Past Events
Tuesday Trek: Plimpton Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Plimpton Preserve, Sterling City Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Kristina White
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.
Walk and Talk with Pete Picone: Native Plants at Hartman Park-Fall Colors
Time: 1:30-3:30 pm
Place: Hartman Park, Field Entrance, Gungy Rd. Lyme, Hartman Park, Field Entrance, Gungy Rd. Lyme CT, Pull off road near gate about ½ mile north of the main entrance.
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Join Pete Picone, CT DEEP wildlife biologist, for a tour of the pollinator meadow, surrounding shrub-land, and forest in Hartman Park to experience the fall beauty of native plants. Learn how to make a difference for wildlife by planting and nurturing natives, and managing invasives in your own back yard.
Co-sponsored with the Lyme Pollinator Pathway.
Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org
Hiking Club for Middle Schoolers
Time: 3:15-4:45 pm
Place: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve, Brush Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
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.
Opossums – Peaceful Co-existence with Backyard Wildlife
Time: 7 pm
Place: Lyme Public Hall, 249 Hamburg Rd. , Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
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.
This program is co-sponsored with the Lyme Public Library, with funding from the Lyme Land Trust,
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
Masks are required inside the building for all except the speaker.
Registration required: openspace@townlyme.org
Tuesday Trek: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve
Time: 9:30 -11:30ish am
Place: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve, Brush Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve–Meet at the Brush Hill Road parking lot. We will walk along the purple trail on the new boardwalk and take the old Platt Road path to the Selden cemetery– 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.
Fire! Talk & Walk to Learn about the Burn in Nehantic State Forest
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Place: Nehantic State Forest, Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
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
Tuesday Trek: Thach Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish am
Place: Thach Preserve, 131 Brush Hill Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
Presenter: Tony Irving
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.
Walk with Joe Standart, Photographer–Imagining Lyme
Time: 8:00-10:00 am
Place: Thach Preserve, Brush Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: education@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
Wildflower Walk for Families
Time: 9:30-11:00 am
Place: Pleasant Valley Preserve, MacIntosh Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: sue.cope@lymelandtrust.org
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.
Autumnal Equinox Forest Bathing
Time: 4:00-5:30 pm
Place: Banningwood Preserve, 19 Town St. Lyme, CT
Contact Email: regan@reganstacey.com
Welcome in the autumn equinox and feel centered and grounded for the season ahead.
Join us in honoring the autumnal equinox as we turn towards the light within and restore balance for the season ahead. On this first day of fall, enjoy a mindfully guided walk through Banningwood Preserve as we awaken the senses and the body – connecting with the cycles of nature and all of life.
The walk concludes with a guided nature meditation in Diana’s field followed by a wild-foraged tea.
Folding stools are available for your use, or bring along your own stool or sit mat.
The walk is about 1-mile over easy to moderate terrain.
Rain or shine.
Registration required. $27 per person, Click here to register.
Lyme Land Trust members receive 15% off with the discount code LLT15.
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
