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Take A Walk On The
Wild Side |
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Silver Lake is
accessible to all and is a great way for children, seniors and the
handicapped to enjoy the outdoors. The lake is located at the top
of Big Cottonwood Canyon. In summer, the lake is a great place for
an easy and beautiful hike. |
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Wetlands
A wetland is an area
of land consisting of soil that is saturated with moisture, such as
a swamp, marsh, or bog.
A wetland is an environment "at the interface between truly
terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic systems making them inherently
different from each other yet highly dependent on both". In
essence, wetlands are ecotones. Wetlands often host considerable
biodiversity and endemism.
Define wetlands as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by
surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to
support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a
prevalence of vegetations typically adapted for life in saturated
soils. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and
similar areas."
Characteristics |
Soils
Wetlands are found
under a wide range of hydrological conditions, but at least some of
the time water saturates the soil. The result is a hydric soil, one
characterized by an absence of free oxygen some or all of the time,
and therefore called a "reducing environment. |
Vegetation
Plants (called
hydrophytes or just wetland plants) specifically adapted to the
reducing conditions presented by such soils can survive in
wetlands, whereas species intolerant of the absence of soil oxygen
(called "upland" plants) cannot survive. Adaptations to low soil
oxygen characterize many wetland species. There are many types of
vegetation in wetlands. |
Hydrology
Generally, the
hydrology of a wetland is such that the area is permanently or
periodically inundated or saturated at the soil surface for a
period of time during the growing season. The presence (or absence)
of water is not necessarily a good method for identifying wetlands
because the amount of water generally fluctuates depending on such
things as rainfall patterns, snow melt, dry seasons, longer
droughts, and tidal patterns. Often the same wetland can appear to
be an open body of water sometimes and a dry field at other times
because of significant fluctuations in water levels. The three
water sources that contribute to wetlands are:
• Precipitation falling within the wetland
• Ground water moving up or out from the subsurface of the
wetland
• Surface flow from the surrounding watershed or nearby water
bodies (lakes, streams, oceans, etc.) |
Topography
Generally, wetlands
are located within topographic features that are lower in elevation
that the surrounding landscape such as depressions, valleys, and
flat areas. Topography plays an important role in determining the
size and shape of a wetland by controlling where the water goes and
how long it stays there. |
Hydrogeomorphic
classes
Wetlands are based on
three factors that influence how they function: position in the
landscape (geomorphic setting), water source (hydrology), and the
flow and fluctuation of the water once in the wetland
(hydrodynamics). There are seven classes (types) of wetlands in
this system:
• riverine
• depressional
• slope
• mineral soil flats
• organic soil flats
• estuarine fringe
• lacustrine fringe |
To log this cache you
must go around the boardwalk to each posted sign and find the
answers to the questions below.
1. Go to the site, take a photo of yourself or group.
2. How many hours does it take for the water you see in the
canyon’s, lakes and streams to arrive at the homes in the
valley.
3. Name the 3 macroinvertebrates that must have high quality water
to survive.
4. List 2 wildflowers at Silver Lake.
5. List 1 thing why Wetlands are
helpful. |