Annual Meeting Focuses on “Hike Attleboro”
Trail advocate Don Burn brought his vision to a full house at the Attleboro Land Trust’s annual meeting on October 22. Burn was the driving force behind a network of trails in Westborough, Massachusetts, known as the “Charm Bracelet.” His words helped to energize a similar effort underway locally dubbed “Hike Attleboro.” The Attleboro Land Trust, Mass Audubon, and the City of Attleboro each own and manage conservation lands with walking trails in the city. Hike Attleboro will use a common logo and roadside signs to direct residents to these trails.
The Westborough Charm Bracelet was driven by Burn’s vision to “Connect with trails every public open space parcel and recreation area in Westborough to every neighborhood and to the adjoining towns.” This neatly coincides with a similar vision in Attleboro’s 2011 Comprehensive Plan of walkable neighborhoods with public parks within a 10-minute walk.
Don Burn points out one of the benefits of walking in the woods. Image credit: Ken Salome
Burn touted the many benefits of walking trails, including research that indicates a strong connection between time spent in nature and reduced levels of stress and anxiety. He emphasized the importance of partnerships in attempting a project of the scale of the Charm Bracelet, which included participation by civic organizations, youth groups, businesses, landowners, developers, and many municipal boards and departments.
Hike Attleboro is now in the design stage. Volunteers with the following skills are needed: WordPress site development, computer graphics, GIS mapping, real estate, and civil engineering. Later stages will involve more on-site work involving evaluation of natural features and trail design. Contact us if you would like to get involved.
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Would you like to help steward one of our sites?
A site steward is a volunteer who “adopts” one of the Attleboro Land Trust nature preserves, individually or with a group, such as a group of neighbors, church group, youth group, or fraternal organization.
Duties of a site steward:
- Walk the property on a regular basis
- Pick up litter
- Report vandalism and violations of ALT regulations
- Help with routine trail maintenance
- Assist with special projects
If you would like to find out more please contact us at attleborolandtrust@gmail.com or by using our Contact page.
News About Your Land Trust and More
Click below to read our monthly electronic newsletter, intended for distribution over social media, that includes news of what is happening at our conservation properties, as well as general conservation topics. There are also articles on Attleboro history, with a focus on the Barrows Farm (now the Richardson Preserve) and what seasonal tasks the Barrows family might have been working on as they derived their living from this land 300 years ago. News of the Attleboro Community Garden is also a regular feature.
This publication is being produced by the Education and Outreach Committee of the Attleboro Land Trust, local volunteers, and some of the classes at Attleboro High School.
Contact us if you would like to subscribe to the email version of this newsletter.