Huntley Meadows. A Palustrine Forest and Marsh Community Along Northern Virginia’s Eastern Fairfax County Coastal Plain.

On this field trip took place we explore an area along the coastal plain of Northern Virginia.  This area is known as Huntley Meadows, a wet lowland area remnant of geologic time when the Potomac River’s banks stretched further inland than where it is today.  The wetland area that is known as Huntley meadows has gone through several transformations naturally as well as anthropogenic. Nonetheless Huntley has rebounded into a freshwater wetland with some of the rarest habitats left in Fairfax County. 

At Huntley, we explored two wetland communities, a palustriane forest and a nontidal freshwater Marsh. Palustrine forests are defined as all nontidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, persistent emergent plants, or emergent mosses or lichens, as well as small, shallow open water ponds. Ponds were not obvious within the forest. There was, however, evidence of drainage and damp depresions where water had collected during the springtime rains. It is my understanding much of the water that flows through Huntley’s palustrine forest comes from episodic rainfall.

The most obvious features of the palustrine forest in comparison the to the marsh is the variety of  broadleaf, deciduous hardwoods. These included red maple, several types of oaks and hickories, and birch trees. Several of these species exhibit multi-trunking a feature typical of trees that live in hydric soils. A few species such as red maple and sycamore thrived within the ecotone of the two comunities.  Absent from the forest were dense shrubs or an understory layer.  The lack of  smaller trees or saplings and other lowlying shrubs may have been due to overgrazing by local deer populations.  On ther otherhand what was most numerous in density was Japense stiltweed, an extremely opportunistic and invasive herbaceous plant that carpeted the forest floor.

The transition between Forest and marsh is abrubt and the two communities are different physically and biologically.  The most obvious difference is there are very few trees or woody plants in the marsh and there is a more permanent body of stadning water. A Marsh is a wetland dominated by herbaceous or nonwoody plants that often develop in shallow ponds or depressions. The first clue we were entering the marsh was the lack of woody plants and tree canopy. Instead there was an open area rich in herbaceous flora, muddy sediments and shallow water.  Diversity in flora was greater in this community than the forested region.      

My Mom standing next to root ball of fallen tree

The area that is home to the two communities we focused on has been altered over the centuries by human occupation, but has always managed to rebound. Huntley Meadows is not just a static repository of the flora of flora and fauna, but an ecosystem rich in diversity that will continue to evolve though the ages.

Zone: Palustrine Forest Flora

Zone:  Palustrine Forest and Marsh Ecotone

Zone: Marsh

Zone: Palustrine Forest and Marsh (observed in both communities)

Mom standing next to root ball of fallen tree

Me holding a pair of spotted turtles I caught in a drain leading from forest into open wet area.

Eakin Park : Alluvial Forrest and Fresh Water Pond Community

Our second field trip led us to Eakin Park, located in east, central Fairfax County. Eakin Park is among several protected areas that collectively contribute to the Accotink Stream Valley Water Shed.  There are two different ecological communities within the park, an alluvial forrest and a fresh waterpPond, which were the focus of Friday’s excursion.  

An alluvial forest community is a type of wet land area that can be defined as a flat land area adjacent to a stream, composed of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits (alluvium), and subject to periodic inundation by a source of water, typically a stream. However, in the case with Eakin Park significant sized streams were not evident, but a small creek did exist. The entrance to the park appeared to be more open flood plain area with a random mix and dispersal of deciduous trees. 

The trees in this area were Sweet Gums, Red Maple, and a few varieties of oaks especially as we arrived closer to the edge between the open area and the start of the forest. Some of the more notable trees along the edge were Black Gum, Mockernut Hickory and again some oaks.  There were also several depressions filled with damp, dead and decaying leaf matter, and nothing else.  Since no flora was present, these depressions may indicate an ephemeral body of water or vernal pool existed in the not too distant past.

Much of the water that flows into Eakin is derived locally from runoff, direct rain fall, and from the creek that traverses the park. Frequent inundations of water in this low lying area contribute to a soil content rich in clay. The clay rich sub soil at Eakin forms what is known as gleyed or hydric soils. This type of soil retains water easily. The water retaining properties of the hydric soil and the overflow and the transport of nutrient rich sediments from flooding in the region helps to perpetuate a diversity of deciduous hardwood and herbaceous plants. In one area of the park the soil retains water so well that a freshwater pond community has become established along with flora distinctly different than what we observed in the alluvial forest community. 

Marsh Merigold?

The main feature of a fresh water pond community is obviously the fresh water pond.

There are several ways to describe a Freshwater Pond.  Freshwater Ponds are ‘bodies of water where light penetrates to the bottom of the waterbody, or ‘bodies of water shallow enough for rooted water plants to grow throughout, or ‘bodies of water which lack wave action on the shoreline.   Unlike the flora found within the alluvial forest community which dominates Eakin Park, the pond had its own distinct flora.  These included mostly herbaceous plants of which broad leaf cat tails dominate.  Other types of herbaceous plants were red clover, common plantain, path rush, deadford pinks, and cat briar.  

Toad Eggs

Plant List Observed at Eakin Park

Spring Beauties

* Most dominant deciduous tree in alluvial forest community was Red Maple

** Most dominant plant in freshwater pond community

River birches are medium to large trees between 60-80 feet tall fully grown and are generally found in flood zone areas. They (especially the younger trees) can be distinguished by their reddish-gray, papery bark, and have triangular, short stalk, coarsely double toothed 3 inch leaves. 

Two characteristics that appealed to me about this tree was its bark and how the tree responds to living in a wet environment by growing multiple trunks.  My original thought when I saw trees like this was that they were diseased –especially looking at the bark. But I have since learned this is characteristics of the species, particularly with younger trees.    

Future filed trips might entail looking at the transition zones between these two different communities. It would be interesting to see if there were an abrubt transition in flora unique only to the transition area or perhaps some sort of gradual zonation of floral species separating the two communities.

Below is where we inserted into the creek in search of extinct 55 million year old giant clam fossils.  Accompanying me on this trip were my brother in law Andy and his son Ben.  The following pictures are posted not in sequence but do show the chronological order of how we entered the creek and made our way to the fossil site. 

Directions to site: 

Read more: Fossil Hunting in Maryland | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6311037_fossil-hunting-maryland.html#ixzz17SBiXPiM

Below Andy (foreground) and Ben treking into the creek looking to find the mother load of fossils that I promised them would be there

Below Profile view of the creek bank near where we inserted  into the creek showing the variuos sediment layers

Above A close up view of the ancient marine  sediment layers that forms part of the creek bank and bottom

Above Andy ventures further back into  the creek

Above Exposed clay bank and prehistoric sediments. All of those bumpy things on the creek bed are Giant Clams!!!

Below Andy and Ben examine the first of their finds.

Above and Below Andy and his son Ben have hit the mother load and are clearly happy at their discovery

Below a sample of the fossils we found. Shown here are some Ben’s finds an oyster and a giant clam mold fossil. Although there were quite an abundance of fossils only few examples were taken-no need to be greedy:)

Below more examples of extinct giant clams and an oyster fossil recovered by Andy

Above photo is the Survey Team Representing the Virginia Herpetoligical Society

 http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety

The road leading into the Refuge

 Memebers of the Virginia Herpetological Scoiety conducted a Reptile and Amphibian Survey of Mason Neck Park duringthe weekend of May 21-23.  We split up into teams to survey six predetermined areas of the park for its Herp fauna.  As part of team 6 I had the opportunity to trek through areas of the park that was otherwsie off limits to the general public. Our team did well finding the majority of different species as well as the most quantity of species.  Nothing unusual however was recorded for the first time and there were a lot of species previously recorded over the years that were not found.   

Our techniques for locating species were simple.  Find a designated area, fan out individually then look, listen and if possible capture then ID and confirm ID.  Our capturing technique utilize snake hooks, stump rippers, dip nets, our hands and tutrtle traps. None of the animals are harmed often the surveyer is from briars, insect bites, snake musking and occaisional bites (nonvenomous species). 

One of the two Mud turtles captured in our turtle traps.

Ventral shot of the same animal

Me holding an unexpected bycatch from our turtle traps. Last year snakeheads about the size of  an adult human index finger were caught with dip nets form the same ponds where this beast was captured. Had I known these guys were in the pond I may have thought twice about wading in to set the turtle traps.

Mouth of the notorious snakehead fish.

Cool shot of a Northern Water Snake cruising the wetland

Surprisingly didn’t see too many of these guys. Here I am holding an American toad found in the abandon road way.

Perhaps the most abundant snake caught by our team. Here Daniel holds one of two worm snakes found together in the same rotting log.

Presumably a nice juvenile five lined skink scurrying in between fallen logs.

One of the species I had hoped to find and we did. The ground skink, although common, is the smallest lizard we have in the region. The capture of this animal was a collaborative effort between Daniel and myself. Daniel spotted it and I caught it. I have only captured one other several years ago. They are super small and quick. Usually you hear them rustling in leaf litter but by the time you hear them they are already gone.  Fortunately for me this one chose to run through a sewer pipe where I was able to persue and capture it.

John Orr with a  spotted salamander.  Several were caught right at the start of our survey. Onoe of my favorite amphibians.

This was my first capture of the day.  A nice ribbon snake. Ribbon snakes were the third most abundant snake species we caught that day. All were caught in the vicinity of the inland wetland areas.

These green Frogs were everywhere. If you didn’t see them you certainly heard them. Their calls sound similar to a banjo pluck. Green frogs were one of the most common animals in the wet areas

The inland wet areas proved to be very productive for my searches. Here I am holding a recently captured Northern Warter Snake.

John Orr (Center), our official guide into the Refuge has located a very large Eastern Snapper. Unable to remove the animal from under a log he calls for reinforcements. Michael Gregory (right) and Daniel Michaleson (left) enter the swamp to assist.

On our way to set turtle traps, Mike and I stopped in the road to get a look at this hefty Eastern Snapping Turtle. Since the survey hadn’t officially kicked off yet we couldn’t

count this toward our species list.