Nature in your neighborhood- Lucien Deal

 

My neighborhood is WWU Ridgeway as I live on campus. It's Composed of several different dorm buildings and a dining hall. While lots of it is a street within this part of the campus there are the occasional burst of nature and greenery. For one it’s surrounded by many great and large trees that while it rains can make the area feel almost like a rainforest. Yet also this nature due to the high foot traffic due it being full of cars, people walking out the dorm and those trying to get the dining hall this nature is often trampled, never with malicious intent but it causes harm, nonetheless. The trees that tower over the ridge and give it character while I am not sure of the exact name, but I am sure of the fact they are native. Something I am aware of being native on the other hand is the beautiful white snowberry littered across the patches of life in the area. While I have not witnessed it, I would not be surprised if the area happened to have a problem with the invasive and destructive Himalayan black berry, as does lots of the western side of the state.

I would say the nature on the ridge is seemingly healthy, or at least I see no glaring problems with it. It gets lots of sunlight and rain things essential for life. Although I do wonder about if any native black berry could be found or if the invasive Himalayan black berry has taken over the space like I see in so many other similar spaces. What really amazed me was how much different life could be found on a rock, I found moss and what I believe to be some sort of seed It never really hit me how the things I overlook in nature can be so complex in such a way.