Common Trees and Shrubs of Jackson and Surrounding Areas

This list is by no means a complete list!  These are some of the most common trees/shrubs found in the valley.  Take a look at the description and see if it fits one of the trees/shrubs in your area, and continue your research to confirm its identification.

Lodgepole pine

- one of the most abundant conifers in the area

-needles are 2-3 inches long and clustered in bundles of 2

-cones are 1-2 inches long 

Douglas fir

-grows on dry, south and east facing slopes

-large diameter douglas firs and coarse bark

Subalpine fir

-wetter north-facing slopes and are usually at higher elevations in the mountains

-smooth bark

-needles are single and are soft

-cones grow upright on branches

Engelmann spruce

-grows along creeks and canyons

-rough bark and abundant cones that hang down from branches

-cones have papery scales and are 1.5 inches long

Blue spruce

-lines rivers and creeks in valleys

-cones have papery scales are are around 3 inches long

-needles grow singly and are sharp

Aspen

-level, moist sites and dry slopes

-smooth and light colored bark

-occur in "stands" where multiple aspens grow as roots from one shoot off horizontally

Cottonwoods

-grow along rivers and creeks in the valley

-bark is heavily furrowed

-triangular or diamond shaped leaves that are green on both sides

Sagebrush

-occurs on dry valley floor

-1 to 5 feet tall

-gray/green leaves

-yellow flowers bloom in August

Antelope bitterbrush

-similar to sagebrush, but with cream colored flowed in June

Chokecherry

-large shrub that can grow up to 20 feet tall!

-white flowers bloom in spring

Utah honeysuckle

-grows near lodgepole pine

-leaves grow opposite to one another

-pairs of cream colored flowers bloom in early June with red berries

www.grand.teton.national-park.com/bird.htm

Blog Link!

On the right hand side of the blog you will find a link to all of the Field Journals being created by my Environmental Geology classes! Click on the link to your name! If your name does not appear on this list, or if your link does not work, that means you did not follow the original directions to make your url http://jhhsyourfirstname.blogspot.com

If so, we will need to change the URL to you blog in the next few days! Some of you already spoke with me about your URL address, but go ahead and "comment" on this post with the URL you are using currently!

~Ms. O

Example Observation!

Site: Backyard/Fish Creek
Date: 5/4/08
Time: 5:42 PM
Temp: 54 Degrees F
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Slightly Breezy
Soil: Dry, except where snow was melting

The observation area is located just off of Fish Creek in Wilson, WY. The area includes both a stream (man made) and pasture used for grazing horses throughout the summer. Without a deep soil/rock barrier between the surface and the water table, these spring months of melting snow may bring shallow floods to the pasture. Regarding the flora of the area, there are various species of trees, grasses and shrubs that serve as both shelter and a food source for the local fauna. Evergreen trees are present, with many dead tree stands indicative of a fire in previous years, as well as willows. With plenty of vegetation, it is expected that there will be a high level of fauna will be observed over the coming months. In this first observation alone, ducks, magpies and moose scat were already seen. Interactions between the population of mallard ducks was apparent, as two males physically fought over the limited resource, the female duck. In addition, in years prior, I have noticed that the birds of the area, that I believe to be robins, use the moose hair to create nests. This speaks to the important niche the moose have in this area of not only providing shelter for birds, but also to eat willows and spread their seeds through their scat. Over the next 4 weeks, it will be interesting to see how the fauna changes as flowers begin to bloom and more vegetation becomes available.

Project Description

After everything we've covered, from Giant Sloths to rocks and minerals, we are going to finish this year revisting ecology. This Field Journal Project will engage you in noticing nature here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where you live. You will be sharing your observations with some of your classmates by reading and responding to some of their observations. In making these observations, you will connect our classroom lessons to the world around you.
Your first assignment is to select a nature study area to observe twice a week. The size of the area should be about half the size of a soccer field or football field. If you select an area that has a mixture of different kinds of food, shelter, nest sites, and water sources, it will have the habitat components many different animals require. You will be more likely to get to see a variety of animals. The more things there are to observe, the more interesting your project may turn out to be for you and for others who read your observations.
In weeks to come, you will be making and recording observations of living plants and animals as well as the non-living environment in which they are found. In other words, you will be studying a small ecosystem. You decide on the location and boundaries of your study area. There may be some natural boundaries such as the edge of the woods or a briar patch. There may be a path, trail, or a fence to use as a boundary. You may simply establish the edges of your area in your own fashion. Eventually, you will make a Google map of the study area you select.
At the bottom of this blog you will find a calendar that shows when you will have access to laptop computers in our classroom. You can also see due dates for various parts of this project. There will be assignments due periodically over the next four weeks. You can complete blog entries in class but you can also complete your work from any computer with Internet access. You will receive credit for completing assignments as they are due. If you are absent when we use the classroom computers, you must find other computers to complete your assignment outside class time. There will not be a final date when the entire project will be turned in. This project will be done in pieces over four weeks during May. Each assignment will be scored individually and entered into PowerSchool.