information about that canoe!

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

PS -- according to the VAS article, Dr. James Petersen's May 1984 report documents "over 8,000 years of nearly continuous use by aboriginal people." (Dr. Petersen was highly respected chair of UVM's anthropology department.)

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

Thanks @cgbb2004 I didn't realize the canoe had garnered so much attention.

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

Now you know -- yet another story behind the story :-)

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

@trscavo -- Hah! I'll give it a rest in a bit, but check out who wrote the VAS article on the canoe, and check out who the librarian is at the Billings Library, where you've been doing your research.... https://researchguides.uvm.edu/shelburne_pond#s-lg-box-5910035

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

I don't recognize the name on the VAS article, but the other name may be the librarian at Billings Library, I don't recall.

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

I think they're one and the same person (if you scroll down at the UVM link, you'll see a name and a photo....)

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

FYI, I visited the Billings Library (UVM) today and made some edits to the online notes.

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

These notes are superb! Thank you for making these notes, and thank you for sharing!

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace más de un año

Thanks Charlotte! :-)

Anotado por trscavo hace más de un año

Nice. I grew up in Newport, Vermont. Moose bog was my favorite place.

Anotado por kwillard hace cerca de un año

@kwillard Moose bog is one my favorite places too. I wonder why Vogelmann didn't include it in his report?

Anotado por trscavo hace cerca de un año

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164890488160

Is this the same thing? Report one is dated '71 and 2 is dated '69.

Anotado por raffib128 hace cerca de un año

Yes, that's it! Report 1 was first published in 1964 but apparently this is a corrected version published in 1971. That's even better!

@raffib128 you should definitely jump on this opportunity!

Anotado por trscavo hace cerca de un año

I did jump on it; I'm turning into a bit of a collector! :)

I wonder if it's something I could turn into a pdf with the proper permissions. It doesn't appear copyrighted.

Anotado por raffib128 hace cerca de un año

If you did put a PDF copy online, it would become a very popular download, I'm sure!

Anotado por trscavo hace cerca de un año

This is very neat. I met Hub briefly at my grad school graduation since I was in the Field Naturalist Program which he started. I also have been to a lot of these places. What a fun project to revisit them. Most of them also remain as State Significant Natural Communities tracked by Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory

Anotado por charlie hace 11 meses

@charlie what is a State Significant Natural Community and where do I find a list of them? Thanks!

Anotado por trscavo hace 11 meses

Thanks Charlie! I didn't know about this inventory. I looked it up on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website.

Anotado por hollyyoung hace 10 meses

the best way to see them is to go here:

http://anrmaps.vermont.gov/websites/anra5/

go to Fish and Wildlife, expand that selection, choose 'Significant Natural Communities'. It should tell you the wetland type and also there is a link you can't access if you aren't a state employee, but you can potentially ask Natural Heritage Inventory for more information on them.

Anotado por charlie hace 10 meses

Thanks Charlie!

Anotado por trscavo hace 10 meses

@trscavo -- I came across this when looking for something else Bryan Pfeiffer (another treasure of the naturalist world) wrote: https://bryanpfeiffer.com/2013/10/12/hub-vogelmann/

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace 9 meses

@cgbb2004 thanks Charlotte!

Anotado por trscavo hace 9 meses

@trscavo -- you are welcome, Tom. (I edited my comment to fix the pronoun! :-))

Anotado por cgbb2004 hace 9 meses

Añade un comentario

Entra o Regístrate para añadir comentarios