Welcome

The Attleboro Land Trust is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to keeping Attleboro green.

	Join us! Support us! Membership dues of $25 or donations in any amount may be made online to the Attleboro Land Trust at PayPal.
	You don't need a PayPal account-- just a credit card.
	Other ways to get involved are by mail or email.

Site Stewards Wanted

photo: Charlie Adler

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
• Help with routine trail maintenance
• Assist with special projects

If you are interested, contact us.

Fall Colors at the Phil and Ginny Leach Wildlife Sanctuary

	photos: Charlie Adler

Our 24th Annual Meeting Held on October 21

The focus of our annual meeting was the Handy Street Acquisition Project. Eighty acres of conservation land has been purchased by the City of Attleboro, in a collaborative effort involving the Attleboro Land Trust and Mass Audubon, with additional funding by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Augat Foundation, and the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation. Mayor Kevin Dumas and the city's Director of Planning and Development Gary Ayrassian were on hand to explain how the project came together and what's next. Then the city's Conservation Agent Tara Martin and ecologist Liz Newlands showed photos of some of the property's unique natural features.

The Last Piece of a Beautiful Puzzle

by Ted Leach, ALT president

The exciting news at the Land Trust is that we are working together with the City of Attleboro and the Mass Audubon Society on finalizing the language for a Conservation Restriction on 80 superb acres of open land linking the Attleboro Springs 117 acres with city-owned forest land stretching all the way to Locust Street and Oak Hill Avenue. This piece of the puzzle creates one continuous block of wild land close to the heart of downtown Attleboro totaling nearly 500 acres.

Following the very successful collaboration between the Attleboro Land Trust, the Mass Audubon Society, and the City of Attleboro, the Land Trust and the Audubon will jointly own a conservation restoration permanently protecting these 80 acres, while the City will this time own the land itself. A Land Trust capital campaign raised $50,000 in twin grants from the Augat Foundation and the Balfour Foundation to make this possible. Mass Audubon raised another $11,000 as well. Together, we have already been able to contribute a survey of the property and a first rate Environmental Baseline description of the property, including important flora and fauna there.

This is exciting because of the potential for developing a wonderful trail system for hikers, and even for a handicapped accessible trail. It also preserves Attleboro’s largest intact range of wild land so important to many species of animals for their survival. A tributary of the Thacher Brook winds through the property on its way to join the Ten Mile River, and then Narragansett Bay. There is a small but beautiful pond on the property as well as several large specimen white oak trees. While there’s much work yet to be done, this will be an environmental jewel for generations in the Attleboros.

We congratulate Mayor Kevin Dumas and head of Planning and Conservation Gary Aryassian on their foresight and hard work in making this a reality and putting that finishing piece in a wonderful puzzle.

Some Interesting Websites

A Life in Kodachrome Artist Kalliope Amorphous has acquired a collection of Kodachrome photographs taken by Martha Nickerson, the Attleboro school librarian who donated the property that is now the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve. Martha spent many years teaching abroad before returning to her home in Attleboro. Kalliope has lovingly curated the photographs and created an amazing website with images of snake charmers in Marrakesh, children at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and an outdoor market in London.
Blue Bird Project at Nickerson Scout Eric Carey has begun an Eagle Project at the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve, the purpose of which is conservation of blue birds. He has built and installed several blue bird nest boxes in the meadow and he is now monitoring them to see if any blue birds (or competitors) take up residence.  He has created a website where he will post his observations. If you observe any activity by birds, bird predators, or any wildlife, you are invited to post your own observations at this site.
Everytrail.com This cell phone app allows users to map our trails and post their maps on the Internet. Users can also upload photos and pin them to the locations where they were taken. This technology could help the ALT more accurately map our trails and monitor our boundaries. There are some other apps and websites with similar capabilities. Let us know if you have a favorite.
Trails and Walks in Rhode Island This informative, well-maintained, award-winning site profiles several trails in Attleboro, including the Colman Reservation, the Vaughan Memorial Forest, Oak Knoll, Attleboro Springs, and Manchester Reservoir.

For All That We Accomplish, We Have Our Volunteers to Thank!

Thanks to everyone who helped with various clean-ups and maintenance activities that we have held at our properties over the past few months.

Volunteers (from left to right) Larry Cote, Russell Pray, and Roger Limoges helped at a recent clean-up at Larson Woodland on June 21.

If you would like to be notified of ongoing and upcoming volunteer opportunities, please let us know by email.

Our Fall Newsletter

If you did not receive a copy of our newsletter in the mail (a member benefit), you can download one here.

Thanks to all who support our mission of conservation and environmental education!

The Attleboro Land Trust is grateful for the support we have received over the past year from our corporate sponsors and from individual donors.

2014 Corporate and Foundation Sponsors

Attleboro Foundation/Bank of America, N.A.

Augat Foundation

Biogen Idec Foundation

Briggs Garden and Home

Checon Corporation

Colonel Blackinton Inn (A C Restaurants)

Cryan Landscape Contractors, Inc.

E. F. Leach and Company

Gilmore Insurance

Glines and Rhodes, Inc.

James M. Lewis P.C.

Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation

Plastic Craft Novelty Co., Inc.

Precision Engineering Products/PEP Industries

Russell Morin Fine Catering

Sensata Technologies, Inc.

WalMart

2014 Individual Donors

Land Trust Benefactors ($1000-2499)

Bob and Pam Faulkner

Ray Larson

Don and Laura Ouellette

Trail Blazers ($500-999)

Carole and Richard Harris

Linda LeStage

William and Donna Lewis

Michael and Patricia Murphy

Mike and Lynne O'Brien

Protectors of Flora and Fauna ($250-499)

Tim and Gloria McGinn

Anne and Mike Newquist

Take a Walk in Our Woods

This recently published guide to walking trails in Attleboro is designed to appeal to kids and their families. Contact us for a free copy.

This publication was created by educator and ALT Board Member Melissa Riley in collaboration with Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary and the Attleboro Conservation Commission.  It was funded by a generous donation by Al Walker in memory of his dear friend Barbara Corrigan.

Local Links

Check out these web sites for more local green events and activities...

Attleboro Area Community Garden

Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary

Attleboro Springs Wildlife Sanctuary