Category Archives: Outdoors

New Year’s Day Hike in Hartman Park with Lyme Land Trust Postponed to Jan. 14

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Take a hike in Hartman Park on Jan. 14.

12/29 UPDATE: This hike has been postponed to Sunday, Jan. 14, at 1 p.m. due to the inclement weather forecast for this coming weekend.

Start the New Year off with a refreshing walk in the woods. All are welcome.

Hike a moderately easy 2.6-mile portion of the Goodwin Trail through the Nehantic State Forest and Hartman Park, led by Wendolyn Hill, Lyme Land Trust board member and Town of Lyme Open Space Coordinator. Hikers will visit old CCC camp foundations, pass ancient colonial ruins and pause to appreciate the view from the beloved Bald Nubble on the red trail at Hartman Park.

A snack will be provided. Bring water or something to drink. Don’t forget your walking stick.  It is anticipated the hike will last around two and a half hours.

Meet at the trailhead to the Goodwin Trail at Hartman Park, Gungy Road, Lyme (Lat. 41.43608 Long. 72.29009) at 1 p.m. to car-pool to the Holmes Road parking lot in East Lyme.

The Richard H. Goodwin Trail, overseen by the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Coordinating Committee, is an extended 14-mile trail system crossing four towns: East Haddam, Salem, Lyme and East Lyme.

Inclement weather cancels. Check for updates at this link.

Directions from Rte. 156 in Lyme: Take Rte 156 to Beaver Brook Road. Travel about 2.7 miles on Beaver Brook Road. Turn left onto Gungy Road. Travel about 1.5 miles. Park along the road.

For further information, contact openspace@townlyme.org

Preserves in Lyme Now Closed for Hunting During Weekdays

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Starting yesterday, Wednesday, Nov. 16, the following Preserves in Lyme will be closed Monday through Friday until Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016, except to licensed hunters with valid consent forms from the Town of Lyme Open Space Coordinator:

  • Banningwood Preserve
  • Beebe Preserve
  • Chestnut Hill Preserve
  • Eno Preserve
  • Hand Smith
  • Honey Hill Preserve
  • Jewett Preserve
  • Mount Archer Woods
  • Pickwick’s Preserve
  • Plimpton Preserve
  • Slawson Preserve

These preserves, owned by the Town of Lyme or the Lyme Land Conservation Trust, will be open on Saturdays and Sundays during this hunting period as no hunting is allowed on weekends.

The hunting program is fully subscribed.

For more information on the hunting program in Lyme, visit http://www.lymelandtrust.org/stewardship/hunting-program/

Town of Old Lyme Offers Part-time Land Steward Opportunity

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The Town of Old Lyme is seeking a part-time individual to maintain and manage the trail systems on its major preserves. Keeping trails cleared, maintaining markers, kiosks, entrances, parking areas, and managing for wildlife and other natural resources are the priorities.

For more information, visit the job posting on the home page of the Town’s web page at http://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/Pages/index.

To learn about the Open Space Commission and the properties it manages, visit http://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/Pages/OldLymeCT_Bcomm/open_space

CT Fund for the Environment Annual Meeting to be Held Sunday in Hartford

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Engaging and educating communities for preservation of the Long Island Sound tidal estuary

save_the_sound_logoSave the Sound is celebrating National Estuaries Week Sept. 17 – 24 with a series of interactive and educational events throughout the Long Island Sound region. This annual celebration of estuaries—the vital coastal zones where freshwater rivers meet salty seas—is sponsored by Restore America’s Estuaries and its member organizations including Save the Sound.

This year’s events call attention to the many benefits of thriving coastal ecosystems, including how estuary conservation efforts support our quality of life and economic well-being.

“The Long Island Sound estuary is not only where freshwater rivers meet the saltwater Atlantic, but where wildlife habitat meets beaches and boating, and where modern industry meets traditional oystering,” said Curt Johnson, executive director of Save the Sound, which is a bi-state program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE).

Johnson continued, “All over the country, estuaries are the lifeblood of coastal economies. From serving as natural buffers to protect our coastlines from storms to providing unique habitat for countless birds, fish, and wildlife, estuaries deserve our protection and our thanks.”

Save the Sound is celebrating estuaries with a number of events this week, including the release of a new video, a presentation on Plum Island at the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and the CFE/Save the Sound annual meeting:

Thursday, Sept. 22

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Aerial voew of Plum Island lighthouse. (From Preserve Plum Island website)

Aerial view of Plum Island lighthouse. (From Preserve Plum Island website)

Chris Cryder, Special Projects Coordinator for Save the Sound and Outreach Coordinator for the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, will host Preserving Plum Island for Future Generations, a special presentation on the importance of conserving the wildlife habitats and historic buildings of Plum Island, New York.

Plum Island flanks Plum Gut in the Long Island Sound estuary’s eastern end, where fast-moving tides create highly productive fishing grounds. The talk is part of a multi-week series featuring photographs and paintings of Plum Island, and lectures on its ecology, geology, and history.

  • Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme, Connecticut
  • 7 to 8 p.m.
  • Register by calling the library at 860-434-1684.

Sunday, Sept. 25

The Annual Meeting of Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its bi-state program Save the Sound will take place in the Planet Earth exhibit at the Connecticut Science Center. The event is open to the public with registration, and will feature a keynote address from Curt Spalding, administrator of EPA’s New England Region. Spalding is a leader in combatting nitrogen pollution and in climate change resilience planning efforts for New England.

To celebrate the contributions of volunteers to restoring the Long Island Sound estuary, Save the Sound has released a new video of a habitat restoration planting at Hyde Pond in Mystic. Following removal of the old Hyde Pond dam and opening 4.1 miles of stream habitat for migratory fish last winter (see time lapse video here), in May about 30 volunteers planted native vegetation along the Whitford Brook stream bank, under the direction of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, CT DEEP’s Fisheries division, and Save the Sound staff.

Find more information on the project’s benefits and funders here.

Look for the planting video on Save the Sound’s website, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

750+ Volunteers Clean Beaches from Norwalk to New London Including Griswold Point in Old Lyme

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Kendall Perkins displays a skull she found during Save The Sound's Coastal Clean-up Day held yesterday at White Sand Beach.

Kendall Perkins displays a skull she found during Save The Sound‘s Coastal Clean-up Day held yesterday at White Sand Beach.

Save the Sound, a bi-state program of Connecticut Fund for the environment, organized 31 cleanups across Connecticut’s shoreline this weekend. The efforts are part of International Coastal Cleanup, which brings together hundreds of thousands of people each year to remove plastic bags, broken glass, cigarette butts, and other trash from the world’s shores and waterways. One of the areas included in the cleanup effort was from White Sand Beach to the tip of Griswold Point in Old Lyme.

The event was founded by Ocean Conservancy in 1985, and Save the Sound has served as the official Connecticut coordinator for the last 14 years.

save_the_sound_logo“We didn’t plan it this way, but I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the 31st anniversary of International Coastal Cleanup Day than with 31 cleanups!” said Chris Cryder, special projects coordinator for Save the Sound. “The cleanup just keeps growing, in Connecticut and worldwide. We have some terrific new and returning partners this year, including the SECONN Divers, folks from the U.S. District Court, multiple National Charity League chapters, and many more.”

Cryder continued, “The diversity of the groups involved really reflects the truth that ocean health affects all of us. Clean beaches and oceans are safer for beachgoers and boaters, they’re healthier for wildlife that aren’t eating plastic or getting tangled up in trash, and they’re economic powerhouses for the fishing and tourism industries.”

The cleanups are co-hosted by a wide array of local partners including high schools, youth groups, and scout troops; churches; boaters and divers; watershed associations, park stewards, and land trusts. Twenty-eight cleanups will be held Saturday, with three more on Sunday and others through mid-October, for a total of 70 cleanups statewide.

Based on the estimates of cleanup captains, between 750 and 900 volunteers were expected to pitch in on Saturday alone. Last year, a total of 1,512 volunteers participated in Save the Sound cleanups throughout the fall. They collected more than three tons of litter and debris from 58 sites on Connecticut beaches, marshes, and riverbanks.

Over the event’s three-decade history, 11.5 million volunteers have collected 210 million pounds of trash worldwide. Every piece of trash volunteers find is tracked, reported to Save the Sound, and included in Ocean Conservancy’s annual index of global marine debris. The data is used to track trends in litter and devise policies to stop it at its source.