Past Events
Bird Walk in a Young Forest with Audubon and Lyme Land Trust
Time: 9:00-11:00 am
Place: Slawson Preserve and Rabbits' Rest Preserve, Lyme CT, Meet at Lyme Consolidated School, 478 Hamburg Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org
A rich diversity of wildlife species depends on young forests, but this habitat type is uncommon in our region that is dominated by older woodlands. Come see and hear the difference for yourself on an expert-led bird walk at Lyme Land Trust’s Slawson and Rabbits’ Rest Preserves! While these unique preserves lack marked trails for hiking, both have been managed to support wildlife that depends on early successional habitats like young forest. Expected species include Blue-winged Warbler, Prairie Warbler, American Redstart, Eastern Towhee, Indigo Bunting, and Yellow Warbler, and the observations of species we encounter will be shared on eBird, a community science platform for birders, researchers, and conservationists.
This program is co-led by Connecticut Audubon Society’s Conservation and Education Coordinator Joe Attwater and Lyme Land Trust’s Environmental Director Jim Arrigoni, and is made possible with the support of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology Land Trust Grants Program.
Cost is free but space is limited and registration is required. Please email Jim to register at jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org.
Directions: Meet at 478 Hamburg Road in the parking lot of Lyme Consolidated School, where we will consolidate cars and drive three minutes to trailhead located on a private driveway. While the terrain is gentle-to-moderate, the unimproved trails call for sturdy shoes with ankle support. Walking sticks recommended.
Tuesday Trek: Banningwood Preserve – Jim
Time: 9:00
Place: Meet at parking lot on Rt. 82.
Contact Email: Jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Jim
Mostly gentle 2-mile walk through floodplain and upland forests and check out the native plant restoration project between Roaring Creek and the Red Trail.
Register: Jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Tree Collective- Teen Hike and Steward Group Meet-up
Time: 1:30 -3:30 pm
Place: Register to learn location
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
The Tree Collective is a program designed to engage young conservationists ages 14-18 in outdoor fun and education while working to maintain trails in our beautiful town of Lyme, CT. It is sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust under the leadership of environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey. Each time we meet, we offer a different topic, often with a hike and trail work in a selected preserve.
Tools and gloves provided.
Registration required: reganstacey@gmail.com.
Click on flyer to enlarge.
Tour de Lyme 2025
Time: starting at 7 am
Place: Ashlawn Farms, Bill Hill Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Lyme Land Conservation Trust
Please join us for the annual Tour de Lyme cycling event with beautifully scenic routes for all ages and levels. We’re looking forward to seeing you!
Registration begins January 8!
For more information, visit the Tour de Lyme webpage:
The Lyme Land Trust inaugurated Tour de Lyme in 2013 as an annual bike ride to raise funds to support its mission of preserving and protecting environmentally important land in Lyme.
Tuesday Trek: Chestnut Hill Preserve/Nehantic State Forest to Uncas Lake and back – Wendy
Time: 9:00 am
Place: Roadside parking at Chestnut Hill entrance, Sterling Hill Rd, Lyme
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Chestnut Hill Preserve/Nehantic State Forest to Uncas Lake and back. We’ll look for spring ephemeral plants, and check out the recent forest management in Nehantic along the way. About 2.5 miles. Roadside parking at Chestnut Hill entrance, Sterling Hill Rd, Lyme
Register: openspace@townlyme.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Family Trail Time with Tori–Hartman Park
Time: 10:00 am
Place: Pleasant Valley Preserve, MacIntosh Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: vharris1391@gmail.com
Presenter: Tori Harris
Walk the Family Faery Quest Loop, search for fairies and visit the Fairy Circle. Click here to see the Faery Quest map. Meet at the Main entrance to Hartman Park on Gungy Rd.
Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit!
Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register.
Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 4 yrs, and Quinn, 1 yr. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!
For more information about the preserves and directions.
Tour Mt Archer Woods Bird-friendly Sugarbush with a Forester
Time: 9:30 -11:30 am
Place: Mt. Archer Woods, Mt. Archer Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Audubon
Mt Archer Woods, a town-owned preserve in Lyme, has been recognized by Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Maple program for forest management that supports songbirds in the sugarbush, the forest area where maple sap is collected by Fat Stone Farm. In celebration of this honor, Audubon forester Rosa Goldman will lead a tour to explain the Bird-Friendly Maple program and how Mt Archer came to be recognized. We will visit various examples of habitat, and learn about the birds they support.
Space is limited on the walk. Please Register: openspace@townlyme.org
Through the Bird-Friendly Maple project (a collaborative effort between Audubon, Cornell, the New York State Maple Producers Association, and the Maple Syrup Producers Association of Connecticut), the Mount Archer Woods sugarbush is managed in ways that provide more resilient bird habitat. An Audubon bird habitat assessment and recommendations for future management are provided for each property in the program.
Fat Stone Farm has been collecting organic sap from the maple trees on an approximately 32-acre area in Mt Archer Woods for ten years through a lease agreement with the Town of Lyme. Fat Stone Farm is located in Lyme, a short distance (as the crow flies) from the Preserve. Their syrup is available in local stores, at farmers markets, and online. Mt Archer Woods is a 275-acre preserve that is part of a larger block of about 2000 acres of preserved property including the River-to Ridges-Preserves and conservation easements on adjacent private properties.
Co-sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust and Town of Lyme.
Astronomy Observing Session
Time: 9:00pm - 11:00pm
Place: Trail 53 Observatory
Contact Email: astronomy@lymelandtrust.org
CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER!
Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.
Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.
For more information and to register: Astronomy Events
Conservation of Stone Walls with Robert Thorson
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: Lyme Public Hall, 249 Hamburg Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
Stone wall interpretation provides new opportunities to thread together historical, archaeological, aesthetic, geological, and ecological interests. Historically, the walls are important adjuncts to the thousands of historic houses and buildings, cemeteries, battlegrounds, and monuments throughout the region. Archaeologically, they are above-ground ruins. Aesthetically, they convey essential themes in literature and art. Psychologically, they provide boundaries in space and time. Geologically, they are signature land forms for the Anthropocene epoch, the counterpart to the babbling brooks, inland wetlands, coastal dunes, kettle ponds, and bedrock ledges of the postglacial Holocene Epoch. Ecologically, they create dry lands as porous, elevated, and elongate volumes of surface stone that drain quickly.
These words by Robert Thorson convey the importance of New England’s unique stone walls, and he is the authoritative expert, having written the book Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls back in 2002. His urgent mission is the preservation of these ubiquitous structures: a step wise approach to the conservation and interpretation of New England’s stone walls that considers these diverse values while also remaining respectful of the presence of Indigenous stonework in the landscapes. We invite you to come and explore these ideas with Dr. Thorson in this fascinating talk – it’s one you won’t want to miss! Learn more. Conserving the Historic Stone Walls of New England by Robert Thorson.
Robert Thorson has advised countless federal, state, and town governments, non-profit historical societies, conservation groups, law practices, and private landowners. In a 2023 Smithsonian essay he linked the history of stone walls to literature, ecology, climate change and geoscience, an article selected by the History News Network for the “Best History Writing of 2023.” At the University of Connecticut, he coordinates the Stone Wall Initiative as scholarly engagement within the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. For three decades he’s been a stump evangelist for the preservation of New England’s historic landscapes.
Co-sponsored with the Lyme Public Hall
Tuesday Trek: Ravine Trail and Brockway Hawthorne Preserve – Kristina
Time: 9:00 am
Place: Meet at Selden Creek Preserve parking on Joshuatown Road
Contact Email: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Kristina
Meet at Selden Creek Preserve parking on Joshuatown Road. We will walk up the ravine, to the overlooks and then circle back through Brockway Hawthorne. 2.5 miles. Arduous in some areas.
Register: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
