The Natural History of the Dunlora Area

The Dunlora community is built across the roots and eroded rubble of the Appalachian foothills, which formed over 300 million years ago, long before the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the hills of Dunlora were continuous with the highlands of present-day Scotland and Scandinavia. Geologically, it is an old landscape, worn down over the eons by water flowing to the sea. Ecologically, however, it is young. The primeval forests that once covered these slopes have been cut down and regrown several times since Europeans invaded the land of the Monacans.

Today, the most extensive forest cover grows in the common area drained by Towne Creek. Sycamore, tulip poplar, American beech, and red maple are the dominant trees in the floodplain; some of these have reached substantial size within the last century. On the slopes and drier uplands, white oak, red oak, hickories, Virginia pine, and a few white pine occur. There is a diverse understory of trees and shrubs, including dogwood, mountain laurel, sassafras, and spicebush and a rich variety of wildflowers, ferns, fungi, and mosses. White-tailed deer, gray squirrels, turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, and gray tree frogs are obvious, either by sight or sound. Less often noted is a large and diverse assemblage of other mammals like red fox and woodchuck, birds like wood thrush and scarlet tanagers, and reptiles like box turtles and skinks. With the continued infilling of the "urban ring", this diverse forest community will become increasingly valuable as an island of unique habitat. We should strive to preserve its wildness.

The attractive homescapes of Dunlora offer a variety of ornamental plantings that complement native trees that have survived the stresses of development. The animal community associated with this habitat is that of the forest edge - cottontail rabbit, meadow vole, bluebird, cardinal, and mockingbird. The floodplain immediately adjacent to the Rivanna is largely occupied by the hayfield and soccer field. Because of periodic mowing, the area attracts few wildlife species except Canada geese and hot-air balloonists. A small strip of young riparian forest, dominated by pole-sized red maple and a few larger sycamores, borders the Rivanna and extends downstream to Pen Park. Along the trail to the river a marshy swale is visted by herons foraging for frogs, adding to the biotic diversity of Dunlora.

- contributed by John Zimmerman
(ecologist and neighbor)