Thanks to everyone who participated in our 5K Challenge

Posted on November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 by caa

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 5K Challenge fundraiser on November 9. About 65 people completed the hike and we raised about $700.

ALT Receives a $10,000 Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation

Posted on June 25, 2024July 29, 2024 by caa

The Attleboro Land Trust is pleased to announce that we have received a $10,000 Giving While Living Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation, whose mission is to support nonprofit organizations that work locally to protect our environment, with a special focus on water resources. We are one of 10 non-profits receiving grants out of 35 organizations nominated. There is no application process, and we did not know we were one of the nominees.

The ALT will use the funds to study and protect the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve in South Attleboro. The 59-acre Preserve, most of which was donated by Anthony Lawrence in 1994, includes a stretch of the Seven Mile River which winds through a pristine open marsh. Grant money will be used initially to support a scientific study of the Preserve’s ecosystem, and then to address any needs identified.

The study, “A Year in the Life of the Lawrence Preserve,” has just been launched and will continue for one year. Jessie Knowlton, Associate Professor of Biology at Wheaton College, is leading the study and a group of Wheaton students are working under her direction. We have also invited members of the public to participate in the study as Volunteer Observers. This will be a direct educational benefit to those children and adults who participate, as well as providing additional observational data for inclusion in the study.

The ALT was nominated for this grant by Sherri Peak-Palermo, an Attleboro resident who works at the Providence office of Woodard & Curran, an environmental consulting firm. The Woodard & Curran Foundation is supported by donations from the firm and its employees.

We are honored to have been chosen as a grant recipient, and grateful to be able to devote funds toward enhancing the preservation of one of our most pristine properties.

Charron Family Land to be Preserved

Posted on June 21, 2023July 14, 2023 by caa

Attorney George Spatcher, Attorney and ALT Board Member Patrick Sullivan, Land Donor Ted Charron, ALT President Jay Burby, and ALT Board Member Charlie Adler, at the closing for the donation of the Charron Farm Preserve.

The Attleboro Land Trust has received a gift of 12 acres of land on Morse Avenue in Attleboro. The land was donated by Morse Avenue resident Ted Charron and other members of the Charron family. It was farmed by Ted’s parents and grandparents, and it is still used for the production of hay.

The donated land will be permanently conserved as the Charron Farm Preserve. The land trust plans to complete a trail beginning at Morse Avenue, crossing some wetlands, going around the hayfields, and connecting to an adjacent preserve, the 28-acre Shaw-Denham Memorial Forest. The Charron Farm Preserve will not be open to the public until this trail is finished, which may take a year, as boardwalks will be required. Completion of the new trail will also mean that the Shaw-Denham Memorial Forest will for the first time be open to the public, as it has been landlocked from the time it was donated to the land trust by the Denham family in 2013 until now.

Ted Charron, an artist, has had a long association with the Attleboro Land Trust, having served on its board from 1997 to 1999, edited its newsletter, and designed its logo. Ted knows every inch of the donated land and has observed how it serves as habitat for a variety of wild animals. Guaranteeing that the land will be forever protected has long been his goal.

This acquisition brings the total number of acres owned by the Attleboro Land Trust to 504. Conservation restrictions are held on an additional 236 acres.

Grant Announcement

Posted on July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 by caa

ExtremeTerrain.com recently awarded a grant to the Attleboro Land Trust in the amount of $250. We thank ExtremeTerrain for its support of our trail work.

This Clean Trail Grant will help to fund expenses for an upcoming trail project. Stay tuned for more details as this project moves forward.

O’Donnell Preserve to open on July 24

Posted on July 18, 2021July 19, 2021 by caa

On Saturday, July 24, the public is invited to a new nature preserve to be opened by the Attleboro Land Trust. The 14-acre Joseph and Margaret O’Donnell Nature Preserve is located on Bishop Street. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 10:00 am to thank Dr. Robert B. O’Donnell, who donated the land in memory of his parents. Attendees should park and gather in the Finberg Field parking lot on Bishop Street next to the preserve.

After the formal ceremony, Evan Foster will lead a guided walk of a new 0.7 mile trail which leads through red maple and pine forests and past wetlands to a stand of beech and birch trees. The opening of the O’Donnell Preserve and trail is one of several projects completed by Foster during a seven-month term of service with the land trust under the TerraCorps program, which is affiliated with AmeriCorps. The project included photographic and GPS documentation of the baseline condition of the property, a property management plan, and a trail map generated using a digital geographic mapping system that Foster built for the land trust.

Rain date for the event is Sunday, July 25, at 1:00 pm. Event updates will be posted on this website.

Thanks to Our Donors, 2019-20

Posted on March 28, 2020September 11, 2020 by caa

We are grateful to the following organizations and individuals for their financial support of our mission through donations and in-kind contributions.

Corporate Sponsors and Institutional Partners, 2019-20

American Legion Aux Unit # 312
Attleboro Arts Museum
Attleboro Foundation/Bank of America, N.A.
Briggs Garden and Home
Casey Law Offices, P.C.
Cryan Landscape Contractors, Inc.
Duffy-Poule Funeral Service Inc
Faulkner Family Foundation
Fredric J Hammerle Charitable Trust
Gilmore Insurance
Houghton Physical Therapy
Lewis & Sullivan, P.C.
Liston Portables
Plymouth Rock Foundation
Reeves Company
Sensata Technologies, Inc.
W. Walsh Company, Inc.
Woodard & Curran Foundation
Zumalt Tree Experts

Individual Major Donors, 2019-2020

A Grant with Fond Memories Attached

Posted on March 28, 2020January 30, 2021 by caa

Applying for a grant is usually a laborious process, requiring pages of applications, documents, and financial statements. Usually! The Attleboro Land Trust recently received a $2000 grant that came to us through a different set of circumstances.

Enter Sherri Peak-Palermo, who works for Woodard & Curran, an environmental consulting firm with an office in Providence. The firm, together with its employees, has set up a foundation to support non-profit groups across the country in their efforts to protect the environment.

Sherri is the daughter-in-law of the late Paul Palermo, Sr., who passed away in 2019. Palermo was widely-respected as the City of Attleboro’s electrical inspector, serving in that capacity for 30 years. Sherri nominated the Attleboro Land Trust for the grant in memory of her father-in-law and in recognition of his love for the city.

Our thanks to the Woodard & Curran Foundation for this grant, and to Sherri for nominating us. Stay tuned for more about the specific project on which these funds will be spent.

Thanks to our donors, 2017-18

Posted on October 10, 2018March 28, 2020 by caa

We are grateful to the following organizations and individuals for their financial support of our mission through donations and in-kind contributions.

Corporate Sponsors and Institutional Partners, 2017-18

American Legion Auxiliary Unit # 312
Attleboro Arts Museum
Attleboro Conservation Commission
Attleboro Historical Commission
Attleboro Foundation/Bank of America, N.A.
Attleboro Rotary Club
Briggs Garden and Home
Case Snow Management, Inc.
Casey Law Offices, P.C.
Checon Corporation
County Square Pharmacy
Crossman Engineering
Cryan Landscape Contractors, Inc.
Faulkner Family Foundation
Fred M. Roddy Foundation, Inc.
Greenwood Emergency Vehicles
Fredric J. Hammerle Charitable Trust
Johnson & Johnson
Lewis & Sullivan, P.C.
Liston Portables
M S Company
Mass Audubon
Russell Morin Fine Catering
National Fence & Supply Co.
New England Grassroots Environment Fund
Norton Equipment Rental
PEP Industries
Plymouth Rock Foundation
Providence Picture Frame
Reeves Company
SeedMoney
Sensata Foundation
Sensata Technologies, Inc.

Individual Major Donors, 2017-18

Sustainer

Tom Richardson

A Day of Celebration

Posted on June 20, 2018October 2, 2018 by caa

June 9th at the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve was a day for education, recreation, and celebration as more than 200 visitors participated in walks, talks, games, geocaching, and expressing appreciation to those who made it all possible.

Following acquisition of the property in June, 2016, the event was two years in the making. New trails have been marked and boardwalks have been installed. Signage has been put up to recognize and thank the major donors. Interpretive panels describe the site’s history, flora, and fauna. A new split rail fence marks the west edge of the property. The 18th century Barrows House has a new coat of paint and is enhanced with historically-appropriate plantings. Years of untamed growth have been removed to reveal an expansive lawn dubbed The Glen. More overgrowth has been removed to reveal hardy perennials not tended for decades in Deborah’s Garden.

Visitors participated in various guided walks–viewing vernal pools, wetlands, fields, forests, gardens, and foundations of farm outbuildings. Children petted a visiting herd of alpacas and went on a nature scavenger hunt. Local residents interested in the history of the site could hear a historical narrative by Bill Lewis and then view the evidence with their own eyes. Geocachers sought their own treasures. And those with energy to burn could circle the trails in either low or high gear.

The weather could not have been better–showing the preserve in a perfect light.

Opening ceremony in the Glen at the Richardson Preserve. Image credit: C Adler

A sign recognizing the many significant donations and grants that made acquisition of the preserve possible. Image credit: C Adler

Land trust president Roy Belcher with Richardson family friend Robin Pantuosco, dedicating a tree in memory of Deborah and Roger Richardson. Image credit: C Adler

Ted Leach thanks Charlie Wyman, Mass Audubon Land Protection Specialist, for his key role in preserving green spaces in Attleboro. Image credit: C Adler

Opening Celebration attendees took an inaugural walk of the Charlie Wyman Trail. Image credit: C Adler

Peonies in Deborah’s Garden. Image credit: C Adler

Deborah’s Garden is one of the last stops on the Charlie Wyman Trail. Image credit: C Adler

A side trail passes by this vernal pool. Image credit: C Adler

This eighteenth century tableau prepared by local historian Bill Lewis could be viewed by any visitors curious enough to peek into one of the front windows of the Barrows House on June 9th. Image credit: C Adler

The owners of Happy Snowman Alpaca Farm in Attleboro kindly brought their alpacas and demonstrated wool spinning techniques to the delight of all. Image credit: C Adler

Read more about this event in an article published in The Sun Chronicle.

A New Gift of Land

Posted on June 30, 2017August 14, 2018 by caa

On June 29, the Attleboro Land Trust received 36 acres of conservation land as a gift from Donald DesVergnes, Roger G. DesVergnes, and Marette & Sons, Inc. The land, to be named the DesVergnes Family Nature Preserve, is in two parcels located east of Lindsey Street. The larger of the two parcels (26 acres) has frontage on Lindsey Street and consists of undeveloped land between residential areas on Roadway A, Roadway B, and Colt’s Way. The smaller parcel (10 acres) lies between a residential area on Kennedy Drive and the Mansfield line. A utility easement allows power lines to cross the parcel. Future plans for the property include walking trails on the larger parcel off Lindsey Street. We are grateful to the DesVergnes family for this generous gift, which brings the total acreage protected by the Attleboro Land Trust in the city to 690 acres (490 owned and 200 under conservation restrictions which we hold).