On the beautiful morning of Saturday, August 18, 2012 the
Canandaigua Botanical Society gathered to learn about Waymarking and tree
identification at the Finger Lakes Community College Arboretum.
Members attending: Bill Bross, John Hyde, Peggy Kane, Leona
Lauster, Jeffery and Laura Ouimette
Under the Arboretum sign Laura gave this brief history of
GPS Waymarking:
On May 2, 2000 President
Bush announced that the United
States would stop the intentional
degradation feature (Selective Availability) of the Global Positioning System
(GPS) signals. This action enabled civilian users of GPS units to be able to
pinpoint locations up to ten times more accurately than in the past. GPS is a
dual-use, satellite-based system that provides accurate location and timing data
to users worldwide.
On May 3, 2000 a
computer consultant named Dave Ulmer wanted to test the accuracy by hiding a
navigational target in the woods. He called the idea the "Great American
GPS Stash Hunt" and posted it in an internet GPS users' group. The idea
was simple: Hide a container out in the woods and note the coordinates with a
GPS unit.
Geocaching was born as well as
Waymarking which uses GPS without the cache.
You can go to waymarking.com for listings of locations including our
FLCC Arboretum under the category of arboretums!
Jeffery had preprogrammed the GPS units that we borrowed
from Wood Library with several GPS coordinates made into a route for the group
to follow. Armed with GPS units we
stopped at the programmed locations to be sure Laura had accurately identified
the trees. We also spoke about several
other trees between each recorded GPS location.
GPS location Description
N 42’ 52.248` W 077’ 14.604` Arboretum
sign
N 42’ 52.237` W 077’ 14.610` Betulapapyrifera, Paper Birch, also known as American White Birch. Bill Bross teased that the college students maintain the
white bark by paining it on a regular basis.
Yet to be marked walking
from the Paper Birch tree to the next Waymark we identified the Beech and Large Leafed Magnolia (which Laura mistakenly
thought might be a Pawpaw tree with its large leaves and fruit looking buds).
N 42’ 52.240` W 077’ 14.630` Cedar
near gazebo – at first John Hyde thought it looked like a juniper, but by it’s soft touch he agreed it is a
Western
Red Cedar, Thuja plicata, a cypress of the Pacific
northwest.
N 42’ 52.263` W 077’ 14.649` This
Waymark we called the Square of pines and noted several trees including a Japanese Yew, Juniper (sharp to the touch),
Austrian pine and Norway Spruce
N 42’ 52.248` W 077’ 14.660` Laura
was intrigued by this flat soft needled pine tree which she thought was a bald Cyprus.
John Hyde identified it as a
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
this short variety of deciduous redwood comes from China.
N 42’ 52.225` W 077’ 14.643` This
was one of the first trees we Waymarked in March 2012 when it was in full bloom with large white blossoms – a saucer magnolia
or cucumber tree.
Before reaching our next Waymark we admired this small Japanese
Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata)
and John told us about the sick
Lombardy poplar to the left of our next Waymark…
N 42’ 52.227` W077’ 14.669` Weeping
Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Pendula’)
N 42’ 52.215` W 077’ 14.671` Not
a tree…but to be sure you’re Waymark is accurate: Struggle rock sculpture by Robert Fladd 1985
N 42’ 52.259` W 077’
14.685` We didn’t actually
locate this Waymark…but it was marked in June when it looked like this:
probably a Blue Ash - Fraxinus quadrangulata or perhaps Tree of Heaven -
Ailanthus?
From here we passed the new labyrinth and headed into the
woods/marsh area to the south of the arboretum. Heading to our next Waymark John shared a wealth of
information regarding the poplar / aspen / cottonwood tree as we passed several
of them.
Peggy noted that they root out
by runners and we found evidence of that here.
N 42’ 52.181` W 077’ 14.181` Corkscrew
willow (
Salix matsudana) Many of us remembered this tree from our 2009 outing with Bruce Gilman.
N 42’ 52.122` W 077’ 14.731` This
Waymark brings you to a spot on the trail to notice a nearby oak tree with a split trunk and one of many
Shagbark Hickory trees in
the woods.
N 42’ 52.081` W 077’ 14.739` This
Waymark brings you to the north end of the boardwalk. We were curious to know what was growing where there is usually
water.
N 42’ 52.067` W 077’ 14.751` Once
at this Waymark look up to find a birdhouse in a large Oak tree.
N 42’ 52.063` W 077’ 14.697` Twin
White Oak (look up beyond the maple leaves).
This is a photo from June when we had help from twins to record our Waymarks.
From here we backtracked and headed north along the wide
wood-chipped trail to the next Waymark.
Jeffery posed for this photo between an Ash and an Oak tree – allowing a
nice comparison for the bark differences Bill was learning about from John.
We also learned about the
Lindera benzoin (Spicebush)appreciating the wealth of knowledge John had to share.
There are several other tree species in the woods just south of the arboretum including black walnuts.
John was a true horticulture professor armed
with his very own Michael Dirr encyclopedia of trees.
N 42’ 52.148` W 077’ 14.626` This
Waymark brings you to the bridge adjacent to Marvin Sands Drive.
John asked about the paper Bark Maple that Bruce told us
about back in 2009. We were pleased to
find it still located where it was…but much closer now to the newly
structured roadway.
N 42’ 52.097` W 077’ 14.610` Paper
Bark Maple (
Acer griseum) with cinnamon colored bark
Our plan is to continue Waymarking several more trees in the
Arboretum.
If you’re interested in
obtaining updated lists – or you have Waymarked coordinates to add to our current
list, please let us know at
CanandaiguaBotanical@gmail.com.
GPS units can be borrowed from
Wood Library in Canandaigua.
*some
species still to be Waymarked at the FLCC Arboretum: Little Leaf Linden
/ Basswood, White Mulberry, Norway Maple, Red Maple, London Planetree,
Sugar Maple, Pin Oak, Black Oak, Coranga Hedge, Native White Cedar,
Thuja, Red Beech, Purple Beech, Hackberry tree, Tulip tree, Ginko,
Scarlet Pimpernel, Colorodo Blue Spruce, European Larch tree.
Find the FLCC Arboretum listed at Waymarking.com:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMF2QK_Finger_Lakes_Community_College_Arboretum
