Living Well with Wildlife

Living Well with Wildlife

Trailside Museums & Zoo encourages people to live well with the wildlife. Take steps to coexist with wildlife, protect wildlife from potential hazards in our yards and communities and prevent wildlife from becoming “problem animals.” Protect birds by keeping cats...
Rocky Summits & Outcrops

Rocky Summits & Outcrops

Rocky summits and outcrops are sparsely vegetated. Soils are thin, nutrient-poor and well-drained. Conditions are harsh in winter and summer. Yet, vegetation is rich in species diversity. Some plants take root in the rock fissures and depressions where soil and...
Forest Understory Plants

Forest Understory Plants

Forest understory is the layer of trees and shrubs between the forest floor and forest canopy. It’s made up of shrubs, small trees, vines and saplings of canopy trees. Trailside’s forest understory and forest floor have been heavily impacted by deer. Since 2016-17,...
Forest Floor Plants

Forest Floor Plants

Deciduous forest is the dominant plant community. It’s complex and layered, but it’s not an old-growth forest. The canopy is composed of tall deciduous trees—oak, hickory, tuliptree, maple, beech, and others. White pine and other conifers are scattered throughout the...
Meadows

Meadows

Meadows are open, sunny habitats vegetated with forbs, grasses and other non-woody plants Meadow vegetation flowers abundantly. Some meadows are moist or fluctuate between moist and dry and others are dry. Disturbance by fire or clearance of woody vegetation are...
Iona Marsh Habitat Restoration

Iona Marsh Habitat Restoration

By 2000, the biodiverse brackish tidal marshes of Iona Island were overrun by the invasive, non-native common reed, Phragmites australis. Restoration began in 2008 with the removal of Phragmites from a 10-acre test plot to allow native marsh flora and fauna to...
Citizen Science

Citizen Science

A significant part of Trailside Museums and Zoo’s mission is encouraging the formation of partnerships between professional scientists and naturalist volunteers through citizen science opportunities.