Category Archives: LEARNING

We encourage the use of our conservation properties as outdoor classrooms where young and old can learn more about the environment and the importance of protecting it.

Don Doucette, Devoted Steward of Our Watershed

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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.”

 

Annual Meeting on November 19 to Feature Wildlife Observations

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Wheaton Professor Jessie Knowlton, with her students at the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve

You are invited to attend the 35th annual meeting of the Attleboro Land Trust:

Tuesday, November 19
Murray Unitarian Universalist Church
505 North Main Street, Attleboro

The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm with the traditional social gathering with light refreshments, followed at 7:00 pm by the business meeting and keynote address.

We are excited to have Jessie Knowlton, Associate Professor of Biology at Wheaton College, deliver our keynote:  “A Year in the Life of the Lawrence Preserve.”

Professor Knowlton will be discussing the one-year scientific study of our Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve that began this summer and share the observations that her team from Wheaton and our local “citizen scientists” have made to date.  Her presentation will include photos and video from a remotely-triggered wildlife camera, including deer, wood ducks, a coyote, and a bobcat.

This project, which will lead to recommendations for protecting the Lawrence Preserve ecosystem, is supported by a Giving While Living Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation.

The annual meeting is open to the public, so please bring a friend.  Only members of the Attleboro Land Trust may vote during the brief business meeting.

If you have donated $25 or more in the past year, you are automatically considered a member.  If you have donated $50 or more in the past year, two adult members of your household are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. Members should have received a notice of the meeting by U.S. mail.  If you donate now, your membership will not expire until December 31, 2025.

Learn more about the Lawrence Preserve Study at the Attleboro Public Library on October 7

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Several volunteers look on as biology professor Jessie Knowlton demonstrates how to use the iNaturalist app to record observations at the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve.

The Attleboro Land Trust’s Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve is currently the focus of a one-year scientific study of its ecosystem.  Jessie Knowlton, Associate Professor of Biology at Wheaton College, is leading the study, which began in June.

Professor Knowlton and her team of Wheaton students have already identified many species of plants and animals observed over the summer.  The study will continue through fall, winter, and spring.  You are invited to help as a Volunteer Observer by visiting the Preserve once in each season on your own and reporting what you observe.

To find out more about how the study is being conducted, and how you can help, you are invited to attend a free Orientation Session to be held on Monday, October 7, at 7:00 pm at the Attleboro Public Library, 74 North Main Street, Attleboro.

This project is made possible by a Giving While Living Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation.

 

It’s not too late for you, or your child, to play a part in our scientific study

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The Attleboro Land Trust invites you to participate in a one-year scientific study of the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve.  Jessie Knowlton, Associate Professor of Biology at Wheaton College, is leading the study, which began in June.  More information is available on the project page.

Professor Knowlton and her team of Wheaton students have already identified many species of plants and animals observed over the summer.  The study will continue through fall, winter, and spring.  You are invited to help as a Volunteer Observer by visiting the Preserve once in each season on your own and reporting what you observe.  As a citizen scientist, you might spot a rare bird or other animal or plant that no one else has seen.

You may submit observations in the form of photos, videos, drawings, notes, or audio recordings.  If you are tech savvy, you may upload photos using a free cell phone app called iNaturalist. Photos submitted may be viewed at the iNaturalist website.

At the conclusion of the study, a final report will include recommendations for maintaining and protecting the Preserve’s ecosystem, and for engaging the public in stewardship of the property.

If you or your child would like to sign up as a Volunteer Observer, use the online form on this website or email attleborolandtrust@gmail.com.  If you are under 18, ask an adult partner to co-sign your application and go with you on your site visits.

This project is made possible by a Giving While Living Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation.

 

 

Attleboro Public Library Presents a Mushroom Hunting Class

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Join Ryan and Emily from The Mushroom Hunting Foundation for their slideshow class, “An Introduction to Mushroom Hunting”! This class will focus on the mushrooms that are available in Southern New England in the fall. Using gorgeous photography, this basic class “An Introduction to Mushroom Hunting” will focuses on some mushrooms that are safe for beginners; and of course every slideshow covers the crucial background of mushroom science and safety.  Get a blank notebook and write Mushroom Hunting Journal on the cover…you will want to take notes on this presentation!

Please register to ensure that we have adequate space. Contact Darcie at dschillinger@sailsinc.org or 508-222-0157 with any questions.  And look for the companion Fall Mushroom Walk a week later, on Wednesday September 18th!

Wednesday, September 11
6:00 PM  –  7:30 PM
Marble Lobby, Attleboro Public Library
Register here

Guided Mushroom Hunting Walk at the Richardson Nature Preserve

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Join Ryan and Emily from The Mushroom Hunting Foundation on a Guided Mushroom Walk! We will meet at the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve at 577B Wilmarth St., in Attleboro, to begin our hunt. Participants will meet back at the parking area by 6:30 pm to talk about our finds! Participants are encouraged to also attend the mushroom hunting slideshow on 9/11, but it is not a requirement.

Please register to ensure that we have enough space for all participants. Contact Darcie at dschillinger@sailsinc.org or 508-222-0157 with any questions.

Wednesday, September 18
5:00 PM  –  7:00 PM
at the Richardson Nature Preserve
Sponsored by the Attleboro Public Library
Register here  There are 17 spaces available.

Would you like to be a volunteer observer?

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The Attleboro Land Trust invites you to participate in “A Year in the Life of the Lawrence Preserve”, a one-year scientific study of the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve.  Jessie Knowlton, Associate Professor of Biology at Wheaton College, is leading the study and providing guidance to participants.

Volunteer Observers are asked to visit the Preserve on their own at least once in each of the four seasons and to report what plants and animals they observe.  These reports may include notes, sketches, photographs, and audio or video recordings.  The volunteer reports will be reviewed every three months and combined with the observations of Professor Knowlton and her students.  The data will then be summarized and made available to the public.

The study began in June and will end on June 21, 2025.  A final report will include recommendations for maintaining and protecting the Preserve’s ecosystem, and for engaging the public in stewardship of the property.

There is still time, if you or your child would like to be a Volunteer Observer.  You may sign up by email to attleborolandtrust@gmail.com, or by using the online sign-up form on this website.  If you are under 18, you must have an adult partner to accompany you on your site visits and to co-sign your application.

This project is made possible by a Giving While Living Grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation.

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

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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.