WRN Teens – Montgomery Nature Reserve

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WRN Teens – Montgomery Nature Reserve – Saturday, November 30, 2019
 
For this project, WRN Teens met at Montgomery Nature Reserve on the Nith River, 9 km west of New Dundee.  We gathered in this out-of-the-way spot to explore the property and to learn new skills so we can help take care of it in the future.
 
We started with each Teen pairing up with an adult and getting to know each other a bit better.  Turns out we have lots in common!
 
We were lucky to have two awesome instructors, Anita Smith and Fraser Gibson.  Anita told us some background on this property that K-W Field Naturalists (now WRN) purchased in 1973 in order to protect it.  We learned about the work involved in maintaining it, attempts to control invasive species, the impact of annual flooding, and the on-going inventory of species observed there.
 
Our main job was to become familiar with the iNaturalist application.  We had downloaded it to phones ahead of time and took lots of pictures of everything we saw.  We saw how the app helps with identification and then allows users like us to become citizen scientists and upload our sightings.  Things were quiet while we were there with mostly plants and fungi being observed — and one large beetle!  We saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker but didn’t manage to get photos of either.
 
While walking the trail, Fraser shared with us some of his many experiences and his vast knowledge about Montgomery.  Not sure if he “wrote the book” about Montgomery but apparently, he did write sections of the pamphlet!  We learned lots about specific spots by following the pamphlet text as we walked.  The Teens have excellent observation skills and managed to impress Fraser with things that caught their eye.
Turkey Tail Fungus
Red-backed Salamander eggs (we think)
Blue Cohosh berries

Another skill we learned was how to estimate the age of large trees. Anita showed us a huge Bur Oak tree and got us busy measuring the circumference. After some heavy-duty math and consulting a chart of age according to diameter and tree species, we discovered that our huge tree is off the scale and could be as much as about 200 years old! Too bad it can’t talk!

We were all anxious to find out if Anita’s trailcam that she had installed the week before had had any visitors.  We found it knocked over so thought maybe it wouldn’t have much to show us.  After we made our way back to the road, Anita hooked up her laptop so we could see the video and…  we saw that a White-tailed Deer and a Raccoon starred in the movie of the days before the camera fell over!  So, it’s not always quiet at Montgomery!
 
Thanks to:
Paul Bigelow for posting our reports on the WRN website;
Anita Smith and Fraser Gibson for sharing their expertise;
Zack Stevens and Linda Dutka, Teens adult volunteers for supervising and sharing in the experience;
the fearless Teens parents for sticking to it until they found the spot;
and, to the six amazing Teens who spent a cold afternoon exploring a cool new location!
We all look forward to future projects at Montgomery.
 
Marg Paré
WRN Teens coordinator