Urban and community forester and founder of the research
organization named “local ecology,” Georgia Silvera Seamans ’98
analyzes the leaf litter in Washington Square Park in the wake
of Hurricane Sandy for her blog, local ecologist. “A few days
after the storm, we went on a walk through Washington Square
Park. We noted sawn wood, fruit drop, hanging limbs, and lots
and lots of fallen leaves. I collected leaves from almost 20
different species. The majority of leaves were collected from
the southeast quadrant of the park and from the small lawn area
adjacent to the flag pole, itself just east of the Arch. It is
possible that some of the leaves blew from streets surrounding
the park but on a follow-up walk I identified most of the trees
for which I had collected leaves. “A major difference between
white and red oaks is the shape of the the lobes. White oaks
have rounded lobes while reds exhibit sharp lobes. This marker
would not help you to identify the willow oak though which has
long, narrow leaves with smoo