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Natural
Resources Inventory 400+ Acres
Study Area
Howard County, MD 4/10/07 Mark
Burchick
Abby and I performed
reconnaissance work
for an upcoming
detailed
environmental study
to be performed in
late May of the is
year. We walked and
classified all of
the various
wetlands/waters on
the property. The
land included an
open pond (with SAV
and FAV), extensive
littoral marsh (soft
rush/woolgrass),
scrub/shrub
buttonbush/alder
swamp, forested
streams and seeps.
The wetland
shrub chokeberry
(Aronia) was at
peak flower,
with numerous
plants being
observed on the
bench of slopes,
at the wetlands
edge. This shrub
was commonly
found with
highbush
blueberry, which
was also coming
into flower, and
sweet
pepperbush.
A close-up of
chokeberry in
bloom.
We found several
patches of
trailing arbutus
on the warm
sunny, sandy
slopes mixed
with lowbush
blueberry. This
is about the
time for arbutus
to flower, but
we did not see
any.
False hellebore
was intermixed
with skunk
cabbage and its
roots are very
poisonous. A few
bites of
hellebore root
and you will be
meeting your
maker in no time
flat. We found
dozens of
freshwater
mussels in the
nearby stream,
and I was quite
surprised how
far geese would
go into the
interior of the
wetland forest
to feed on young
and tender
grasses. We
flushed several
birds that
panicked and
were not at all
graceful in
their attempts
to fly thru the
woods to escape.
We documented
two areas of
swamp thicket
that were
saturated with
braided stream
channels and
thick with
buttonbush,
smooth alder and
Virginia
whitegrass. I'm
sure as the
growing season
progresses,
other aspect
dominants
including
numerous
flowering herbs
will fill in.
These thickets
contained large
amounts of an
epiphyte
(Spanish moss)
that I do not
usually see
until southern
Virginia and
then points
further south.
Our native
bluets were
coming into
flower and were
refreshing to
see.
We performed a
creel study in
the open water
to determine the
status of
fisheries. Our
May work will
require the
review of rare
species of both
plants and/or
animals, with
part of today's
work determining
research plots
for herps. I
caught this
two-pounder on
my second cast.
Other than
sunfish as a
youngster, this
was the first
largemouth bass
Abby has ever
caught. She said
it fought like a
monster and was
a thrilling
retrieve.
Check out the
unusual
'golden-eye' on
this bass. The
fish had very
distinct orange
eyes and a
lighter color
than the other
bass caught. All
of our fish were
caught on black
& blue laminate,
5-inch Senko
worms, with a
touch of
Mega-Strike fish
attractant. The
private pond,
well in the
interior of the
property (very
low fishing
pressure) had
lots of great
structure as
fish habitat.
Natural
Resources Inventory
