Natural areas in Vermont
Hubert “Hub” Vogelmann (1928–2013), a professor of botany at the University of Vermont for 36 years, wrote two booklets entitled Natural areas in Vermont, published in 1964 and 1969. In these two booklets, he documents dozens of specific natural areas, some of them well known but many of them completely unknown (at least to me). Vogelmann's intention was to make them better known to a broad audience so that they might become protected areas for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.
His lists of natural areas are amazing! In the coming months, I hope to visit some of the places he writes about. I'll record my experiences here, in my iNaturalist journal. Stay tuned!
- Vogelmann, Hubert (1964). Natural areas in Vermont, Report No. 1. Vermont Resources Research Center, University of Vermont.
- Vogelmann, Hubert (1969). Natural areas in Vermont, Report No. 2. Central Planning Office and Interagency Committee on Natural Resources. Montpelier, Vermont.
As noted in the comments, these booklets are available for in-library use at the Billings Library on the University of Vermont campus. My online notes briefly list the natural areas, their approximate locations, and a few other details.
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I took a class from him back in the 70s.
@hollyyoung any stories to tell?
@cgbb2004 you knew him, right?
Only that I wish I had been a more serious student. No stories to tell but it was the beginning of my interest in plants. He was a good teacher.
Do you have pdf copies of these reports that you can share ? It would be fun to revisit the sites and see how they have changed
@msundue Hi Michael. Sorry, no, I do not have copies of these booklets. The Billings Library on the UVM campus has copies for in-library use only. However, I just now made my online notes public. Hope that helps.
Volgelmann gives GPS coordinates to the nearest minute of arc. In some cases, that is enough, but in most cases, the exact location he had in mind is unknown (to me). If you find one of his natural areas, please share location details. Thanks in advance.
@trscavo thanks for making your notes available! I will think about adding some of these to my agenda this field season. Did Vogelmann offer any other details in the booklets .e.g lists of species, or descriptions of the area? Or do your notes cover most of the content in the books? I am trying to decide if heading to Billings will be fruitful or if you have already shared what there is to know. Thanks!
@msundue yes, Vogelmann gives much more detail, including a description of the area and a short list of species.
Hi @trscavo -- late to the game. I met him only that once years and years ago. It was probably on a Hardy Plant Club field trip; there were only about five of us. I just remember his knowledge and congenialiaty, energy, too. We were all disappointed not to find whatever rare plant we were looking forward but enjoyed his account of discovering the dugout canoe and subsequent radiocarbon dating.
Thanks Charlotte!
You're welcome, Tom @trscavo! And hah! I found the date of the trip, only about 22 years ago, August 25, 2001. I made no notes about any rare plants, so perhaps it was just a visit to introduce us to the H. Laurence Achilles Natural Area (after which I put three exclamation points -- Vogelmann must have emphasized that name :-)). He was delighted to tell us that the natural area was "now all protected except for a couple of little pieces" and that "close to 600 acres was saved." (I guess more has been saved since then?) He did talk quite a bit about the pond's size, varying depth, and sediments and told us that pollen analysis from sediments date back 7,000 years. He emphasized that the area is "extremely rich in artifacts," including campsites "all along Muddy Brook," documenting indigenous people's use of the pond for at least the last 5,000 or 6,000 years. He told us there's an area in Monkton where native people obtained stone for arrowheads. He went on to tell us about his discovery of the dugout canoe. I found this excellent article in the Vermont Archaeological Society newsletter: https://vtarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/1985-January-no-50-reduced.pdf. It contains a wealth of information about that canoe!
PS -- according to the VAS article, Dr. James Petersen's May 1984 report documents "over 8,000 years of nearly continuous use by aboriginal people." (Dr. Petersen was highly respected chair of UVM's anthropology department.)
Thanks @cgbb2004 I didn't realize the canoe had garnered so much attention.
Now you know -- yet another story behind the story :-)
@trscavo -- Hah! I'll give it a rest in a bit, but check out who wrote the VAS article on the canoe, and check out who the librarian is at the Billings Library, where you've been doing your research.... https://researchguides.uvm.edu/shelburne_pond#s-lg-box-5910035
I don't recognize the name on the VAS article, but the other name may be the librarian at Billings Library, I don't recall.
I think they're one and the same person (if you scroll down at the UVM link, you'll see a name and a photo....)
FYI, I visited the Billings Library (UVM) today and made some edits to the online notes.
These notes are superb! Thank you for making these notes, and thank you for sharing!
Thanks Charlotte! :-)
Nice. I grew up in Newport, Vermont. Moose bog was my favorite place.
@kwillard Moose bog is one my favorite places too. I wonder why Vogelmann didn't include it in his report?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/164890488160
Is this the same thing? Report one is dated '71 and 2 is dated '69.
Yes, that's it! Report 1 was first published in 1964 but apparently this is a corrected version published in 1971. That's even better!
@raffib128 you should definitely jump on this opportunity!
I did jump on it; I'm turning into a bit of a collector! :)
I wonder if it's something I could turn into a pdf with the proper permissions. It doesn't appear copyrighted.
If you did put a PDF copy online, it would become a very popular download, I'm sure!
This is very neat. I met Hub briefly at my grad school graduation since I was in the Field Naturalist Program which he started. I also have been to a lot of these places. What a fun project to revisit them. Most of them also remain as State Significant Natural Communities tracked by Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory
@charlie what is a State Significant Natural Community and where do I find a list of them? Thanks!
Thanks Charlie! I didn't know about this inventory. I looked it up on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website.
the best way to see them is to go here:
http://anrmaps.vermont.gov/websites/anra5/
go to Fish and Wildlife, expand that selection, choose 'Significant Natural Communities'. It should tell you the wetland type and also there is a link you can't access if you aren't a state employee, but you can potentially ask Natural Heritage Inventory for more information on them.
Thanks Charlie!
@trscavo -- I came across this when looking for something else Bryan Pfeiffer (another treasure of the naturalist world) wrote: https://bryanpfeiffer.com/2013/10/12/hub-vogelmann/
@cgbb2004 thanks Charlotte!
@trscavo -- you are welcome, Tom. (I edited my comment to fix the pronoun! :-))
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