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.
Meet Woody the Beech Tree
For those of you who did not attend the Family Tree Day and meet Woody the Talking Beech Tree, you can still see Woody by walking to the end of the Beech Point trail at the O’Donnell Nature Preserve on Bishop Street. Parking is available at Finberg Field.
Here is a recording of what Woody said on Family Tree Day.
“My name is Woodrow, but you can call me Woody. That’s what my friends call me. We trees don’t normally talk like humans. Sometimes you can hear us whisper, with a little help from the wind.”
“You may have noticed that we Beech trees love to show off. When you walk through the woods in the middle of winter you’ll notice that all of the other trees have dropped their leaves on the ground–well, except for a few oaks. But it’s us well-dressed Beech trees that stand out in the forests of New England, our leaves tinted beige as the winter light passes through them.”
“When I reach old age, my bark becomes brittle, and my branches are bare, I may remain standing for years, providing shelter for a woodpecker looking for a place to carve out a home and raise a family.”
Attleboro Land Trust presents Family Tree Day
Weather Update: As of Friday evening, we are still planning to hold this event as scheduled from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday.
Bring the family for fresh air, fun and games. Take home a sapling tree to plant in your yard. Learn about the importance of preserving open space, and the many hiking trails right here in Attleboro. This event is free and open to the public in celebration of Arbor Day. All are welcome!
Featured at this event:
- Kids’ hike and scavenger hunt with prizes
- Walk the trail at the nearby O’Donnell Nature Preserve
- Meet Woody, the Talking Tree
- Learn about rain gardens and pollinator plants
- Take a sapling tree to plant in your yard (we’ll show you how!)
- Play our local wildlife game
- Ice cream coupons from co-sponsor Bliss Dairy
- Enter to win a tree from co-sponsor Cryan Landscape
Any schedule changes due to weather will be posted on this website.
Share our Family Tree Day flyer with your friends.
A spot of mid-winter color
Even in the middle of winter, an observant hiker can be rewarded with a spot of color while walking on one of the Attleboro Land Trust’s nature preserves. This is British Soldier lichen, Cladonia cristatella, photographed in February, 2007, at the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve. The species gets its name because of the red caps that are a reminder of the red coats worn by British soldiers at the time of the American Revolution.
Like many lichen, this lichen is actually a combination of fungus and algae living in a symbiotic relationship. The fungus provides structure for the algae, while the algae turns sunlight into food which is shared with the fungus. The red caps contain reproductive spores.
Timing Is Everything: A Talk by Climate Scientist Tara K. Miller
Climate science tells us that spring is arriving earlier than it used to. Wild plants and animals follow nature’s clock as they move through annual cycles of migration and reproduction. Climate change is changing the timing of some of these cycles, and disrupting the interdependent web of nature.
Tara K. Miller
Our guest speaker at this year’s annual meeting, climate scientist Tara K. Miller, will share some of the latest research on this topic, describing how some of the plants and animals that populate our bioregion are no longer in sync with each other, and what that means for our future.
The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Attleboro Land Trust will be on Tuesday, November 16th, at 7:00 pm via Zoom and is open to the public. The Zoom link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85322417648?pwd=c1JwSHFSa0tHY2hsZUd4clJOYlpYdz09
Meeting ID: 853 2241 7648 Passcode: 572462
Audio Only +16465588656,,85322417648#,,,,*572462#
Hike to Angle Tree Stone
The North Attleboro Land Trust Steering Committee invites you to join them on a guided hike of the Chorney Property and nearby Angle Tree Stone on Sunday, November 14th at 2pm.
The Chorney Property is town land managed by the North Attleboro Conservation Commission.
The Angle Tree Stone is a nine-foot slate monument made in 1790 by a father and son team that manufactured gravestone markers. It replaced an actual tree that had long been used as a boundary marker between the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. Today, the Angle Tree Stone marks the border between North Attleborough and Plainville, as well as the boundary between Bristol and Norfolk counties.
Hikers will meet at the parking lot for the Chorney Property, on Ellis Road across from the intersection with Metcalf Road. The hike will first walk the Chorney trails, through three open fields and over a boardwalk which crosses the Seven Mile River. Hikers will then walk 1.3 miles, via Ellis Road, High Street, a side road, and a path, to the Angle Tree Stone monument. After viewing the monument, hikers will return by the same route to the Chorney parking lot. The total length of the hike will be 4 miles.
Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The rain date is November 21. Any cancellations will be posted on the Attleboro Land Trust website: attleborolandtrust.org
Questions, please contact Susan Taylor at susan@susantaylorconsulting.com or 774-251-4616.
Here is a map of the hike area: Angle Tree Hike – Map
Fall Colors
The cool, wet summer weather has led to a display of mushrooms in colors that are not normally part of the fall display. The photos below were all taken at the Joseph and Margaret O’Donnell Nature Preserve in September.
15th Annual River Clean-Up to be held September 25th.
Please join us in supporting the Ten Mile River cleanup on September 25th. (8am -11am)
(Information below from the Sun Chronicle Article)
Members of the general public, conservation commissioners, Attleboro Land Trust members and other local groups will work alongside elected officials including Mayor Paul Heroux and members of the council.
Volunteers can sign up on the day of the event at a tent in the Community Gardens on Riverbank Road.
The GPS address is 37 Hayward St., Attleboro.
Some supplies will be available, although anyone wanting to be a “River Rat” should bring their own waders or wetsuit.
Families and children are welcome to collect trash along the river walkways.
Free refreshments will be supplied by Dunkin’.
Sponsors are Heroux, the land trust, conservation commission, Dunkin’ and Friends of the Ten Mile River.
For more information contact Nick Wyllie at 508-223-2222, ext. 3145.
A most agreeable feathered favourite
Visitors to the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve will notice something new: six birdhouses designed specifically for Eastern Bluebirds. This beautiful bird migrates south for the winter and returns in the spring. The birdhouses were made by Scout Eric Carey in 2014 as part of an Eagle project and placed in the meadow at the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve. However, not many bluebirds took residence in them.
This year we decided to move the birdhouses to the Upper and Lower Hayfields at the Richardson Preserve, where bluebirds are more common. (Thanks to the volunteers who made this happen!).
Male Eastern Bluebird – Photo by Lee R. DeHaan
John J. Audubon wrote admiringly of the bluebird as follows: “It adds to the delight imparted by spring, and enlivens the dull days of winter. Full of innocent vivacity, warbling its ever pleasing notes, and familiar as any bird can be in its natural freedom, it is one of the most agreeable of our feathered favourites.”