Jericho History

            Natural history is generally considered to be a study of the natural world.  This involves observing life cycles of all life and of the earth itself, and seeing the inter-relationship of all things.  In our specific home, Jericho, Vermont, as in the rest of the world, this is the study of change: change brought on naturally, and also more deliberately by animals, especially human beings.

When we live in a place and become a part of that community, we often develop a deep relationship with that place.  It feels like “home” to us.  Each of us has a different relationship with our home, but it often conjures up a mixture of emotions about the people and activities in our town, but also our senses inform us of the land formations, vegetation and animals on this land.  Understanding the interconnected nature of all this is the beginning of fathoming the natural history of our town of Jericho.

As noted, the one constant about the natural history of any place on Earth is change.  Our little patch of land has undergone many dramatic shifts geologically through hundreds of millions of years and will continue to change long after we are gone.  The devastation in many parts of our state of Vermont during the tropical storm Irene in August of 2011, is actually an example of a speeding up of the process of the eventual wearing down of the mountains of our state to a plain. 

Since the 1960s, when the theory of plate tectonics truly began to be understood, scientists have discovered evidence of at least three major events in Vermont where mountains were built up and worn down (Natural history of Vermont, Charles Johnson). 

The land since the receding of the last glaciers about 10,000 years ago has been literally rebounding, both in elevation and in the diversity of animals and plants that had been forced further south during glaciation .  As an example, since the 1960s this author has seen many birds that didn’t used to be seen in Vermont becoming regular residents or visitors.  These include Northern Cardinal, Turkey Vulture, Tufted Titmouse, and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  How much these species coming to Vermont have to do with Global Climate Change isn’t clear.

Like many other animals, humans have exerted an influence on the land and the life that inhabits it.  Native Americans practiced land clearing by burns, and hunted and fished.  When the expansion of the US began in earnest a few centuries ago, there was tremendous change in the habitat of Jericho.  First clearings and small farms, later sheep farming, which cleared most of the land in the state of forest (this has almost reversed now), followed by damming of the rivers with small industries dotting the Browns River in town.  Dairy farming was very prevalent in our town in the last century, but now we only have a few dairy farms left.   Even thirty years ago, it was common to have to wait on many of our town roads for the cows to cross the roads. 

The animal and plant species that thrived when the land was cleared are very different from the ones we find here now. The sheep that kept the land cleared, along with lumbering, kept the biodiversity of life simpler.  Now, having open spaces, forests, areas where beginning succession is taking place, and mountain wildlife corridors, we see a wide variety of plant and animal life right in our town.  Our elevation goes from down by the Winooski River to the top of South Hill.  We have slopes facing all directions, and several soil types.  All these play into the diversity we see here in Jericho.

 Although we no longer have virgin forest in town, we have many examples of succession growth. Unused pastureland fills in with first wildflowers, then shrubby plants, with white pines, poplars, birches and Staghorn Sumac, among other plants.  Poplars line the edges, and forests change from birch and white pine, to maple, beech and hemlock.  Because of the nature of globalization of commerce, many of our native trees, essential to our jobs and senses of aesthetics, are being threatened by invasive insects from other parts of the world. 

Although we have more forestland, the animals, and especially birds, who live in deep forests are threatened by the fragmentation of our land.  Since the 1970s, many people have chosen to build houses down long driveways with one or two houses on them.  Many birds need large areas of land to keep them safe from the predators who hunt the edges, and when we fragment the forest with postage stamp lots dotted here and there, we increase the edges for those predators.  Thankfully, there is much more awareness in our town about this, and planners are working to make Jericho more user friendly in the town centers, and to keep the highest densities there, preserving farmland and forests in the more outlying regions.