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 abril 7, 2023 09:06 TARDE por trscavo trscavo

Comentarios

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

Publicado por hollyyoung hace 12 meses

@hollyyoung any stories to tell?

Publicado por trscavo hace 12 meses

@cgbb2004 you knew him, right?

Publicado por trscavo hace 12 meses

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.

Publicado por hollyyoung hace 12 meses

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

Publicado por msundue hace 12 meses

@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.

Publicado por trscavo hace 12 meses

@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!

Publicado por msundue hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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.

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

Thanks Charlotte!

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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!

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

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.)

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

@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

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

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.

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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....)

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 11 meses

Thanks Charlotte! :-)

Publicado por trscavo hace 11 meses

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

Publicado por kwillard hace 8 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 8 meses

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

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

Publicado por raffib128 hace 6 meses

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!

Publicado por trscavo hace 6 meses

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.

Publicado por raffib128 hace 6 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 6 meses

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

Publicado por charlie hace 4 meses

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

Publicado por trscavo hace 4 meses

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

Publicado por hollyyoung hace 4 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.

Publicado por charlie hace 4 meses

Thanks Charlie!

Publicado por trscavo hace 4 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/

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 3 meses

@cgbb2004 thanks Charlotte!

Publicado por trscavo hace 3 meses

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

Publicado por cgbb2004 hace 3 meses

Agregar un comentario

Acceder o Crear una cuenta para agregar comentarios.