Past Events
Lyme Spring Clean-Up
Time: Daylight
Place: All Lyme Roadways
Contact Email: info@LymePublicHall.org
Presenter: The Town of Lyme and the Lyme Public Hall and Local History Archives
Pitch in to clean up litter along the roadways in Lyme. Leave bags by the side of the road for town-wide pick-up.
For your convenience, Free trash and recycling bags, and gloves are available at the Lyme Town Hall, and the Lyme Public Library, and the Hadlyme Country Market.
For more info: Chris McCawley (860) 575-7741 (call or text)
Sponsored by the Lyme Public Hall and Local History Archives and the Town of Lyme.
Earth Day Live Video Screening – Spring Emergence: An Exploration of Wildflowers in Pleasant Valley and Jewett Preserves
Time: 7:00 pm
Place: Zoom Webinar
Contact Email: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
Join us on Earth Day for a Zoom Q & A and live viewing of our enchanting new educational video, Spring Emergence: An Exploration of Wildflowers in Pleasant Valley and Jewett Preserves with Mike Zarfos, naturalist. This is the third in a series of preserve explorations with charismatic naturalist Mike Zarfos. In this 27-minute video filmed May 2, 2021, we learn about the ephemeral native plants that are the first to emerge in our forests. They provide beauty and wonder for us, and vital nourishment for native pollinators.
On Earth day evening, Mike, the writer, and Sue Cope, the editor for the video, will be live for a brief introduction and then for a Q&A after the viewing. Mike is a naturalist and PhD Candidate in Conservation Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Sue Cope is the Environmental Director of the Lyme Land Trust and has experience in documentary film-making. Also involved in the video production was Wendolyn Hill, were Lyme Land Trust Board member and Open Space Coordinator of the Town of Lyme.
To register for the program, email sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org. You will be sent a link a few days before the Zoom event.
The Lyme Land Trust has been working to bring you videos of preserve experiences in this present-day remote learning environment. This video is our second full-length educational video. Check out our other virtual explorations in the Explore tab of our webpage: “Preserve Highlights”, short videos, and “Trail Cam” videos.
To see the plants in real life, join us on one of our wildflower walks on April 30 and May 7, 2022.
Tuesday Trek: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Brockway Hawthorne Preserve, Brush Hill Rd. Lyme Ct
Contact Email: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
Presenter: Tony Irving
Vernal pools are ripe with amphibian eggs this time of year. We’ll look at one of the best I have found and will discuss and observe this initial stage of development of wood frog and spotted salamander. We might talk about other things too. Meet at the Brockway-Hawthorne entrance on Brush Hill 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.
One-Time Tour of Small Scale Private Forest Operation with Emery Gluck
Time: 1:00-3:00 pm
Place: 1 Sisson Rd. Lebanon, CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Join us for a tour of a small scale forestry operation on private family forest and fields owned and managed by retired forester Emery Gluck and his wife Jeannine Gluck. The land is managed to sustain oak forests, bird habitat and wood products by broadcast burning and cutting trees. Since the tour is of private forestland, this is an one time invitation. The walk is moderately easy, from 1 to 1.75 miles, depending upon time.
Watch a video of a controlled burn at Emery’s property in March 2022.
Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org
Meet at the red barn with “Caution Tractor” signs at the easy to miss junctions of Sisson and Randall Roads, Lebanon. See aerial photo for reference (taken by Joel Stocker). Click on the photo to enlarge it. Note: The red building in the photo is no longer there. The White House belongs to the Gluck’s neighbor. The bridge is out on the southern part of Randall Road.
Sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust and Town of Lyme.
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.
Tuesday Trek: Ravine Trail
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Meet at Mitchell Hill entrance
Contact Email: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Sue Cope
Meet at Mitchell Hill entrance and meander through a transitioning hemlock forest, past a “beaver meadow” and up into the ravine area, filled with fascinating geological features and hints of indigenous peoples. About 1.5 miles.
Contact: 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.
FULL– Old Growth Forests with Joan Maloof
Time: 2:00 pm
Place: Lyme Public Hall, 249 Hamburg Rd, Lyme CT 06371
Contact Email: Education@lymelandtrust.org
Join us for a presentation about the Old Growth Forest Network by Professor Joan Maloof. A Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University, Professor Maloof, founded the Old Growth Forest Network in order to preserve, protect and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forests. This program is of particular importance to regional residents as the Town of Lyme now plays an important role in the United States’ biospheric health as a holder of one of three such designated forests in the state of Connecticut. The Town of Lyme’s Johnston Preserve was designated a future Old Growth Forest in 2021.
Joan Maloof is the author of Treepedia: A Brief Compendium of Arboreal Lore, The Living Forest: A Visual Journey into the Heart of the Woods, Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old-Growth Forests, and Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest and other publications.
Books will not be available for purchase at the talk, but if you bring your pre-purchased book(s), Joan Maloof will sign the book(s) for you after the talk. All books are available from the usual outlets, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble or by ordering from your local bookstore.
To register for this event email Education@lymelandtrust.org. Subject: “Old Growth Forest”
This program is made possible be a generous co-sponsoring project between the and Estuary Magazine, the Friends of the Lyme Public Library, and the Lyme Land Trust in collaboration with the Town of Lyme.
Register to take a walk at Johnston Preserve with Anthony Irving on April 23. For more info.
The Joy of Spring – Forest Bathing
Time: 10:00-12:00 pm
Place: Ravine Trail, Mitchell Hill Rd. Entrance, Lyme CT
Contact Email: regan@reganstacey.com
Revel in the joys of spring on a guided forest bathing walk. Awaken your senses and take in the fresh spring air as we walk along a cascading stream and gently ascend to an overlook. Surprise yourself with all that is emerging and waking up this time of year. The walk is about 1-mile over easy to moderate terrain.
Invitations to connect with nature will be offered along the way. The walk concludes with a wild-foraged tea.
Registration: $32 ~ includes the program and tea.
Lyme Land Trust members receive 15% off with the discount code LLT15.
To register: click here
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
Tuesday Trek: Jewett Preserve
Time: 9:30-11:30ish
Place: Jewett Preserve
Contact Email: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Kristina White
White trail loop to orange trail and back. See some interesting rock walls and formations. About 1.75 miles. Park at the Jewett cemetery entrance, Mt Archer Road.
Contact: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
