The Race is On! 2nd Annual Run for Conservation

Our 2nd Annual Run for Conservation is on Saturday, June 9, 2012 in DCR's Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth! We're offering an early registration discount to the first 25 on-line registrants! Details: 1/2 road, 1/2 trail 5k (3.1 mile) walk/run race 9:30am Start Time New Pre & Post-Race Eco-Fair First 100 registrants are guaranteed a free race t-shirt! We'll be featuring a special barefoot division (with barefoot and Vibram fivefingers allowed)!  New team registration option: Enter a team of friends, coworkers, or family! Enter the code "EarlyReg" at checkout to receive the 25% off discount! Only the first 25 people to register with the code will receive this discount. Register Now! Click here: OR copy and paste this link: https://racewire.com/runforconservation Eco-Fair Vendors / Race Sponsors / Volunteers: To become an Eco-Fair vendor, race sponsor, or volunteer, email admin@wildlandstrust.org. Volunteers will receive a free volunteer race t-shirt while supplies last! Like the Run for Conservation Facebook Page to receive race updates! All proceeds support our efforts to save the special places in southeastern Massachusetts!

The Run for Conservation is a member of the Bayside Runner Racing Series! To learn more about the series, visit: http://www.baysiderunner.com/events/race-series//

3 Towns, 50 People, Many Thanks!

Over Earth Week, we worked in 3 towns with 50 volunteers!  Now we want to share our many thanks to our volunteers - for their time, inspirational energy, and hard work:


Kingston - 4/17/12 and 4/18/12

Thank you to Bridie's Garden Volunteers- Together we're growing hope for a better, brighter, and more sustainable food future, while helping meet the fresh food needs of the Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless!

   

Pembroke - 4/20/12

Thank you to the Wildlands Trailrunners and Walkers- who utilize our Preserve trails and help motivate others to partake in passive outdoor recreation!  They're also showing great support for our 2nd Annual Run for Conservation! You can click the photos below to enlarge and read the text and later this week you'll be able to register for the 5k run/walk event on June 9 here: https://racewire.com/register.php?id=1779

 

Brockton - 2/22/12

Thank you to the Keep Brockton Beautiful Day Volunteers- who pulled 15 bags of trash and stacks of tires and miscellaneous debris out of our 120-acre urban Brockton Audubon Property. Thank you to the Brockton Mayor's Office for organizing the town wide clean-up and for providing trash bags, food, water, and trash removal.

 

With your help, every day can be earth day and and every week can be earth week. Together we are all helping to save the special places of southeastern Massachusetts! To find out about upcoming volunteer opportunities, email: admin@wildlandstrust.org

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb? March Nature Photos.

Will this March be in like a lion, out like a lamb? Check out our March Nature Photos thus far, then cast your weather prediction vote on our facebook page!


March 1, 2012:

Philbrick Preserve, Duxbury.

Bridie's Garden, Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless, Kingston.

March 2, 2012:

Deer rub on a young sapling at Phillips Farm Preserve, Marshfield.

Cast your vote by clicking here.

A New Park for Plypmton?

Allison Gillum, Regional Conservationist,
AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer
at Wildlands Trust

Allison Gillum, Regional Conservationist, has been an AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer with Wildlands Trust for 1.5 years. She has been focused on helping municipalities and land owners with conservation planning. Most recently she's been working with the Town of Plympton on their first ever CPA (Community Preservation Act) funded land acquisition project.

The proposed project involves 2 parcels: a 10-acre parcel off Main St. to be named Churchill Park at Jones River Brook and Cato's Ridge Conservation Area, a 77-acre town-owned parcel that is currently landlocked. Allison explained that, "The project would provide public access to two incredible parcels of land in the heart of Plympton. I have very much enjoyed working with the Open Space Committee, CPC (Community Preservation Committee), and the Conservation Commission. Plympton is a beautiful, rural town."

Town meeting approval is needed on May 16 to keep this project moving forward. For more information about the project, see the brochure (front and back) Allison designed below:

Grey's Plate: What does moving to the Davis-Douglas Farm really mean?

Karen Grey, Executive Director.

Karen Grey has been the Executive Director of Wildlands Trust for four years. Among her many duties, she is focused on raising the needed funds to purchase and upgrade the Davis-Douglas Farm in Plymouth, which will serve as the new home of the Wildlands Trust.

Karen says, "The Farm is a 10-acre property in the heart of some of our most important holdings. It will place the Trust within a mile of nearly one third of its conservation land.  Because of the Farm’s proximity to so much of our land, we see the property as an opportunity to create a “gateway” to our mission.  The Trust will be much more visible to the public and we will have the space to offer programs and learning opportunities related to land conservation.  We look forward to interfacing with the public in ways we currently cannot."

Davis-Douglas Farm - Plymouth, MA.

The Trust plans to continue what the Trust's AmeriCorps volunteers have started, reaching out to non-traditional constituencies.  Some early ideas include community gardening, horticultural therapy and expanded outdoor passive recreation programs. She added that, "In a way, the new headquarters will serve as a 'Super Trail Head' where the public can park and head out by foot or mountain bike on the extensive trail systems throughout South Plymouth."

Passive recreation trail adjacent to the Farm.

As with most organizations, the Trust has noticed a downturn in fundraising, but Karen and the board remain committed to meeting the goals to make this project happen.

For more information about the Farm or to find out how you can help make the project possible, please contact Karen at 781.934.9018.

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)

The First Snow w/ the "Wildlands Trailrunners"

The "Wildlands Trailrunners" aren't just runners! We're also walkers and all committed to staying active, even as the temperature drops.

Yesterday the "Trailrunners" group set out to the Emery Preserve West, located off of Ship Pond Road in Plymouth, where we enjoyed the crunching of the first snow under our feet!

 

The group is now on break until after the New Year. Depending on snowfall, weekly walks/runs may switch to weekly snowshoe sessions. As a reminder, these meet-ups are free and open to the public, all ages and levels are always welcome! *If you would like to be notified via email of our events, please email a request to admin@wildlandstrust.org


-Post by Sarah Kugel, Wildlands Trust, AmeriCorps MassLIFT, skugel@wildlandstrust.org