As environmental practitioners, one of our common tasks is to communicate to an audience a landscape description of the area – the environment – in which we are working. Whether we call it Project Area in an environmental assessment document, Environmental Setting in an engineering report, or Study Area in a scientific paper, this characterization of the land is a fundamental part of communicating to our audience. The account that we develop is important, providing the context for the reader to understand our work and, most importantly, our findings.
To maximize the impact of this description it is important to recognize that people are, by nature, highly imaginative and visual animals; when we describe an area to our audience we can – nay, we should – create a picture in the reader’s mind’s eye. People care about what they see (hence the truism “Out of sight, out of mind”), and thus we can persuade most effectively when we create that clear picture in our reader’s mind. This description must start with our field notes. So, how do we capture the scenery and terrain in our notes to allow us to paint that picture in the reader’s mind?
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Documenting vs. Describing: Start from the Ground Up
In our field notes we are typically taught to document features and conditions, but rarely are we encouraged to describe them. I would like, dear reader, to introduce you to describing as well as simply documenting. We will examine this in the same order that I do in the field or in my writing: from the ground up.
The Ground: Terrain, Geology, and Water
The terrain, the relief of the land, sets the stage for all aspects of your landscape description. From the image that you develop in a few lines describing the terrain and scenery, all subsequent description flows. For example, “undulating small hills” sets a very different stage from “dissected level areas” or from “pit-and-mound topography”. To the knowledgeable reader (and we always respect our reader by assuming they are knowledgeable) these short phrases of three or four words conjure up specific images from their experience in the field: they can place themselves in that setting. When describing terrain we want to include:
- Location: Where is the area you are describing? Is it in a valley bottom, mid slope, upper reaches of a mountain, alpine… what is its elevation?
- Levelness: Is the landscape level, plain, smooth, or hilly, undulating, pit-and-mound, mountainous? Is it high or low relief?
- Homogeneity: Is the area under consideration all similar or is it dissected by hills and valleys? Is it broken by outcrops and cliffs? Is the terrestrial landscape interrupted by waterways and roads?
- In winter: What are the snow conditions? What is depth of snow, type of snow (fresh powder, icy crust, slushy melting snow), and how long since last significant snowfall?
- Geology and soils are important. Are there rock exposures (indicating thin soil)? Presence of erratics or another glacial feature? Geologic dikes intruding into other bedrock? For the soils we want to comment on the structure and texture (rocky, sandy, silty, loamy, organic) and drainage (saturated, well drained, poorly drained). Are slopes slumping or stable? Are there expanses unvegetated?
Water Features:
Not all sites have water, but if yours does it needs to be described. Is it a wetland (and if so, which type?), a pond, a lake, a stream? Are there more than one? How big is it? How distributed are these features across your area of interest? What is the stage and channel morphology of the stream?
Together the relief, the geology, the soils, and the water describe the ground-level scenery upon which the reader is standing in their imagination. We want them on solid ground. We are now going to clothe that ground.
The Vegetation: Overstory and Understory
Vegetation communities throughout most of North America are complex mosaics; the challenge is to reduce each to an easily communicated, yet meaningful, description of the site’s scenery. To do this, consider:
Overstory:
These are the trees. We want to describe these in terms of:
(i) forest type, (ii) age, and (iii) density. So, we might describe an area as “isolated young white spruce with occasional ancient, cultivated apple trees on edge of clearing adjacent to mature maple-oak forest” rather than “deciduous forest next to cleared land”.
- Is it a deciduous forest? What are the dominant species?
- Is it coniferous or mixed-wood?
- Is it homogenous over a large extent or patchy?
Understory:
While the overstory may be composed of tens of species, the understory may comprise scores. This complicates the challenge of determining what is important to include in the landscape description. My approach is to note:
- Dominant species
- Wildlife or culturally important species
- Indicator species
- Invasives and species at risk
Linking Terrain and Vegetation
Now, in your description, link the vegetation to the terrain. Is there a change in community between the level grounds and the valleys? Between south and north-facing slopes? Does that pit-and-mound topography change as you move from the deciduous maple-oak forest into the pine-fir community? What is the role of water distribution and availability in affecting observed plant distribution?
The forest and the landscape are intimately intertwined—do your field notes show some of those connections?
The Wildlife: Signs, Sounds, and Species
In wandering your site, noting the terrain, the ground, the water, and the vegetation, don’t forget to pay attention to wildlife.
- Look for visual sightings of birds and mammals
- Watch for signs of cryptic or uncommon species
- Listen for birds and amphibians calling—or their absence
As with plants, we are paying particular attention to culturally important species, invasives, and species at risk.
Final Thoughts: From Field Notes to Scenery in the Mind’s Eye
Your landscape description then comes from the notes you’ve collected in the field on all the described attributes. In your description, again, to develop that image in the reader’s mind, appeal to your senses. Describe it visually, auditorily, and olfactorily. Your notes simply remind you of what the site looked, sounded, and smelled like—you want to translate those so the reader can see and feel the same things you did when standing on site.
Note the use of verbs in the above text to describe a site: things are dissected, interrupted, undulating, broken. These are powerful words implying rapid changes between conditions. If I observed smooth and gradual changes, I might use words such as blending, joining, transitioning, etc. The verbs allow me to indicate the sharpness of transitions. Words are your strongest ally in your writing; use them strategically and well.
I trust, dear reader, that some of these suggestions will ring true with you. We all must determine our own style, of course, but I hope to, at the very least, point you in a useful direction. For as George Bernard Shaw said,
“I am not a teacher: only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead – ahead of myself as well as you.”
~Sean Mitchell
About the Author
Sean Mitchell has worked in biology and impact assessment since 1987, gaining diverse experience in four Canadian provinces (BC, NS, NB, NL). He has worked on various projects, ranging from fieldwork to experimental biomechanics, environmental impact analysis, fisheries management, biogeography, and data analysis, covering a wide range of ecosystems from forests to ocean. With a deep passion for the natural world, Sean finds joy in exploring its wonders and has a special love for the great outdoors.
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