Is next week really February?

Here are some of our favorite nature photos from January... what a month!

We hope you'll take a peak, leave a comment, and have a great weekend! -From all of us at Wildlands Trust

Downy Woodpecker at Weir River Woods, Hull.

Mushroom atop tree stump at Rounseville Preserve, Rochester.

Downed Pitch Pine at Great South Pond - South Triangle Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth. 

Fox tracks along the bank of Snows Pond (a coastal plain pond) at Robinson-Gilmore  Preserve, Rochester.

Fungi growing on a hemlock snag at Robinson-Glimore Preserve, Rochester.

South Triangle Pond at South Triangle Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth.

(Photo Credit- Above: Alex Etkind, Below: Sarah Kugel)

Wildlands Trailrunners at the Halfway Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth.

P.S. You can visit www.wildlandstrust.org to learn more about the properties featured in this post!

6 Office Resolutions + Snowy Owls

Gabriela Silva

Meet Gabriela Silva, our Assistant Director at Wildlands Trust. She works behind the scenes to make sure our land protection and stewardship staff have the tools and funds to do their jobs well. As a New Years resolution, Gabriela is hoping to get outside more with her family! Over this past weekend, she visited the Little Conservation Area off Union Street in Marshfield. Approaching a dock on the ~75 acre preserve that overlooks the North River, Gabriela and her family bumped into friends they hadn't seen in over 4 years. Have you ever bumped into old friends or made new friends on the trails? Whether you answered yes or no - we invite you all to become our trail buddies through participating in our free Wildlands Trailrunners program.

Gabriela and son at Little Conservation Area off Union Street in Marshfield.
(Town CPA project)

View of the North River reached by trail on Little Conservation Area.

Next weekend, Gabriela plans to head to Duxbury Beach with her family to look for Snowy Owls. Here are some photos that Allison Gillum, Wildlands Trust Regional Conservationist - AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, took of the graceful birds on Jan. 8, 2012.

Even though these birds appear on Duxbury beach almost every year, the last time I set out to observe them was on my 9th Birthday! Time flies...

Tell us about your new years resolutions (nature related resolutions) and winter wildlife sightings on our facebook page.

Need some inspiration for a nature related resolution? Here's a list of several office resolutions proposed by our staff and volunteers:

1. Compost our lunch scraps.

2. Participate in staff exercise (weekly walks / stretching series).

3. Get outside more with our families.

4. See many of our ongoing land protection projects come to fruition.

5. Save the Davis-Douglas Farm and create a center for connecting people to the land.

6. Use less paper.

Thanks for reading & don't forget to click "Join this site" so you can get our blog posts sent directly to your email inbox!

-Post by Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer at Wildlands Trust (You can reach me at skugel@wildlandstrust.org)