Professional Documents
Culture Documents
“Place” Boundaries:
North boundary: Millrace bikepath
East boundary: Millrace Ave.
South boundary: Millrace Pond, by MillRace Ave. Apartments
West Boundary: Invisible line drawn from first sidewalk North of the bike path from big UO
research building
Summary Description:
Our place is a section constrained by a bike path, street, and apartments. The area we
studied consisted of about 5ft. to up to 10 ft. of vegetation between the bike path and the millrace
canal, the millrace canal, and the large trees on the South shore whose canopies covered the
Millrace. The water level of the race fluctuated throughout the study. We know rain and storm
water contributed to the few inches in the Race at the beginning of the term, and by the end of
the study, in May, the water pump had been turned on. Within the water, logs criss-crossed
creating a haphazard obstacle course for the waterfowl that showed up when water was higher.
They didn’t mind occasionally stepping up, then dropping back down to continue their
swimming or preening. While the most abundant bird species at our place were common
mallards and crows, on April 18th I observed three or more Orange-crowned warblers enjoying
the one fallen tree that was still densely vegetated. There were many birds that flew in and out of
the Millrace Apartments on the south shore, although they never spent time in the vegetation
right below their Apt. homes. I often heard birds further west along the Millrace and further from
the road, or saw other birds in the large field North of the bike path. I never saw Canada Geese at
our site, other types of duck, or waterfowl.
I thought of the vegetation in our area in “thirds”. Section one began at Millrace
Ave. and continued to ⅓ in along the sidewalk. Then second ⅓ ended before the last tree clump,
and the last section began at the last tree clump to the end of the first sidewalk north of the
bikepath. Each ⅓ (Sec. #1,#2, & #3) had a distinctive tree clump in it. The largest in each was:
Section 1 had a Maple, Section 2 had a Hazelnut, and Section 3 had a walnut, among others. In
regards to plant cover, the common ones are graminoids, English Ivy, Holly, Maple trees,
Himalayan blackberry. The blackberry are just now (late May) beginning to bud at the end of the
study, but didn’t grow or extend its area throughout. The Ivy and Holly layers seemed more
abundant. In early April, the grasses began at knee height, grew to hip height by the end of April,
then grew to shoulder height by mid-May. On May 24th, at least two feet into my site had been
mowed and reduced to inches. The western wild cucumber stuck out to me because of its spring
branching tendrils and distinctive white petals. It was very later in the study, nearly dominating
over blackberry bushes in section three. A funny moment was when two cats were hanging out in
the shrubs of section one, until about an hour later, its owner called them in from the apartments
on the other side. In the shrubbery in section 3, there was a small tunnel indicating an animal,
maybe the size of a nutria used it. I did no further investigation, nor did I see anything else. Our
place is characterized by layering, both vertically,between the bike and the millrace, and the
canal itself. I did visit my place at the same time, every week between the hours of 2p.m. to 6
p.m., so this may have limited the animals I observed. Otherwise, the weather varied, although
spring had definitely sprung by the time I started the study in April.
Journal Entries
4.9.17, 2:50 p.m.
Weather is warm, around 55. There is a cloud cover. Water is only a few inches.There are birds
singing, although I’m unsure whether they are in my place or on the lawn north of the bike path
(Sec. 1). On the ground near the Millrace Ave. and the beginning of the bike path there is not
trees, rather grasses and dandelions, This seems to be the most accessible part to the millrace
at the moment. This area does have bushes though. There are many leaves underneath the
bushes. There’s a dead red nettle which Peter learned in Urban Farm indicates soil fertility. A
couple spiders are on the ground near the grasses. How do dead and living plants work
together? From what I do know, decomposition happens which enriches soil. Thinking of
downed nursing logs, there’s a great relationship between dead plants and living plants.Why do
plants bloom at different times, within the same plant? In short, genes, temperature, and soil
conditions (livescience).I heard at least four different bird songs. There are crows in the big
trees on the south side of the millrace. There’s a gray and black bird with a long black beak.
Additionally, there’s a tiny bird lower down in the big Maple with a noisy longer chirp like do do
di do di. The sidewalk follows the slight bend in the millrace at our place. As the trees begin,
there’s English Ivy, which has white little veins. The smaller leaves don’t look like the most
developed leaves. There’s also shiny darker green vine with serrated edges, which we find is
holly. Brown bird with slight orange, its size is about 8 inches.
One section layers (from sidewalk up)
1. Moss, sci name growing on sidewalk
2. Dirt, grasses where moss stops
3. Dandelions and a Small white flower
4. English Ivy, Hedera helix
5. Common Snowberry, Symphoricarpos Albus
6. White blossom Tree, later identified as Crab Apple, sci name
7. Himalayan BlackBerry, sci name
Today, I got a feel for the place and notices its dominating features.
There are a lot of things that aren’t quite flowering yet which can make
ID’s difficult.
Maple Trees over the Millrace, facing West from Millrace ave. bridge
Pictures