The Mud Creek Environmental Center is part of Columbia
County’s soil and conservation district that provides
“technical assistance and education on water, soil, and
related natural resources to municipalities, landowners, and
residents with the aim of facilitating conservation and proper land
use decision-making.” (as written on www.ccswcd.org ) They
provide agricultural programs, tree and shrub programs as well as
wildlife houses for Bluebirds, wrens, wood ducks, butterflies, and
bats. There is a mixed trail that will take you through a variety
of environments. Be sure to bring the bug spray during the
appropriate times. This trail is open year round and parking is
available at the trailhead.
There are two common definition s of a wetland:
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wetland definition.
This scientific definition was developed by Lewis Cowardin et al
for FWS in 1979.
“Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial
and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the
surface or the land is covered by shallow water. For purposes of
this classification wetlands must have one or more of the following
three attributes: 1. at least periodically the land supports
predominantly hydrophytes; 2. the substrate is predominantly
un-drained hydric soil; and 3. the substrate is non-soil and is
saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time
during the growing season of each year.”
- The second commonly used definition was developed by the U.S.
army Corps of Engineers in 1977 for the Section 404 permit program.
This definition provides:
“Wetlands are “those areas that are inundated or
saturated at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and
that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of
vegation typically adapted for life in saturated conditions.
Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar
areas.”
~ Taken from www.aswm.org ~
In NY there are many types of of wetlands which include marshes,
wooded swamps, vernal pools, tidal estuaries, and bogs. For your
smiley face for this Earthcache, please send your answers to the
following questions to me in an email:
- Which type of wetland is found here?
- What are two benefits of wetlands?
- What are six forms of recreations one could find in a
wetland?
- What percentage of all birds use a wetlands habitat at some
point in their lives?
- What are three forms of flora that can be found in this
wetland?
Please also post three photos with your log. One photo each from
two of the boardwalks that can be found here and a third photo of
something fun/neat/interesting that you found while visiting this
area. Those with photos of wildlife get kudos on their
finds!!
Disclaimer: You, and all members of your party must read and
agree to the www.geocaching.com disclaimer. In addition, you all
must agree to hold the cache owner, www.geocaching.com, and the
land owners harmless from any and all causes for action. You and
all other members of your party must individually and collectively
determine your/their physical fitness and outdoors/hiking skill
levels, decide whether or not to visit the various cache locations,
and whether or not it is safe and prudent to do so under the
conditions that will be encountered. Cache seekers assume all risks
involved in seeking these cache locations.