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Recording Landscape Changes through Time

December 21, 2025

By: Erin Parker, Interpretive Services Supervisor

Photo stations like this one at Willow Metropark have a bracket to hold a cell phone so that all images from a particular site are oriented in the same direction to capture the same scene through time. All photos get uploaded and become a piece of a timelapse video of a specific place.

Floods, prescribed burns, tree plantings, meadow installations. The stories of our landscapes are told through change. Changes through time can occur rapidly, such as a prescribed burn in a field that reduces encroaching trees and helps non-indigenous plants from spreading. But changes can also be slow, such as the conversion of turf grass lawn to diverse, flowering pollinator meadow.

One of the tools that we use at your Metroparks to help us track those changes are a series of photo stations, called Chronologs, that allow all park visitors and staff to capture images across the seasons and years at the same place, it the same orientation, and be uploaded to become a timelapse record of change and growth. They’re also an engaging way to explore the parks.

Seasonal fluctuations and natural phenomena

Chronolog photo stations are installed at several locations across six of the Metroparks so far. The locations were selected to capture specific projects or places within the parks.

The Chronolog station, located along the Landscape Trail at Stony Creek captures the seasonal changes to a vernal pool. These important habitats are critical for amphibians like frogs and salamanders. Vernal pools typically dry up enough in the late summer and fall to prevent fish, a major predator of amphibian eggs and larvae, from surviving.

At Stony Creek Metropark, one of our active vernal pools was chosen because of the specific seasonal changes that can be observed as it naturally captures snowmelt and rain water in the spring and then slowly dries up over the summer. Snow fills it again in the winter and starts the process all over again. You can observe the seasonal changes as a timelapse here:
https://www.chronolog.io/site/HCM104

This year’s drought conditions were also captured via the timelapse from the Riley Creek overlook at Lake Erie Metropark. From a marshy creek full of water lilies to a dried mud bed, the changes in the water levels as the summer’ s dry conditions dragged into the fall and winter were all captured via simple cell phone footage for a striking video of natural changes. You can watch the drought encroach and change Riley Creek here: https://www.chronolog.io/site/HCM112

Capturing growth and change of Metroparks’ restoration projects

While many of the photo stations were installed to showcase natural change through the seasons, others were placed to capture changes after a restoration project. Prescribed fire, tree plantings, softened shorelines, creation of pollinator habitat and grow zones- all of these are projects that have been implemented in the Metroparks to protect our water, increase our habitat diversity, manage nonindigenous plants, and more. While the immediate aftermath of some of these projects can seem stark, using photography to capture a timelapse gives a better sense of the actual growth and change through time.

The Chronolog station at Big Bend, along the hike-bike path at Willow Metropark, captures a restoration project to reduce erosion, increase pollinator habitat, and improve water quality in the Huron River.

A major restoration project at Willow Metropark is showcased in a photo station at the Big Bend section of the Huron River, and easily observed from the paved hike-bike path there. The shoreline renovation reduces erosion and sediments from the river, while adding a wildlife-friendly pollinator habitat on the slope. View this restoration project here: https://www.chronolog.io/site/HCM110

At Stony Creek, a piece of the Landscape Trail shows both seasonal changes as well as changes with a prescribed fire plan. The prairie is burned on a multi-year cycle to reduce encroachment of nonindigenous plants and woody trees and shrubs.

Before you head out for an adventure at your Metroparks, check out all the Chronolog stations here: https://www.chronolog.io/map and search for Huron-Clinton Metroparks. Then, add your own photos to the growing timelapse at each site. The directions for uploading are on each station and the more photos that are added, the better the picture that emerges of our Parks through time.

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