Winter

In VanRaalte Farm Park winters are beautiful. Depending on the year this park can get a lot of snow. The trails are still open and maintained for cross country skiers and hickers. This park also provides a big sledding hill that is open to the public all day long. There are rules to the hill located on the trail just for the safety of people that go sledding there. When it snows the trees sparkle with all the piled up snow it is a great walk, and the park stays bussy this time of year. In the winter the parking lots are plowed every day and are maintained, so that cars and other people can get in easy. When walking through the park you will still see lots of animals, most besides lots of the birds stay in the park. Winters are cold like normal but if you bundle up you will be fine and have a great time in this park this time of year.

Plants and Animals

In this park in the winter besides the pine trees all the leef bearing tree's leaves fall off. Trees like this go into hibernation mode, but still are beautiful with all the snow on it. All the weeds and other flowers go away including the bugs. Bugs burrow deep in the ground or go into hibernation mode also, lots do die from the cold first frosts to. Some animals in this park will and do start to make dens, they grow thick winter coats for the cold wether, or go into hibernation mode. Animals also herd up in the winter like the turkey and deer that are located in this park. Instead of seeing 1 or 2 deer you now could see up to 30 deer in a small area.

Deer.gif

Example of how deer and other animals herd up during the winters around the states, you see 8 deer herded up looking for food together. Deer don't just herd up just to look for food and stay wormer they do this because during hard winters they are more prone to attacks from other animals like the coyotes, when they are in herds they stay safer in bigger groups.

Vegetation Management (TREES):

Different types of Trees in this park?
-Oke Trees
-Pine Trees
-Maple Trees
-Ash Trees














Invasive Species in this park:
-There is not that many invasive species in this park, but one of the main ones that is common by most of the ponds is known as the Frag Mites also known as Reeds. This type of plant can spread fast and occupy and fill areas not allowing other plants to grow there. By the reeds only occupying the ponds it doesn't affect much of that park at all, and does not need to be treated.






Are park does not have really a set system to help out with any of the invasive species of plants. They want to keep this park as natural as posible, and don't want to take any of the plants out; however they do want to keep the trails and the park as clean as posible. Van Raalte Farm Park does how ever keep the fields and lawns mowed, and the sticks, trash, and trails are moved, and clean so people are able to walk with ease.

Plants in this park are very important for the parks ecosystem. Plants are not only food for other animals and bugs in this park but they also when they die provide fertilizer for the ground keeping the trees healthy. Plants also provide homes for animals, they provide protection from predators, and give the park shade during hot days.

Wildlife Management:

Animals in park:

-Birds, Squirrels, Rabbits, Ducks, Muskrats, Fish, Deer, Turkey, Batts, Coyote, Fox, Raccoons, and mink are common animals in VanRaalte Farm Park.

Insects in park: 

-Flys, Mosquitoes, Beetles, Butterflys, Worms, Bees, and Moths Are most common insects in this park. 

Invasive species:

-This park does have an invasive species that came in not to long ago it is an insect called the bark beetle. The bark beetle is known for its name it burrows into the bark of trees and feeds off of them eventually killing the tree. The cow bird is also and invasive species that has come into this park. Cow birds will steel nests from other birds and lay their eggs in them. 

Regulation:

-In this park it would not be a good Idea to bring other species into the park to help regulate it, because the animals in this park do the regulating already. There is like a huge food cycle that keeps things regulated here. The bugs eat dead things, birds and other smaller rodents, and fish eat the bugs, the fox, coyote, and mink will eat other animals like the muskrats, deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels, and other small rodents keeping the populations at a steady, and stable rait. 

-Hunting also plays a big role around this area even tho you can not hunt in this park those animals travel and get hunted by naboring properties which also helps keep things regulated and not out of controle in this park.

http://www.bigelow.org/edhab/fitting_algae.html

Spring Time

-Spring in this park is beautiful, there is a lot more wild life running around in the park than there is in the winter periods. The park is full of green and color, and is filled with lots of life. Spring time is also not to hot, but not to cold ether, nights can get cool, but most of the time it is comfortable.

-Animals in this park mate during the spring and reproduce. In pakes like this you will see ducks, geese and other birds making, and already laying eggs on their nests. Same with other animals in the park.
-Plants, in this park you will see lots of in the spring. Most plants and flowers are just starting to come up and bloom, leaves on the trees are also just starting to come out they wont be as thick as they would be in the summer but will be out. When visiting the park in the spring I noticed lots of polin on the plants but also in the water by the rivers and the ponds. I noticed also that the bugs have started to come out pollinating other plants as they work during the day.

-In this park there are many different kinds of pollinators. Animals, wind, and bugs play a big role in pollinating plants and trees in this park. Animals relocate seeds ether by brushing up on them or burying them for food in the winter even, Wind blows pollen off of the trees and plants and helps pollenate the seeds, bugs do the same thing as animals and are attracted to the many different colors on the flowers in this park, and fly to one then another one spreading pollin for the plants.
-In the spring time things that help the plants and, other growth in this park have a lot to do with the amount of rain fall, and sun the plants and land gets. In Spring there tends to be a lot more rain fall than most of the other seasons have because all the plants are trying to come out. Photosynthesis also has a big role in growth also, because plants feed off of it and it helps them grow.

Water Air and Land Pollutions:

Water Pollutions in this park can range from trash in the water, ecoli from lake mac, stains from a small gas spills from the run off from the roads around the park. Most of the time you will only see trash that has washed up from flooding in the park, or gets caught up in all the brush build ups in the river.

Air Pollutions in this park are not bad nothing will really heart you, but there are some things that will cause you to have discomfort. VanRaalte Farm Park because of its big swamp has lots of mud, most of which is rotting vegetation, leaves, plants, logs, and so on; because of all the organic materials in the mud that go bad, it causes the bad smell.

Land Pollutions in this park are not bad there is some trash being by the bussy road, I found out that because of the surrounding bushes they stop most of the trash from blowing into the park. When going through the park I tried to find all the trash that I could in a 1 acer of land, after finding all I could what I did is put it into a pile and measured it all out to find the volume of the trash. After finding the volume of it we then * the number by the amount of acres that the park was to get an estimate, on how much trash the park could have in it. This number all depends on how well the trees by the road block out the trash from the rest of the park, and how much trash gets flooded out in the parks swamp. The number that we got was ruffly 620,310 square inches of trash in this park.  

VanRaalte Farm Park does how ever have trash canes located all around the park which does help keep the park cleaned up nice. The trash is checked a lot and is changed regularly there.

Energy: In VanRaalte Farm Park there are many different typs of energy inside of that park. One of the main types of energy that you will see in this park is water. Half of this park is maid up of a man maid swamp, so there is a lot of ponds and moving water all over the place. There also is a good sized river running through the park, it is called the black river, and it floods when the rain comes, creating parts of the swamp. Rivers, streams, and swamps like the ones that you see in the park show energy because it is moving water, which erodes  sediment on the banks, and ground. The moving water gets it energy from the gravity, and the sun mostly. Water has a force to it that over time will carve the land scape. Im some of my pictures I am able to see flood plains in this park. By having big floods like the one we had in Holland 3 years ago is important. Floods help the environment. Floods move sediments, good soil to new locations which brings lots of nutrients to plants, and other animals. By having floods we also are able to get a better understanding on how we can prepare for anther 100 year flood like the one that happend 3 years ago.