Our natural capital

When people travel to Washington, DC, one of the first things they will likely do is visit the museums, monuments, and restaurant-filled neighborhoods.   As a naturalist, my first instinct is to visit the parks and natural areas in any region I travel to.  Yet why would I try and go on a safari in the middle of Washington, DC?

Perhaps it may be surprising to know that our capital has a lot of natural capitol.  Natural capitol is any sort of natural resources that has some positive value.  For example, wetlands are usually abundant in natural capitol because the provide us with water filtration, are biologically diverse, act as a flood control mechanism, and they provide us with a source of recreation.  In Washington, DC, tidal wetlands with fresh water along the Potomac River provide a refuge for a diverse array of wildlife in a densely urban area (see photo A).  The Washington metro area is dotted with parks, trails, greenways (photo B), and freeway berms are often planted with a profusion of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.

Photo A:  Freshwater tidal wetland adjacent to the Potomac River as seen from Theodore Roosevelt Island.  George Washington Memorial Parkway.  Arlington, Virginia.  December 2012.

Photo B:  The Mount Vernon Trail, which runs between the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Potomac River, provides a scenic greenway for area residents living in a highly populated region.

In urban areas across the country, small naturalized areas provide an island of habitat for wildlife.  Even something as simple as an unmowed corner of a park or a floating log on a river (Photo C) can attract animals that one would not think to see in the city.  It may also be surprising to see natural flowing streams winding throughout the city, such as Rock Creek (shown in Photo D). 

Photo C:  A floating long near the Arlington Bridge in the middle of the Potomac River in Washington, DC attracts a flock of geese and ducks in an otherwise urban river corridor.  
 Photo D:  Rock Creek in Washington, DC. 

Our nation's capitol is a great place to explore nature.  Perhaps on your visit to this great city you could add a short hike or nature walk on your sightseeing list.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Windy City Cactus: Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus

Image
When you think of Chicago, you probably don't think of sand dunes, prairies, or large oak trees.  Yet despite Chicago being the third largest city in the United States and heavily impacted by urban sprawl and industrial blight, there remains thousands of acres of greenspace with wetlands, open woods, sandy beaches...and some rather surprising flora. The pictures below were not shot in Arizona nor in Southwest California, but were in fact taken at the 63rd street beach on a recently restored sand dune near Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois.  They are the eastern prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia humifusa ) . Figure 1:  Eastern prickly pear cactus, a native plant to the Chicago region and the only native cactus to the Great Lakes area.   The genus Opuntia is much more common out west where they have many different species, but in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions, the eastern prickly pear is the only native cactus.  It tends to be a little bit smaller than its western counterp
Read more

Natural Notes: Animals of the Night

Image
Are you a night owl?  If you're an Illinois wildlife species, than chances are, yes!  However, many animals besides owls are active at night.  In fact, the majority of wildlife species in Illinois are hunting, gathering mates, establishing territories, and moving about during the nighttime hours! A daytime walk on a trail through a forest preserve might yield some common wildlife sightings such as gray squirrels ( Sciurus carolinensis ) or sparrows.  Most animals that people see around Illinois are active during the day, or   diurnal.   Humans are a great example of a diurnal animal.   Other animals though are most active active at different times of the day (figure 1).  Late in the afternoon or early in the day, many folks encounter white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ).  Deer are a great example of a wildlife species that is crepuscular , or active at dawn or dusk. Figure 1:  In Illinois, most wildlife species are more active at certain times of the day.  For thos
Read more

Virginia Pineapple? The fascinating family of Bromeliaceae

Image
Who hasn't tried pineapple before?  It always seems to end up in fruit salads at family reunions, there's always someone in the crowed ordering "Hawain pizza", and the grocery stores always seem stocked full with showy pineapples displaying their rough-textured, compartmentalized skin with bizarre green leaves on top (Photo A).  To most people living in temperate regions such as most of the lower 48 United States, pineapples are nothing short of exotic and unusual - and not like anything we have growing in the wild on our landscape...or do we? Photo A:  A pineapple grows wild along a woodland edge in a tropical park in  Ecuador, South America. Pineapples are in the family Bromeliacea, which includes a large group of mostly tropical plants that are primarily  epiphytes - plants that grow on top of other plants (see photo B). Photo B: Bromiliads, shown in the center of this photo, are a common group of tropical epiphytes throughout rain forests and
Read more