Past Events
Tuesday Trek: Banningwood Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Banningwood Preserve. 19 Town Street (Rte. 82), Lyme CT
Contact Email: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Sue Cope
Begin on lower red trail along Roaring Brook into the wooded wetlands and floodplain area. Follow red as we move up through Diana’s Field and into the upland woodlands of the preserve with noticeable signs of their agricultural past. About 1.75 miles.
To reserve a space: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, Tony Irving, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Inclement weather cancels.
Sapling Club-Outside Play for Elementary School-Aged Kids
Time: 1:30-3:00 pm
Place: Banningwood Preserve, 19 Town Street, Lyme CT
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
Join our hiking group for elementary school-aged children. Enjoy free play in the forest with friends! We meet up each month from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 pm at Banningwood Preserve. Parents are welcome to stay or drop-off.
The Sapling Club is limited to 15 participants per meet-up.
Registration required, please contact Regan Stacey at reganstacey@gmail.com.
The club is organized by volunteer Regan Stacey who has children in the LOL school district.
Environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey currently runs the Tree Collective, a program for teens. She owns Awaken the Forest Within, a mindfulness-based practice that helps [re]connect people to nature for the betterment of themselves and the earth
To learn more about the Lyme Land Trust’s educational programs.
Hiking Club for Middle Schoolers
Time: 11:00 am-1:00 pm
Place: Register to learn the location. A different preserve each week.
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
Join our group for middle school-aged children. Come hike the trails! Every month the hike will be an adventure to explore the natural world at a different preserve. Get out and be curious!
Bring lunch!
Registration required, email reganstacey@gmail.com.
Environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey currently runs the Tree Collective, a program for teens, and the Middle School Hiking Club. She offers forest bathing and mindful nature connection in the local area as well as co-founding The Forest Therapy School.
Lyme Nix the Knotweed Days
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Place: May 13-Whalebone Cove, May 14-Reed Landing, Old Hamburg Rd, Joshua Pond
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Join our work party for the second year to remove invasive knotweed and learn to control Knotweed on your own property. Better yet, organize your own neighborhood Nix the Knotweed Day! We are in our second year of tackling the knotweed using the “method of 3s”: cut knotweed down to the ground and bag the plant material; 3 chops this growing season (May, mid-July, and mid-August) We will repeat this for 3 years to take care of the knotweed for good without using herbicide. The cuttings must be carefully disposed of since each little piece will regrow into a new plant. We will fully solarize all plant material in the bags to kill it.
And participate in an exciting new project! On Saturday, May 14 at Reed Landing, we will install native plants in a dry swale rain garden under the direction of New England Pollinator Gardens. Come help and Learn about how to create native garden in your own yard. This project is made possible with grant form the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Coordinating Committee.
Bring work gloves. For knotweed removal, bring clippers or loppers. We’ll provide the bags! For garden work, bring hand edger, shovel, and/or mattock. Bring your own water bottle. Snacks will be provided.
Please register:
Friday, May 13 at Whalebone Cove: trughouse@comcast.net
Saturday, May 14 at Reed Landing and Old Hamburg Road.: Openspace@townlyme.org
Sponsored by the Town of Lyme, Lyme Pollinator Pathway, Friends of Whalebone Cove, and Lyme Land Trust.
Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant which crowds out native plants that pollinators and other wildlife depend upon for survival. For a brochure on Nix the Knotweed Method of 3s.
Learn and Plant–Rain Garden at Reed Landing
Time: 9:30-11:30 am
Place: Reed Landing, Old Hamburg Rd, Lyme
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
We have exciting news. We are installing a dry swale rain garden on Reed Landing, the small open space property owned by the Town of Lyme on the bank of the Eightmile River, at the corner Joshuatown Road and Old Hamburg Road. With the professional help of New England Pollinator Gardens, we are asking volunteers to join us to plant the garden and learn all about the process of creating a native plant garden, where to place it, how to prepare the ground, and the plants to choose.During the same time, we will be nixing knotweed and other invasives at Reed Landing, Old Hamburg Rd, Joshua Pond.
Bring hand edger, shovel, and/or mattock. Bring your own water bottle.
Please register:openspace@townlyme.org
Why plant a dry swale rain garden? Dry swale rain gardens are designed to slow the velocity of stormwater runoff from roads and other impermeable surfaces, to filter pollution, and control erosion. These native plantings not only protect water quality, but also provide habitat for a variety of pollinators, including bees, birds, butterflies and their larva, wasps, and other wildlife. Many native insects depend upon specific native plants for survival. And birds depend upon these insects for food.
Pollinator Pathway (LPP) is an initiative of the Lyme SustainableCT Committee, which is appointed by the Lyme Board of Selectmen. Partners are Lyme Land Trust, Lyme Garden Club, and Friends of Whalebone Cove. The Eightmile Wild and Scenic Committee is providing funding for the project.
Tuesday Trek: Selden Creek Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Selden Creek Preserve parking lot, Joshuatown Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
Presenter: Tony Irving
Spring is popping so we’ll be looking at plants and trees and how they fit into the various landscapes the preserve has to offer. Parking is at the preserve entrance on Joshuatown Road.
Contact: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, Tony Irving, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Inclement weather cancels.
Spring Emergence – A Walk in Search of Wildflowers
Time: 9:30-11:30 am
Place: Pleasant Valley/Jewett Preserve, Park at the Parking lot on McIntosh Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
Join Sue Cope and Wendy Hill on a walk to see the spring ephemerals, the first wildflowers to emerge in our woods. These plants are able to take advantage of the sunlight in the short time after the earth warms up and before the leaves in the tree canopy open to shade the forest floor. They then disappear back into the earth as spring progresses into summer. These beautiful delicate flowers provide an early source of nectar and pollen for bees and other insects.
Registration required. sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
Please leave your pets at home for this event. Thank you.
Sue Cope is the Environmental Director of the Lyme Land Trust and a UConn Master Gardener. Wendy Hill is Open Space Coordinator of the Town of Lyme and Vice President of the Lyme Land Trust. Wendy and Sue are co-chairs of the Lyme Pollinator Pathway.
Before you come on the walk, you can see many of the plants we will encounter by watching our enchanting new educational video, Spring Emergence: An Exploration of Wildflowers in Pleasant Valley and Jewett Preserves with Mike Zarfos, naturalist.
Prioritizing the Pollinators
Time: 1:00-3:00 pm
Place: Lyme Grange Hall, Hamburg Fair Grounds, 2 Sterling City Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email:
What’s the Buzz all about?
Are you a new or experienced beekeeper? An energetic gardener or flower enthusiast?
The Hamburg Fair Association in cooperation with the Lyme Pollinator Pathway is hosting a presentation on land use practices that can enhance agriculture and a presentation on beekeeping in CT with Steve Dinsmore, past president of the Connecticut Beekeepers Association.
The presentation will include a viewing of Doug Tallamy’s presentation “Restoring the Little Things That Run the World” – an impactful talk that reviews modifications in land use practices that can enhance agriculture and sustain the diverse bee and animal communities which feed on them.
The video will be followed by a very special in-person presentation about the problems with beekeeping in Connecticut. Steve will discuss the history of beekeeping and the importance of beekeeping in today’s world. He will also cover the threats that bees are facing today as well as the importance of utilizing a native landscape in order to create an ideal bee-friendly environment.
This afternoon presentation will coincide with the Lyme Granges’ Annual Plant Sale from 9:00-1:00pm. This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Register online.
Tuesday Trek: Chestnut Hill Preserve/Nehantic State Park
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Chestnut Hill Preserve/Nehantic State Forest to Uncas Lake and back.
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 along the way. About 2.5 miles. Roadside parking at Chestnut Hill entrance, Sterling Hill Rd, Lyme
Contact: openspace@townlyme.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
Volunteer Work Party to Create a Stone Walkway and More at Johnston Preserve
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Place: Meet at Johnston Preserve parking lot, Rte. 82, Lyme, CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Please join us for a volunteer work party at Johnston Preserve.
Please join us to create a stepping-stone walkway in a seasonally wet area of Johnston Preserve. We are looking for strong people with good backs. Work will be directed by stonemason Ben Kegley.
If there is enough interest, we may also tackle a few less strenuous jobs – especially invasive plant removal.
Please bring good work gloves, good boots, and your own water. We will provide a snack.
For the trail reroute and invasive tackling, we need one light weight chain saw, clippers, and small hand-saws, and shovels, etc.
Let us know which jobs you would like to help with.
Rain cancels.
Please email openspace@townlyme.org if you are planning to come.
