Past Events
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
Pitch Pine: Talk & Walk with Emery Gluck
Time: 9:00 - 11:00ish am
Place: Register to learn location, Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Join retired DEEP forester Emery Gluck for a talk and walk to an uncommon stand of pitch pine on the ledges above Selden Creek. Pitch pine, also known as candlewood, was once prevalent on the Connecticut landscape. It provided torches for early settlers (hence the name Candlewood), as well as lumber, tar, and turpentine; and is host to rare wildlife. Now, because of loss of habitat, it is a very uncommon sight. On the site we will visit, pitch pine thrives because of human intervention. Emery Gluck will explain how human forest management promotes the survival of trees like pitch pine.
We will walk ½ mile off-trail with some bush-whacking, partly on private land, to get to the site with a breathtaking overlook of Selden Creek and the CT River, on the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Wear long pants, sturdy shoes and tick protection. Bring your own water. Walking sticks are recommended.
Sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust and Town of Lyme.
Registration required. When you register, you will be told the location to meet: openspace@townlyme.org
Tuesday Trek: Selden Landing
Time: 9:30 -11:30ish am
Place: Selden Landing, Selden Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Selden Landing–2.5 acre preserve on Selden Cove. We will walk the short paths at the preserve and then walk on Selden Rd. to the CT River and back. 1.5+ miles. Pull in and park by the Selden Landing sign on Selden Rd.
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.
Fairy House Making
Time: 12:00 pm
Place: Lyme Pubic Library
Contact Email:
Spring is here and the fairies and gnomes of New England need to spruce up their living arrangements!
Come join us at the library where we will be having a fairy house making workshop. This workshop is a wonderful way to engage children (and adults) in the art of fairy house making. Supplies will be provided, but we recommend that you take a walk in the woods and trails throughout Lyme and gather up some more materials that you might want to use to create your fairy home. Just remember to only use bits of the wilderness that have already fallen down the fairies and gnomes don’t like it when their neighborhoods are tampered with!. You can also look around your own home to find little bits and bobs that you might want to add to your fairy house homes.
This workshop is not only for children as when you are done you should have a wonderful fairy house you can use for a centerpiece or to place in your garden, porch or yard.
We will be using hot glue guns in this workshop so it is recommended for children ages 10 and up. Parent super-vision is required at all times during the workshop.
Limited to 20 participants. Please register in advance at programreg@lympl.org
This program is a collaborative effort between the Lyme Public Library and the Lyme Land Trust.
Tuesday Trek: Eno Preserve/Mt Archer Woods
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Mt Archer Preserve parking lot, Mt Archer Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
Presenter: Tony Irving
Eno/Mt Archer–Visit the ruins and see seasonal vistas of the CT River. Meet at Jewett cemetery parking lot, Mt Archer Rd.
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.
