Blog
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 4
Dear Supporters of the New Canaan Land Trust: And just like that - our season with the Summer Stewards is over! During the past nine weeks, ten interns maintained trails across our properties, accomplished many building projects, and learned about the environment...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 3
Dear New Canaan Land Trust Supporters: We're nearing the end! Despite the wilting heat, Beni, Alex, and Matt have maintained great attitudes and been hard workers all week. For the second week in a row, we started our Monday off with a talk from an NCLT friend. This...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 2
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: This marks the halfway point for our second session of Summer Stewards. During our second week together, Matt, Alex & Beni helped me with a lot of varied projects on several properties. Our week began on Monday at the...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 2 Week 1
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Our flex week and first week of the second session just wrapped up. I have a feeling the next three weeks are going to fly by! For the second session, we welcomed Matt, Alex, and Beni. All three of them have proven to be...
Brush Piles, Grafting, and More: Short Essays from our Session 1 Interns
Occasional rainy days force our Summer Steward Interns indoors, but we make the most of those days too! On one such day during session one, we asked our interns to write a short essay about any one of the topics that they discussed during the internship program, and...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 4
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Can you believe it? Session one is done! Beau, James, Adriana, Avery, and Lauren knocked it out of the park this week. They all really stepped it up for our last week together and had great attitudes and work performance every...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 3
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: Week three was a short one filled with high heat, a holiday, and a hurricane. After a day off on Monday, the crew started at Fowler on Tuesday. We have been taking the first part of the morning at most properties to do a...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 2
Dear New Canaan Land Trust supporters: In my Wildland Fire Program at school back in Wisconsin, a lot of emphasis is put on the value and importance of regular briefings and debriefings. Debriefing after an action-packed day is way to reflect and evaluate how things...
2021 Summer Stewards – Session 1 Week 1
Our 2021 summer steward interns just wrapped up their first week.
NCHS Internship Update – Week 4
Written by Peter Vigano After a successful National Trails Day event on Saturday in which we installed many raised walkways and lined the trails at Colhoun Preserve (much thanks to everyone who participated!), we had a well-deserved Monday off. We got right back into...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 3
Written by Gabe Smock I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day on Monday! This week the interns spent time preparing for National Trails Day (June 5th!), doing trail maintenance, and finishing comparing real estate data with properties that the Land Trust has...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 2
I’m Peter, one of the two interns that started at the Land Trust last week, and I’m excited to provide an update for our first full week. On Monday, Gabe was unfortunately out, so I started the day by continuing to remove the invasive plant Garlic Mustard from the...
NCHS Internship Update – Week 1
Last week the Land Trust welcomed two new senior interns, Gabe Smock and Peter Vigano! Both interns attended New Canaan High School and have worked with the Land Trust in some form or another in the past. Last summer, Peter worked as one of the interns in the...
American Witch Hazel: Facts and Folklore
Most of us walk by American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) on Land Trust preserves, or in most any woodland area in the Northeast, without giving it a thought. This small tree looks more like a big shrub. With no regular shape and crooked branches that spread...
Who’s in the House?…The Bird House, That Is
What cavity nesting birds use man-made bird houses? What months do birds nest and what materials do they use to build them? What can we learn about bird nests and their nesting behavior from our bird houses? The Land Trust's Bird Houses The Land Trust, with the help...
Preparing our Birdhouses for the Spring Migration
Do you love birds? Would you like to help NCLT get ready our bird boxes ready for the spring nesting season? We have two ways to get involved: Birdhouse Clean-out:We have 35 bluebird-type bird houses that need to be cleaned of last year's nests. Clean-out is a simple...
Getting Ready for Firefly Season
The Land Trust's Firefly Sanctuary has become one of our post popular preserves, and for good reason! Each summer, tens of thousands of fireflies light up the night sky in what is thought to be the first dedicated firefly sanctuary in the United States. Visitors from...
Losing a Giant
Written and photographed by Aaron Lefland. Click images to enlarge. Like many of the forests across Connecticut, the woods of New Canaan are fairly homogenous. Past disturbances to the landscape, both natural and anthropogenic, have created woodlands that are...
Ways to Preserve Nature While Hiking
Hiking is a great way to stay fit if you’re not comfortable going to the gym and you want to spend more time outdoors. There are thousands of miles of hiking trails scattered throughout the country and many local communities are creating more trails for people to use....
Fall Blooms at Silvermine-Fowler Preserve
The following photo essay was written and photographed by Susan Bergen. The wildflower meadow at Silvermine-Fowler is bursting with fall color and offering pollen and nectar to late season pollinators. The meadow, planted last fall by volunteers, features a...
If a Tree Falls in the Woods…
It’s amazing what one can learn about a tree when it falls in the forest, or in this case, on our preserve! We recently found a beautiful, old oak tree blocking the trail in our Watson-Symington Preserve, a few weeks after Hurricane Isaias. After ensuring the trail...