September 3rd, 2015
39 C, sunny, scattering of clouds, strong breeze
This past Thursday we visited Cliff Stephens Park, at 600 Fairwood Avenue in Clearwater, which acts as a recreational park for walking, running, biking, picnicking, and, primarily, disc golf. Over 40 acres, the park has a variety of ecosystem components, from an open grassy field to an extensive pond to areas shaded by groves of oaks. As our second off campus outing, our class developed the skills and experience needed to begin using important tools to measure and evaluate the surrounding environment.
The first tool we used was the densiomenter. Using that, we administered two separate density tests in different areas of trees, with our density from both tests averaging at 75%. This concentration of tree coverage is ideal for a recreation area because it allows for obstacles and shade while playing sports.
While sampling the pond, we used pH paper to determine the acidity of the water. Luckily for the man swimming in it, the pond is an 8 on the pH scale and has a turbidity of 16.5, well within safe levels.
In an open area consisting mostly of grass and clovers we used a trowel (small hand shovel) and the hand squeeze method to determine soil type, which we discovered was loam.
Along our transect line, we used D tape to determine the diameter of trees every few meters. The diameters ranged from 36 cm to 67 cm, with the average being 50 centimeters.
Using a cruz all to measure the basal area of surrounding trees, we discovered that 2/3 of the trees fit in the 5 to 10 point range, while only 1/3 were 20 or 40 points.
Overall, Cliff Stephens was a great place to experiment with our measuring skills and test out the instruments we will continuously use throughout this course. The park is a diverse and ideal place to preserve nature while also giving the public a chance to enjoy and appreciate their Floridian environment.
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