Earth Week Activities for Families
Earth Day is normally celebrated on April 22nd. The Attleboro Land Trust will be stretching its observance into an “Earth Week” with free activities for families from April 19th to 23rd. The activities will be geared to children aged 6 to 13, but all ages are welcome. All children must be accompanied by an adult for the entire duration of the event.
Three time slots will be available on each day of Earth Week. The time slots are 11am-12:15pm, 12:30pm-1:45pm and 2pm-3:15pm. Click on one of the links below to sign up for an activity at your chosen time.
Monday, April 19: “Slow Down and Look Around #1” Discover the natural features that exist right in your backyard with this nature scavenger hunt. (Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve) SIGN_UP
Tuesday, April 20: “How Curious Are You?” Learn to see nature through the eyes of a curious naturalist while gathering nature items. (Larson Woodland) SIGN_UP
Wednesday, April 21: “Letting Nature Inspire Your Art” Focus on the beauty around you and create your own artwork with materials obtained from nature along with provided materials. (Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve) SIGN_UP
Thursday, April 22: “Slow Down and Look Around #2” Discover the natural features that exist right in your backyard with this nature scavenger hunt. (Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve) SIGN_UP
Friday, April 23: “Can you Identify these Trees/Plants?” Practice and learn how to identify certain types of trees and plants found in these areas. (Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve) SIGN_UP
For more information or questions, contact Evan Foster at evanfosterALT@gmail.com.
Taking a Closer Look – Blog Post #3
I started down the path on the Colman Reservation wondering: what was I going to see today? This thought often occurs to me when I first start walking on a trail since my eyes need a destination to land on. My eyes flicked from one color to another almost instinctively while registering some of the scene but mostly brushing past it. What stuck out the most were the large oak trees softly swaying in the wind and the massive, gray rock that sees every wandering eye that passes by. These sights are not easily missed, but it takes a pair of keen eyes to look past and into the unseen background. On this day, my brain fired off the electrical signals that slowed down my eyes to look deeper. Almost instantly, an entire new world came into focus.
Small details that filled in the gaps of the never-ending photo helped to complete the picture. What had originally appeared to be a familiar scene soon took on a completely new form. The delicate crevices in the cracks of the tree bark presented
Moss and fungi growing on the bark of a tree.
an opportunity for resourceful organisms to prosper. The lens of my camera as well as my eye zoomed in on the newly found organisms. Green, furry arms of moss reached out to the sun smiling as they gratefully accepted the energy to create their food. The arms were no longer than one centimeter but vastly abundant up and down the tree creating a wave of green. Intermingled between the moss grew squishy, green mushrooms closely packed next to one another in order to maximize the limited amount of space on the tree. The two organisms danced and expanded together as they could feel spring just around the corner.
Moss covered side of the massive rock on the Colman Reservation.
One sight that stands the test of time is the massive, gray rock that rests on the Colman Reservation. You see it every time you visit, and yet there is always something new that you can learn from it. The countless years that it has existed lends itself to an immeasurable source of knowledge that exists in every dent and crack. Even with this amount of knowledge, we must look closer. My feet carried me past the side facing the trail and exposed the backside of the rock. The gray surface was masked by a wall of tightly packed green moss. This remarkable organism was in full display flexing its power to survive where nothing else could. Utilizing only tiny droplets of water, these mosses can grow in the most barren environments. Given this superpower, the mosses captured the water that snaked its way down the side of
Dark-colored fungi sprawling out on a tree.
the rock and produced its furry, green arms that extend towards the sky. The tiny roots of the moss captured the knowledge trapped in each crack of the rock. Content with the little amount that they have, the moss grows and grows without any complaints. I continued on with my walk having learned about the power of small organisms in this immense ecosystem. My challenge for you all is to slow down and look around, you might end up seeing something that you didn’t know was there!
New TerraCorps Member for the Attleboro Land Trust – Evan Foster
Riding my bike in the Adirondacks.
My name is Evan Foster, and I will be serving as the TerraCorps member at the Attleboro Land Trust for the next several months. TerraCorps members are a part of the larger AmeriCorps National program whose mission states “making service an indispensable part of the American experience”. TerraCorps service members are placed in community-nonprofits across the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The TerraCorps mission is to engage and mobilize future leaders to get involved with local communities and conserve land for both people and nature. Equity is at the heart of what TerraCorps strives to achieve. TerraCorps members understand that individuals in underrepresented communities do not have the same access to these public lands and aim to create opportunities for those communities to experience them. The future of land conservation lies in the same goal of making land more equitable. To understand more about the TerraCorps mission, I highly recommend visit their website to read more: (https://terracorps.org/equity-in-land-conservation/).
Skiing at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont.
Growing up in Boxborough, MA in a family that highly valued outdoor recreation, my passion for environmental work was formed at a young age. My childhood experiences ranged from skating on a backyard rink to attending a canoe summer camp in Canada to swimming in the local pond to running cross country in high school. I developed a love for the outdoors, and it has shaped everything that I have done so far. When it was time for me to think about attending college, I landed on the University of Vermont because of its strong environmental program. Living in Burlington, Vermont gave me access to an endless number of outdoor activities including cross country and downhill skiing, snowshoeing, road/mountain biking, rock climbing, and numerous hikes throughout the Green Mountains. My degree in Environmental Science was complimented and enhanced by all of these activities. I soon discovered another passion of mine through my Geospatial Technologies minor which involved using satellite imagery for a variety of reasons including creating maps, analyzing spatial data, and much more. I continued with this passion into my undergraduate job at the Spatial Analysis Lab where I gained experience creating Land Use/Land Cover maps for cities and towns across North America. I developed an indispensable skill that I hope to bring to the Attleboro Land Trust. I am extremely excited to be serving with the Attleboro Land Trust and am ready to put my education and knowledge to use! Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions or want to get to know me better (evanfosteralt@gmail.com). Happy winter!
COVID-19 Guidelines
Attleboro Land Trust properties are open during daylight hours, with the understanding that visitors will follow local, state, and federal COVID-19 rules and guidelines.
When visiting our properties:
- Maintain a 6-foot distance between yourself and other people on trails, boardwalks, and at parking lots.
- Be generous in yielding the right of way to others, if you can safely do so.
- On loop trails, follow the arrows.
- Do not step onto a boardwalk if someone is already on the boardwalk coming toward you.
- Treat all with extra courtesy and respect.
- Leash your dog, use a doggie bag, and take it home with you.
- Remember to take precautions for ticks.
For extra comfort on the trail, download and print a trail map before you leave home.
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.