Forest bathing is inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku – taking in the forest atmosphere. As a growing global wellness movement, it is backed by nearly 40 years of scientific research on the holistic benefits of immersing yourself in nature. These benefits include reduced stress and blood pressure, increased creativity and focus, improved mood and sleep, and a boost to immune functions.

 Regan Stacey is an artist and environmentalist whose passion is to re-connect humans to nature for the betterment of themselves, their communities, and our planet, Earth.  She is also co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, training forest therapy guides to share this work around the world.  Locally, she is involved in a number of nature-based organizations and facilitates kids’ clubs through the Lyme Land Trust. You can find out more about her work at reganstacey.com   

Join Lyme Pollinator Pathway and Pollinate Old Lyme for a wildflower walk! 

Take a Bee LYME from Spring 2021 to Spring 2022. For more information, click on the poster to enlarge. Kids who attend all four free events will be rewarded with a Lyme Pollinator Pathway t-shirt sponsored by Lymes’ Youth Services Bureau.

Spaces are limited. Sponsored by Lyme Land Trust and LYSB. 

Registration is required: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org. 

You are invited to a walk guided by photographer Joe Standart, to experience the feeling of depth in images. As we explore, Joe will give insight into his creative process for expressing an artistic vision in photography. Joe is an internationally recognized award-winning photographer and a Lyme Land Trust board member.

The walk is part of the Lyme Land Trust amateur photography program: Imagining Lyme – A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves, which encourages people to expand their visual awareness while highlighting the beauty of Lyme Preserves through photographs. Participants will be provided with short, simple non-technical photo-taking tips from Joe Standart. The deadline for submission of photos about “Depth” is October 2 (with a one-week grace period), 2021. Three photos of distinction will be chosen.

To reserve, a space on the walk, email: education@lymelandtrust.org

Thach Preserve. Meet at the parking lot, 131 Brush Hill Rd. Short 1-mile walk, but with lots of ecology to experience and learn about.

To reserve a space: 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.

The Lyme Land Trust program Imagining Lyme: A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves encourages everyone to expand their visual awareness and highlight the beauty of the Lyme preserves owned by the Lyme Land Trust, the Town of Lyme and the Nature Conservancy by taking photographs prompted by inspiration from Joe Standart, a professional photographer and Land Trust Board member. For more information. 

Join retired DEEP forester Emery Gluck for a short talk and walk off-trail on a 17-acre tract of Nehantic State Forest that has been repeatedly burned since 1993. CT DEEP is using controlled burn as a forest management tool. The goal of the burn is to promote an open park-like oak savanna, which was likely prevalent in the pre-settlement forest near Native American camps and villages. Native Americans burned frequently to promote grasses for their game animals, to increase berry production, to facilitate firewood and acorn collection, to reduce pests, for hunting, ease of travel, and many other reasons. The fires killed mostly thin-barked and smaller trees while promoting grasses, forbs, and large trees.

We will walk off-trail through the site. Wear long pants and sturdy shoes. Meet at the small lot on Keeny Rd. 1/4 mile in from Rte 156. Keeny Road is the main forest road. The entrance is on Route 156 (Hamburg Road) just south of Lyme Fire Company Station in Hamburg.

Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org

Hartman Park (Lyme Corner Trails). Meet at the Main Entrance. We will walk on the blue trail up to Chapman Ridge to see the archeological ruins, crossing over a long-forgotten colonial stone bridge along the way. 2+ miles

Reserve a spot: 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.

Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.

Inclement weather cancels.

Learn all about our helpful wildlife friends, the opossums, with Pamela and William Lefferts, wildlife rehabilitators with Ferncroft Wildlife Rescue.

The Lefferts will show a slide show which explains wildlife rehabilitation and the role of rehabbers, with a focus on opossums. At the end of the show, there will be a “meet and greet ” with the stars of the show, live opossum educational ambassadors.

Pamela A. Lefferts is a licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator in CT. Retired after many years in the field of education, Pam is the “hands-on” partner and does the critical medical care of the animals, preparing them for release. William H. Lefferts is a licensed CT Rehabilitator and Transporter.  Bill retired after teaching secondary school moderate to severe special needs children for over 40 years.  Bill helps with socialization and is instrumental in releases.

Always lovers of animals, the Lefferts operated a hobby farm for many years prior to retirement. In 2016 they began the process of becoming Wildlife rehabilitators and in early 2017 they opened Ferncroft Wildlife Rescue.  They believe it is the perfect volunteer opportunity for retirees and love to share their passion and knowledge of how and what “rehabbing” entails. Specializing in opossum, the Lefferts especially enjoy sharing knowledge about these misunderstood gentle creatures.

Meet them on FaceBook

Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org

You are welcome to 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. It meets the second Saturday of each month in a different preserve.

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 Lyme Land Trust 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.

Plimpton Preserve – Meet at the trailhead on Sterling City Rd.  Arduous but short hike to overlook. 1.75 mile loop with some walking on the road.

Contact: Kristina.white@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.

Please join us for this free family-oriented event sponsored every two years by the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Coordinating Committee in celebration of the Eightmile River. Come visit the Lyme Land Trust display.

Bluegrass Music- Eight Mile River Band (of course)
Great Food- chowder, chili, apples, cider, and other sweet treats.
Great Fun- Birds of Prey, Native Reptiles, and more family activities.
Great Information-Displays sponsored by local and state organizations including the Lyme Land Conservation Trust.

Rain cancels. Check eightmileriver.org for updates.

Click on the poster to enlarge it.

Forest bathing is inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku – taking in the forest atmosphere. As a growing global wellness movement, it is backed by nearly 40 years of scientific research on the holistic benefits of immersing yourself in nature. These benefits include reduced stress and blood pressure, increased creativity and focus, improved mood and sleep, and a boost to immune functions.

 Regan Stacey is an artist and environmentalist whose passion is to re-connect humans to nature for the betterment of themselves, their communities, and our planet, Earth.  She is also co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, training forest therapy guides to share this work around the world.  Locally, she is involved in a number of nature-based organizations and facilitates kids’ clubs through the Lyme Land Trust. You can find out more about her work at reganstacey.com   

Banningwood Preserve. Meet at parking lot on Town Street (Rte. 82). Full loop of the preserve beginning with upper red to Parkers Perch, down to Diana’s Field and following all of Yellow along the Roaring Brook before returning on lower red. About 1.5 hrs with some steep grades on the Upper Red trail.

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.

Join award-winning photographer Caryn B. Davis, for a presentation of her landscapes from the natural world to celebrate the submissions and announce the photos of distinction for summer/fall season in the Lyme Land Trust’s photography program, Imagining Lyme. https://imagininglyme.org/

Caryn will show images of gardens and from her recent trips to Antarctica & Yellowstone National Park, and explain how the natural world influences her creative process with particular attention to composition, learning the rules and then breaking them, the artistry of abstract images versus realistic, and how using different focal lengths within the same scene can yield different compositional results.

The next category of the Imagining Lyme program will be based upon her creative process.

For the Imagining Lyme program, the photos that best express a mood or story through a sense of depth will be presented. To see the impressive showcase of all submitted photos go to: http://imagininglyme.org/galleries/

To register for the program, email education@lymelandtrust.org

Caryn B. Davis is a Lyme resident who has specialized in architecture, interiors, garden and travel photography for over 20 years. Her career has spanned the globe taking her to over 50 countries. She is also a prolific writer with articles that have been featured in the New York Times, Town & Country, Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, Fine Art Connoisseur, New Zealand Geographic, and others. Caryn has produced two commissioned photography books, A Connecticut Christmas: Celebrating the Holiday in Classic New England Style, and the  newly published Connecticut Waters: Celebrating Our Coastline and Waterways. She is currently working on her third book due out in 2023.

Pleasant Valley Preserve. Meet at MacIntosh Rd. Parking lot. Walk and talk as to the effects of glacial processes on historic and use.

To reserve a space: 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, 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.

GNOME HUNT: Visit Pleasant Valley Preserve on your own. Follow the dots on the map to find the four gnomes. Use a pen or pencil to connect the dots to make an X. The sleepy bear will be found in the location indicated by the center of the X.
Directions: From the Halls Rd (Rte 1)/Rte 156 traffic light, travel north 6.5 miles. Take a left on Macintosh Rd. The pull-in parking lot is about 1/4 mile on the right.

Download the Gnome Hunt Map with gnome locations and instructions.

FAERY QUEST: Visit Hartman Park on your own. Follow the dots on the map to find the four Faeries. Use a pen or pencil to connect the dots to make an X. The sleepy bear will be found in the location indicated by the center of the X.
Directions: From the Halls Rd (Rte 1)/Rte 156 traffic light, travel north 6.5 miles. Take a right onto Beaver Brook Rd. Travel 2.7 miles. Take a right onto Gungy Rd. The parking lot is about 1.1 miles on the right.

Download the Faery Quest Map with Faery locations and instructions.

Please don’t remove the objects. Take photos! We’d love to see them. Email them to: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org.  Everyone is welcome. The hunt will be available indefinitely.

This was an offering for the Lyme Youth Service Bureau UNPLUGGED ! LYSB Screen-free Weekend in Lyme/Old Lyme March 6&7 2021. For more regional offerings.

You are welcome to 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. It meets the second Saturday of each month in a different preserve.

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 Lyme Land Trust 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.

With Paul Colburn, Master Wildlife Conservationist. Paul Colburn will provide strategies for co-existence with coyotes. He’ll also focus on the history of coyotes in CT and give an overview of habitat, diet, behavior, and reproduction.

This program is co-sponsored with the Friends of the Lyme Public Library.

To register:  giaconiajw@comcast.net

You are welcome to 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. It meets the second Saturday of each month in a different preserve.

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 Lyme Land Trust 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.

Meet them on FaceBook

Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org