Alex Palmer's Natural History Notes and Thoughts

Disclaimer:  The opinions and commentary expressed in this blog post are my own and therefore might not represent the views and policies of the Chesapeake Education, Arts & Research Society, the City of Greenbelt, or any affiliated organization or person.    In 1935, during the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration launched the "New Deal" initiative to revitalize America's economy by hiring the unemployed and putting them back to work building new infrastructure and restoring the environment.  One such project was for the federal government to build, construct, and maintain "New Deal Towns" which were intended to be a refreshing alternatives to the developing urban slums of that era.  Each of these planned communities would feature a town center with restaurants, stores, banks, a post office, and other amenities all within walking distance for each resident.  New Deal towns would be arranged into superblocks with rows of houses or apartments tha

Date:  11 July 2014 Time:  10am-2pm Location:   Flag Ponds Nature Park , Calvert County, Maryland, USA Weather:  85 degrees F, Sunny, 10% cloud cover, calm wind On Friday, July 11th I had the opportunity to participate in a habitat survey and exploration at Flag Ponds Nature Park, a protected natural area along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland.  The park features coastal plain forest, maritime forest, swamp forest, freshwater marsh (see Figure 1), sand dunes, beach, and shallow brackish tidal marshes.  The coastal plain forest is dominated by various oaks ( Quercus spp. ), Tulip Trees ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), and other overstory trees common to the Mid-Atlantic coastal plain.  The understory consists primarily of Spicebush ( Lindera benzion ), American Holly ( Ilex opaca ), Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ), and other small trees and shrubs.  Wet lowland areas consisted of red maple ( Acer rubrum ), lots and lots of pawpaw ( Asi