Is your site representative or the surrounding forest?

Our site is representative of the surrounding forest. The forest at Niquette bay is extremely biodiverse with many different types of forest. Our site is the perfect example to represent this biodiversity. The sharp ledges that form our site are characteristic of the upper part of the park. The dominant deciduous tree cover and understory that are found in our site are also the dominant cover of the surrounding forest.

Barring major disturbance, what will your site look like in the year 2111?

Our site's understory is covered with maple, hickory, beech and ash saplings. Therefore if something like a fire, a hurricane or some major disturbance was to affect our site and kill all the canopy trees and the understory, the seedlings would most likely form the canopy of our site by the year 2111. The dominant natural community would still be a northern hardwood community and a Mesic maple-ash-hickory community, however, the distribution of the species would change: Having as a dominant species ashes maples instead of hickories. Furthermore, the coniferous species like eastern white pines and hemlock would most likely be absent in 2111 since there weren't almost any seedlings of these species. The hemlock forest community would be replaced by deciduous trees like sugar maples and birches.

What signs of humans (past and present) are there in and around your site?

The only apparent sign of humans that is in our site is a rock structure that looks like it could have been wall in the past. Its only about 3 feet tall and is one-sided. However, there aren't many other signs that suggest any human activity in our site. Signs of humans in the present aren't found in our site because it is “off-trail” and there aren't any features, like caves or an overlooking view that would attract the average visitor. Around our site is the “ledges trail” where visitors often walk through and walk their dogs.

What management recommendations do you have for the park managers?

The management recommendations we could give to park managers would be to preserve the hectare as it is. The forest looks healthy and and the site seems to hold a great amount of biodiversity. Human disturbance doesn't seem to be concerning, because it is “off-trail”. The only recommendation would be to keep up with the good work!