"Plot nine" is a 1 hectare square area of Niquette Bay State Park located just north of the Muhley Trail. The plot's location was selected within the general area to give the maximum coverage of different aspects of the landscape such as tree species diversity, changes in landscape and slope, and presence of different water features.
View Plot Nine in a larger map
View Plot Nine in a larger map
Walking along the trail, the site is distinguished by a steep drop off to the North and a large Eastern White Pine tree on the where the trail takes a sharp left hand turn. As you look out to the left from this tree, the land is incredibly flat, but looking right it drops off steeply towards a small brook. The slope rises again on the other side of the brook and continues to rise until sight of it is obscured by the forest cover.
The forest is mixed hardwood and conifer with a wide variety of woody species. In this way the sample plot is representative of the park as a whole, which is easily one of the most diverse places in Vermont, containing over 130 different tree species within its boundaries. The forest is two aged, meaning that there is a distinct canopy, with a lower sub-story of younger trees. The site contains mast (seed) producing trees such as Oaks, Basswood, and Beech, which will attract animals to the site, although most of these trees are not yet old enough to produce seed.
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| Map of plot 9 of Niquette Bay State Park withkey features marked. |
Getting off of the trail a little bit and up onto the hill on the other side of the stream gives a nice feeling of isolation without going far. Sitting on the hill you can watch people walking their dogs by on the path or listen for birds. Many of the trees in the plot are great for climbing, and the stream makes a fun obstacle to jump over or wade through as you make your way up the hill.
The information on this website was gathered over the course of four visits to the site during September and October of 2011 by members of the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Field work involved band mapping, plot sampling to determine density and volume of lumber on the site, digging a pit to look at the make up of the soil, and assessment of forest structure and wildlife habitat.
