Thanks to the members of the South Attleboro Lions Club for their help on September 6, installing sign posts along the trail that is being built at the Charron Farm Preserve.
Thanks also to the volunteers who helped on September 6 to prepare a stormwater infiltration basin for grass seeding.
Photos by C. Adler and T.A. Charron
On August 9th, eighteen people got a preview of what’s in store when the Charron Farm Preserve is opened to the public. There is still a lot to do. Keep an eye on this website for announcements of work parties at the Preserve. We rely on volunteer help for all that we do. Thanks to Dick LaCivita for the photos below.
The Charron Farm Preserve, donated to the Attleboro Land Trust in 2023, will soon be ready to be opened to the public, although there is still a lot left to do. A walk will be held on the preserve on Saturday, August 9, at 9:00 am. The purpose of the walk is to provide a preview of the property, and to let you know about opportunities to help in the weeks to come.
Some of the tasks remaining are to plant grass in a water retention area, construct a split-rail fence, and install signposts along the trail.
Rain date for the walk is Sunday, August 10, at 1:00 pm.
Directions:
From downtown Attleboro, take County Street south for 3.8 miles.
Turn right onto Read Street and drive 1/2 mile.
Turn left onto Morse Avenue and drive 1/4 mile.
Turn into the gravel parking area on your right.
(Don’t rely on Google Maps, which mislabels part of Morse Ave. as Gillette Ave.)
Any cancellations due to weather will be posted on this website.
Rhododendron thicket, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/28/22
Deborah’s Garden, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 7/14/18
Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton)
Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/26/16
Great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele)
Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/26/16
Common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 7/16/16
Bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) alien
Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, 8/31/13
Spotted Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum)
Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, 8/31/13
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Shaw-Denham Memorial Forest, 8/20/13
Martha L. Nickerson was not only the donor of the 48 acres of land that is now the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve. Her life was filled with accomplishments. She held a doctorate in education and served as a school librarian and teacher, not only in Attleboro, but at U.S. military installations around the globe. On her travels she excelled at photography, capturing what she saw in color slides. Those images are now in the care of artist Kalliope Amorphous, who first began posting them online in 2014 under the title “A Life in Kodachrome.” She recently felt a renewed desire to share her appreciation for these amazing photographs. The expanded online collection, now renamed “Midcentury Archive,” can be viewed at these locations:
https://midcenturyarchive.com/
https://www.instagram.com/midcentury_archive/
https://www.facebook.com/MidcenturyArchive
https://www.pinterest.com/midcenturyarchive/
An earlier version of the website can still be found here:
https://marthanickerson.wordpress.com/
This post first published 7/23/19
The Attleboro Land Trust invites residents to volunteer at a Clean-Up to be held on Saturday, June 7, at the Richardson Nature Preserve, 577B Wilmarth Street, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.
Maintenance tasks will include:
— Raking lawn areas
— Picking up trash
— Pruning along edges of lawns, hayfields, and street
— Removing invasive plants
— Weeding flower gardens
— Various trail maintenance tasks
We have many tools you can use, but if you have your own, please bring a few with you, such as:
— Standard rakes and leaf rakes
— Loppers, pruning shears, pruning saws, and other pruning tools
— Shovels
— String trimmers, weed whackers, brush cutters
— Gardening tools
Dress accordingly for protection against poison ivy and ticks. Please bring your own:
— Work gloves
— Water
Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Rain date is Saturday, June 14. Any cancellations due to weather will be posted on this website.
Peony at Richardson Preserve, May 2021.
Trillium at Richardson Preserve, May 2021.
Pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule) at Vaughan Memorial Forest, May 2014.
Violets at Vaughan Memorial Forest, May 2014.
Dogwood at Colman Reservation, May 2014.
Bluet (Houstonia caerulea) at Leach Sanctuary, May 2014.
Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) at Lawrence Preserve, May 2009.
Wild oats or sessile bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia) with wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) in background at Lawrence Preserve, May 2007.
Don Doucette at the 2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.
Don Doucette, long-time advocate of watershed conservation, passed away on May 9. Don was devoted to the preservation of our local environment and its history. He was a founding member of the Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance (TMRWA) in 1990, and he with his wife Nancy were early members and supporters of the Attleboro Land Trust, which was founded that same year.
A partnership between the two organizations resulted in the donation of Larson Woodland to the land trust by Ray Larson in 1997. Don played a key role in that acquisition. Earlier, in 1996, the TMRWA had dedicated a 3-mile urban trail beginning at Balfour Riverwalk Park and following the Ten Mile River upstream as far as West Street. A guide to the Ten Mile River Heritage Trail, written by Don, described historic stopping points along the route.
2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.
One of the land trust’s most memorable annual meetings was in 2011, when Don was our keynote speaker. His talk, “The Ten Mile River Watershed: A Walk Through Time,” was accompanied by a stunning slide show consisting of mostly of postcards he had collected of scenes photographed up and down the Ten Mile during the early decades of the twentieth century. Don’s authoritative grasp of his subject reflected not only painstaking research, but the fact that, with fellow TMRWA member Mark Benoit, he had trekked the entire 27-mile length of the river, from Plainville to East Providence, in 2 days in 1995.
Keynote speaker Don Doucette at the 2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.
Of his motive, Don wrote, “The primary intent was adventure–to cross, as does water, all human imposed, social and physical bounds that tend to fragment the Ten Mile River Watershed. Envisioned was a more intimate encounter with the river–we were not disappointed.”
April 11 marks the birth, 35 years ago, of the Attleboro Land Trust at a public meeting at the Attleboro Public Library. Here are some items from our archives covering events in our first decade…
Flyer announcing our first meeting in 1990.
Letter to the editor, announcing our first meeting in 1990.
Article in The Sun Chronicle, November 11, 1990
ALT Annual Meeting, September 21, 1991, on the grounds of Texas Instruments. Board members attending from left to right: Charlie Adler, Larry St. Pierre (President), Carol Haslehurst, Howard Bibeault, Joanne Wright, Robert Schoch, Ron Carlson
Dedication of the Colman Reservation, October 16, 1993. Board members and dignitaries attending from left to right: Larry St. Pierre (President), Joanne Wright, George Largess, Carol Haslehurst (Treasurer), Shanthi Raam, Adele Colman, Mayor Judith Robbins, Robert Schoch (Secretary), Ron Carlson (Vice President), Charlie Adler
Adele Colman donated our first gift of land, the Colman Reservation, in 1992.
Following the dedication of the Colman Reservation, a reception with wine and cheese was held under the Giant Hemlock.
The Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve was donated on November 11, 1994. In the fall of 1995, ALT board members met informally at the preserve to thank the donor. From left to right: Charlie Adler, Anthony Lawrence with two family members, Carol Haslehurst, Shanthi Raam, Joanne Wright, and Mildred Bauer.
ALT Board members assembled for a photo on October 26, 1998, at the dedication of the Phil and Ginny Leach Wildlife Sanctuary. From left to right (front ): Debby Leach, Joel Johnson, (rear): George Largess, Jim Lewis, Bob Duffin, Bob Thayer, Robert Schoch, Ted Leach, (president) Larry St. Pierre, Charlie Adler, Michael Brown
Tasks:
Trimming and stacking tree branches and brush along field edges
Tools needed (we will provide some, but bring what you have):
Loppers, pruning shears, pole saws/pruners, pruning saws, garden rakes, and other pruning tools
String trimmers, weed whackers, brush cutters, sturdy step ladders.
Please bring your own: work gloves, water bottles
Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Please RSVP to Ken Salome: ksalome2@comcast.net
