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.
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Big Read Event: Poetry Scavenger Hunt to be held Oct. 9th
Big Read Event: Poetry Scavenger Hunt
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
The Attleboro Land Trust is excited to host a poem scavenger hunt! This event presents an opportunity to explore a local beautiful wooded nature preserve while contemplating the nature-centered words of US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. Arrive any time from 10 to 12:30. The self-guided scavenger hunt is estimated to take 45 minutes. The event is free and open to the public and will be held rain or shine. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The featured poem for the event is “Beyond” from Harjo’s book An American Sunrise: Poems.
This event will take place at the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve. (577B Wilmarth Street, Attleboro MA.)
Participants must register using the following link: EventKeeper – Popup Event
O’Donnell Preserve to open on July 24
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.
Fishing for Answers at Larson Woodland
Staff and volunteers from the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council in Rhode Island paid a visit to the Attleboro Land Trust’s Larson Woodland on September 17 to take a census of fish species in the Ten Mile River. They came at the invitation of Keith Gonsalves of the Ten Mile River Watershed Council. Keith has long been concerned about the health of the river and its inhabitants and has been arranging these scientific surveys annually for a number of years to monitor the river’s condition.
Volunteers helped collect the fish, using a device which temporarily stuns the fish with a slight electric shock. The fish are counted and measured, then returned unharmed to the river.
In this video clip, ranger Jacob Gorke measures a baby largemouth bass.
This is a Yellow Bullhead Catfish.
Other species found in the river were Golden shiner, Tesselated darter, Pumpkin seed, Bluegill, Redfin pickerel, Crawfish, and Chain pickerel.
View a Pristine Marsh on Saturday, August 24
Local naturalist Gary Krofta will lead a guided walk at the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve on Saturday, August 24. The preserve features a pristine freshwater marsh, on the Seven Mile River, that provides habitat for a variety of wildlife. Deer and wild turkeys frequently visit the preserve and red-winged blackbirds roost in the few trees dotting the marsh. Many colorful wildflowers and a variety of pollinating insects can be observed at this time of year. Krofta will also point out some invasive species, such as the purple loosestrife that could replace native cattails if left unchecked. The walk will begin at 9:00 am and last about an hour and a half.
The Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve is located at the end of Hope Avenue off Newport Avenue. Directions: Coming from downtown Attleboro on Route 123 west, you will pass the South Attleboro American Legion on your right. Take the next left onto Hope Avenue. Park on the right side and walk to the end of the street. Please try to avoid blocking any of the neighbors’ mailboxes.
This walk has been added to the Attleboro Land Trust’s summer event schedule in addition to the series of three guided walks previously announced.
Work Party on August 17 at Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve
Volunteers are needed on Saturday, August 17, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon to help clear brush along trails at the Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, located at the end of Hope Avenue off Newport Avenue. This gem of a preserve includes a pristine marsh along the Seven Mile River. Bring loppers and other brush cutting tools if you have them. Work gloves are recommended, along with long sleeve shirts, long pants, and socks for protection from poison ivy and insects. If you can bring a lawn mower or weed wacker, please let us know. Feel free to attend for just an hour or two as your schedule allows.
Proceeding on Route 123 west you will pass the South Attleboro American Legion on your right. Hope Avenue is the next left. Park on the right side of the street as you approach the end of Hope Avenue. Please try to avoid blocking any of the neighbors’ mailboxes. Rain date: Saturday, August 24.
Get to Know Your Watershed on August 10
Guided Walk: Getting to Know Your Watershed
Location: Larson Woodland, corner of Watson Avenue and Riverbank Road (across from Willett School), Attleboro
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am, Saturday, August 10 (Rain date: August 11)
Chances are that a drop of rain falling in Attleboro will eventually find its way to the Ten Mile River, which runs through the center of the city, then flows into the Seekonk River, which eventually flows into Narragansett Bay. Ben Cote, of Friends of the Ten Mile, will host this introduction to the river. He will explain the importance of the river and its watershed to past, present, and future generations, as well as to the plants and animals that thrive in its habitat.
Guided Walk on July 13: The History of Barrows Farm
Guided Walk: The History of Barrows Farm
Location: Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 577B Wilmarth Street, Attleboro
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am, Saturday, July 13 (Rain date: July 20)
The Attleboro Land Trust is sponsoring a series of guided walks at its nature preserves in Attleboro. The first, at the Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, will be a journey back to colonial times, when the Barrows family lived off the land through farming and the manufacture of wood products. Leading the walk will be Bill Lewis, who will point out evidence of the various activities which once took place on the land.
The Barrows House, built in 1708, still stands on the Richardson Preserve. Note: The guided walk will not include the interior of the house.
See 2019 ALT Guided Walks – Flyer 
for information on the complete series of guided walks.
for information on the complete series of guided walks.
Sensata Team Makes a Difference at Richardson Preserve
A team of Sensata employees returned to the Richardson Preserve on May 23 to install 270 linear feet of split-rail fencing. This completes a boundary fencing project begun by the same team last year.
The Attleboro Land Trust appreciates the hard work of Sensata employees Tom Simbron, Tyler Hanna, and Harshad Tadas in completing our fencing project and the commitment of
the Sensata Corporation in making projects like this possible. Image credit: C. Adler
Sensata employees completed the final phase of a boundary fencing project on May 23. Image credit: C. Adler
The Attleboro Conservation Commission provided funds to purchase the materials for this project. Generous support was also received from National Fence of Attleboro and Liston Portables.
Thoreau’s Journals Provide a Wealth of Data for Climate Scientists
Spring is coming earlier than it did in the nineteenth century, a scientific study has found. One of the indicators of spring is the blossoming of trees and flowers. Author, naturalist, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau was deeply interested in the unfolding of the seasons. On his daily walks in Concord, Massachusetts, he took notes whenever he observed such seasonal changes. He wrote in his journal “I often visited a particular plant four or five miles distant, half a dozen times within a fortnight [2 weeks], that I might know exactly when it opened.” An entry on May 5, 1855, notes “High blueberry beg[in] to leaf in some places yesterday.”
Highbush blueberry in bloom at the Colman Reservation Image credit: C Adler
Biologist Richard Primack has mined Thoreau’s journals for these observations and compared them with current data. In 2010, for example, highbush blueberry first flowered in Concord on April 7. Comparing 32 plants from Thoreau’s time to today, Primack found the first flowering dates were now occurring an average of 11 days earlier. According to a United Nations panel, human activity has caused average global temperatures to increase 1.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In Concord, a suburb of Boston, the increase has been at least 2.0 degrees Celsius because of the “heat island” effect of dense development, pavement, and energy use compared to rural areas. Plants are responding to this warming by blooming earlier.
A page from Thoreau’s Journal, May 5, 1855
Birds that migrate long distances, such as this Great Crested Flycatcher, have not adjusted their schedules to stay in sync with the earlier arrival of spring in Massachusetts. Image credit: C Adler
In recent studies, Primack has found evidence that insect populations shift their schedules in sync with the plants they feed on, which is not surprising. However, the arrival of birds who winter in the tropics has not, on average, shown much of a shift. As a result, one of the consequences of climate change may be a mismatch between bird populations and the availability of the insects they feed on. In 1852, Thoreau voiced a similar awareness of the importance of climate in the circle of life, noting that an unusually long winter could have deadly consequences for returning birds. But he did not foresee the steady retreat of winter that we now face.