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.

Group of people in summer clothes standing near trees.

Beholding the Beauty of Trees

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Recently, Attleboro Land Trust board member and horticulturalist Phil Boucher led a group of enthusiastic learners on a “Beholding the Beauty of Trees” walk at Richardson Nature Preserve. The group heard about Red/Black and White Oaks, the suffocating threat of bittersweet vine, and how trees of different species may communicate with and support each through their root systems. Many thanks to Phil for generously sharing his time and knowledge, it was so fun to hear his stories about the evolution of the site’s gardens as well as learn more about the native roots and branches!

Please join us for one of our upcoming nature walks! Check our our schedule of events here.

Phil Boucher holding a tree branch.

Phil Boucher shows off the trees at Richardson Nature Preserve.    Image credit: Catherine Johnson-Roehr

Richardson Nature Preserve.    Image credit: Catherine Johnson-Roehr

Man and woman admiring conifer trees.

Beholding the beauty of trees at Richardson Nature Preserve.    Image credit: Catherine Johnson-Roehr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trail Camera Observations at the Lawrence Preserve

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These are some observations recorded on video by a team of students from Wheaton College during “A Year in the Life of the Lawrence Preserve.”  This study, led by Associate Professor of Biology Jessie Knowlton, ran from June 2024 to June 2025, with the support of a grant from the Woodard & Curran Foundation.

For better viewing, each video can be expanded to full screen.

Bobcat

Bobcat

Deer

Family of fisher cats

Orange butterfly in green plants.

Meet Us Outside!

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The Attleboro Land Trust has organized several summer and fall outings. Please join us for one or more of these free events to learn more about the natural world nearby!

Nature Walk through the Lawrence Wildlife Preserve

Naturalist Gary Krofta will guide us through this South Attleboro property along the Seven Mile River, home to red-winged blackbirds, cattails, and colorful wildflowers. Join us for this FREE event on Saturday, August 15, 2026, 9:00 to 10:30 AM (rain date August 16,1:30 PM). Meet at Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, 45 Hope Avenue, Attleboro. Note: street parking is available, but please do not block driveways or mailboxes.

Introduction to Birdwatching
Have you ever wondered which birds make the sounds you hear in the woods or who comes to your birdfeeder? JR Johnson-Roehr will show us how to identify native birds and migratory species on their autumn travels. Note: bring binoculars if you have them. Join us for this FREE event on Saturday, September 19, 2026, 7:30 to 9:00 AM (rain date September 20, same time). Meet at Richardson Nature Preserve, 577B Wilmarth Street, Attleboro.

A graphic showing various volunteer activities, butterflies and red flowers

Intro to the ALT and Update on Current Projects – April 8

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With the coming of spring, the Attleboro Land Trust is busy with trail maintenance and other projects on its 504 acres of conservation land. On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, Charlie Adler will provide an update on what the land trust is doing and how you can help. The presentation will be at the Attleboro Public Library, 74 Main Street, Attleboro, at 7:00 pm. There will be plenty of time for questions, and an opportunity to sign up to help with all facets of the organization, including educational activities for families, fundraising, boundary monitoring, habitat restoration, and saving more land.

World Water Day Bungay River Cleanup

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Friends of the Ten Mile River Watershed and the Attleboro Council on Human Rights will once again be teaming up for a cleanup in celebration of World Water Day. Volunteers will meet in the parking lot of CVS on North Main Street in Attleboro on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at 9:00 AM  and will clean along the Bungay River. Participants should wear gloves and long sleeves. Trash bags will be provided. Plan on doing some walking along the waterway. The Bungay River is one of the major tributaries to the Ten Mile River and is a natural resource for the Attleboro area. The cleanup should take less than 2 hours. We hope to see you there!

Keep Attleboro Beautiful 9th Annual Cleanup

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Keep Attleboro Beautiful logoJoin Keep Attleboro Beautiful on April 18, 2026, for the 9th annual community cleanup! Bring your family, friends, and neighbors to help give the city of Attleboro a thorough spring cleaning! To participate, fill out the registration form on the Keep Attleboro Beautiful site—one form per volunteer. Groups are also welcome to register.  To register your group, please contact the organizers at KeepAttleboroBeautiful@gmail.com.

Larson Woodland – Where Nature and History Intersect

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Although only four acres in size, Larson Woodland sits at a strategic location, in a dense neighborhood, across from an elementary school, and next to a dam on the Ten Mile River whose flow had once powered a nearby cotton mill.

Autumn view of the dam at Mechanics Pond, 2008.

Great blue heron, 2014.

In 2019, Ben Cote led a guided walk along the Ten Mile River, stopping here in Larson Woodland.

Snapping turtles lay their eggs on Sandy Point.    Image credit: David Laferriere

Fishing at Sandy Point, Larson Woodland, 2009.

Swan, Mechanics Pond, 2009.

Tufted Titmouse, Larson Woodland, 2007.

Fish census, 2020.

Large mouth bass

Yellow Bullhead Catfish

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.