My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[bulborum]

Nothing to do with the forum
but I love the water bomber picture
must be an experience for the landing on the water

Roland

[Kristl Walek]

Day 2 Heading North: Gros Morne
The Tablelands

Gros Morne is the second biggest national park in Atlantic Canada and encompasses a large area of western Nova Scotia. Gros Morne means “big mound or mountain”, a name the park acquired by early French visitors in the 1700’s. Gros meaning big and Morne is a Creole word for rounded hill.

This is a spectacular area; aptly voted the second most scenic drive in North American by a Canadian travel magazine.

From the Parks Canada Site:
The rocks of Gros Morne National Park and adjacent parts of western Newfoundland are world-renowned for the light they shed on the geological evolution of ancient mountain belts. The geology of the park illustrates the concept of plate tectonics, one of the most important ideas in modern science.

This is one of the main reasons why Gros Morne National Park has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Tablelands, is a striking 600 metre-high plateau of rock, found between the towns of Trout River and Woody Point, within Gros Morne. This area looks like a strange brown landscape amidst a kaleidoscope of green. This is due to the ultramafic rock - peridotite - which makes up the Tablelands. It is thought to originate in the Earth's mantle and was forced up from the depths during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. Peridotite lacks the usual nutrients required to sustain most plant life, hence its barreness. The rock is very low in calcium, very high in magnesium, and has toxic amounts of heavy metals. Peridotite is also high in iron, which accounts for its brownish colour (rusted colour). Underneath this weathered zone, the rock is really a dark green colour.

[Kristl Walek]

Day 2: Botanizing at Wallace Brook in Gros Morne

Although the Tablelands support little plant life; this area was a bit removed and we happily had our first go at botanizing.

We enjoyed the rocks as much as the plants.

[Kristl Walek]

amidst the rocks, some of the plants we saw in bloom.

[Kristl Walek]

Day 2: Drive out of Gros Morne to Cow Head, Nfld
Overnight at Shallow Bay Motel

A picturesque drive north.
All along the roads we saw the damage of the balsam wooly aphid on the fir trees.

[Kristl Walek]

Day 3: From Cow Head to Burnt Cape

There are few accommodations/restaurants in northwestern Newfoundland, so one must plan the days around them. Today we have only a few hundred km of driving to our final destination at Burnt Cape, so we have time to do stopping and snooping along the way.

Our botanizing happens on a limestone barren or heath, along route, where I get an advance look at some  species that are much more common further north.

Everything here is dwarfed, due to the environmental conditions. Trees, such as spruce and Betula pumila lie flat against the ground, forming beautiful textures.
 
Cypripedium parviflorum var makesin is a tiny, tiny, choice thing, under 4 inches or smaller---one plant that Susan photographed was no taller than a Swiss army knife.

Plantanthera aquilonis (which I showed before) is a beautiful wee plant here.

Vaccinium uliginosum is also small here, with its gorgeous gray foliage contrasting so well with the other plants

[Kristl Walek]

The larger Tanacetum huronense var. terrae-novae is a spreading (aggressive in gardens) endemic of Newfoundland.

Lonicera villosa is listed by GRIN as a variant of Lonicera caerulea (the edible blue honeysuckle).

Erigeron hyssopifolius is a pretty and floriferous, relatively large-flowered species.

Sometimes, a prostrate habit is not the best for a plant: I have seen Hedysarum alpinum in Alberta, where it grows upright and forms a very attractive plant.

The caespitose Oxytropis campestris minor was formerly known as O. terrae-novae.

The plant mats are complicated affairs---the one pictured is a mix of Dryas, Betula, Rhodiola, Thalictrum, Juniper, Erigeron, Empetrum and others.

[Paddy Tobin]

My goodness, Kristl,

What an amazing journey and such a beautiful country. Of course, the plants are wonderfully interesting also.

And I do realise you have not brought us to the highlights of the trip yet. This is only the appetiser it would seem.

Delighted to read you have had such a good time, many thanks for posting the photographs and I look forward to further instalments over the coming days.

Paddy

[Kristl Walek]

As we proceed north, the Long Range Mountains stop and on the only main road north there begin to appear "roadside gardens" on a regular basis.

Newfoundland is of course known as "The Rock" for obvious reasons---and except for the central and south west portion of the province, there is no soil for gardening; only rock. Here, along the highway, which was originally blasted for road construction, are pockets of soil that have been "adopted" for vegetable gardening. These are usually out in the middle of nowhere, and yet, rumour has it, the cultivators rights are absolutely respected. I neglected to photograph one of these; but found the posted picture on line.

As has probably become obvious; this province is very complex geologically. Even though our trip is taking us to predominantly limestone areas, they really only exist in parts of the Northern Peninsula. That having been said, Newfoundland has more limestone barrens that anywhere in North America.

Due to the lack of "services" along the road, we are needing to make regular stops to use natures facilities. That is, when it is possible to find somewhere to pull over (narrow shoulders on the road) or even more rarely, somewhere to pull "into". The dirt road pictured took us into a storage area for hundreds of crab cages and also a wet area where we saw Rhamnus alnifolia, Thalictrum pubescens, Geum rivale.

Almost at our goal for the day, we made a quick stop at the St. Anthony airport---a tiny affair situated at the tip of the Northern Peninsula. The airport hosts two provincial airlines that have regular flights in and out of St. Anthony. Air Labrador flies to remote communities in Labrador and northern Quebec. Inside the "terminal" building (really just one large room) we found a two posters, one listing the regulations about wildlife species at risk and a poster showing a few of the plant species at risk.

Arriving finally at Raleigh, the tiny fishing village across from Burnt Cape, we checked into our cabins for our 8-day stay. These were comfortable, fully equipped with a cafe, store and gas station across the street. Best of all, Burnt Cape, where we will do the majority of our botanizing here and which you can see in the picture, was directly across from us and a five minute drive away.

[Kristl Walek]

Most serious plant people would agree that the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland is "THE" place for plants. As I have been nowhere else in the province, I cannot judge; but I was daily in awe of what I experienced on Burnt Cape.

What I also did not know prior to coming was that our botanist companion, Susan Meades, has more than a passing interest in this particular place, which I only discovered during the trip. In fact, this humble woman did not apprise us of the crucial role she played in doing not only the species survey of the Cape (gratis), but she was the person who petitioned the government to have the site declared an Ecological Reserve. Prior to that time it was a gravel pit.

Her species list is here:

http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/botany/burntspecies.asp

We barely made a dent in what we saw over the days we spent walking the cape. My survey of plants that I will next show happened over a period of a week. In between we also ventured away to other sites.

I start with some general pictures of the Cape, including the sign paying homage to Susan.

[Maggi Young]

What I also did not know prior to coming was that our botanist companion, Susan Meades, has more than a passing interest in this particular place, which I only discovered during the trip. In fact, this humble woman did not apprise us of the crucial role she played in doing not only the species survey of the Cape (gratis), but she was the person who petitioned the government to have the site declared an Ecological Reserve. Prior to that time it was a gravel pit.

Her species list is here:

http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/botany/burntspecies.asp


I start with some general pictures of the Cape, including the sign paying homage to Susan.

 Thank heavens for people like Susan, I say!

[Kristl Walek]

The following is from a Canadian Government site:

Located near the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula and surrounded on three sides by cold waters from the Strait of Belle Isle, the peninsula of Burnt Cape has some of the most arctic conditions on the Island of Newfoundland. But it is exactly this cold climate, together with a unique landscape and calcium-rich soil, that allows northern plant species to grow here in a rich and rare variety.

The 3.6-km2 ecological reserve takes up almost all of the Burnt Cape peninsula. And though it may have the coolest conditions on the Island, the Cape is home to more than 300 plant species—about 30 of which are considered rare.

From a distance the Cape appears desolate, yet up close, particularly during the months of June and July, the tiny arctic plants provide a rainbow carpet of colour. Some of these plants are growing at their southernmost limits, others are at their northernmost. Some can be found only in a few other areas in northwest Newfoundland. Among the most significant are arctic bladderpod, alpine arnica, dwarf hawk's beard, Burnt Cape cinquefoil—the Northern Peninsula is the only place in the world where this species grows—and the threatened Fernald's braya (COSEWIC, 2000). These arctic-alpine plants are relicts of the flora that invaded when the last glaciers retreated.

The Cape's arctic conditions have also led to the formation of "frost polygons"-strange, geometric circles or lines of rocks on the surface of the ground. Caused by intense freeze/thaw cycles, they are usually found only in northern or Arctic areas of permafrost.

[annew]

What a very special place - I'm looking forward to more reports, Kristl. Enjoy yourself!

[Kristl Walek]

I would like to start my Burnt Cape flora survey with a few pictures of a fauna sighting from the Cape. While polar bears sometimes come across from Labrador to Burnt Cape on the pack ice, this is normally in spring, before the ice has melted in the Strait of Belle Isle. At this time of the year, the more usual sightings are whales. We were quite lucky to have this humpback cavorting close enough to be captured by a camera lens.

The green you see under the surface of the water is his/her fin.

We laid on our bellies at the edge of a beautiful cliff chocked full of flora and watched.

[annew]

Magic!