Into the abyss!

Well, not the abyss per se, but into the depths of the Barrington Headwaters. Alicia and I began our fieldwork this afternoon. After a morning of reading, planning, and map printing, we determined that the Superfund site straddled the boundary of the Oyster and Bellamy River watersheds. Using a topo map of the area, we then found a section of the BWH that possibly could have been contaminated by run-off and groundwater from the Tibbetts Rd. site.

We began by heading south, following a spur off of the main logging road. We had hoped that this spur would take us all the way to Creek Pond, our targeted wetland, but unfortunately, the road petered out after a few hundred meters. So we took out our compass and some fluorescent flagging tape and started bushwhacking. We passed through thick groves of young birches interspersed with clearings. Following a ridgeline, we eventually came up on a hemlock grove that dropped towards the southwest and our target wetland. Upon entering the hemlock grove, we immediately found moose, deer, and porcupine scat as well as a probable porcupine home. After a brief consultation, we decided that we had found our transect.

We initially laid out a 100m x 20m transect, but after pushing through heavy brush and examining the size of the area we would have to cover, we altered our plan and cut the transect in half. We then laid out a second tract perpendicular to the original about five paces south of the first tract's western terminus. All in all, this took us close to two hours and we were fairly dirty, insect-ridden, and exhausted. It was exciting, however, to finally get out into the field and start our project. I will include a few photos of our transects as well as a lovely picture of a spring peeper who apparently lives in the neighborhood.