The Attleboro Council on Aging Hiking Group visited the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve on June 22.  The popular weekly event is coordinated by Juliet Teixeira, vice president of the Attleboro Land Trust (in the green Hike Attleboro T-shirt).

Hikers on the Wyman Loop Trail as it crosses the Lower Hayfield at the Richardson Preserve.

For more information, contact the Larson Senior Center at 774-203-1906.

For almost three decades, the trail at the Colman Reservation was an “out and back” trail.  Visitors entering the property from the parking lot on Steere Street could walk to the Giant Hemlock, or further, but to get back to parking lot they had to turn around and go back they way they came.  All that has changed with the completion of a new section of trail that makes it possible to hike a loop that begins and ends at Steere Street.

The design and clearing of the trail was spearheaded by Dave Rolince, who volunteers as a site steward for the Colman Reservation.  Because the new trail crosses wetlands, several boardwalks were necessary.  Starting in the fall of 2021, Scout Zachary Dorrance of Troop 25 carried out an Eagle project that involved constructing the boardwalks.

Zachary assembled a crew of volunteers that did the bulk of the construction work last November.  He returned with his crew in April to finish the boardwalks and make other trail improvements.  Zachary also organized a fundraiser to cover the costs of materials for the project.

The Attleboro Land Trust is grateful to Zachary and his volunteers for the hard work they put into this much-appreciated improvement to the Colman Reservation.