Stanley Reservation

Features:

The woods in Stanley Reservation are characterized by tall oaks, mature pines and young maples. In summer green-headed coneflower, a pretty daisy-like flower, blooms in wet areas.

There is a vernal pool in Stanley Reservation. Vernal pools are temporary ponds that fill up with water in spring as a result of snowmelt, spring rains and/or elevated groundwater tables. These pools provide valuable wildlife habitat for small amphibians. Vernal pools provide safer breeding grounds than permanent waters because they contain no fish that might eat amphibian eggs and larvae. On rainy spring nights salamanders make their way from the woods to vernal ponds to breed.

The plants that grow in the rich vernal pool soils when the ponds are dry provide food for worms, mollusks, crustaceans and insects. These animals in turn become food for salamander and insect larvae, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

History:

This property was given to AVIS in 1988 by Georgia Stanley. Her aim was to protect from development land that had been in her family for almost 60 years. The trail through the Reservation was cut by neighborhood volunteers, allowing walkers to enjoy the small streams and stately trees.