Guided Walk at Wequetequock Cove Preserve
2024-09-08 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Wequetequock Cove Preserve, Located between Palmer Neck Road and Wequeteqock Cove, Stonington, United States
Led by Lydia Pan of CT Wild Ones and Beth Sullivan from Avalonia, this is a guided walk at Wequetequock Cove Preserve in Stonington. We will look at the cove side preserve, note vegetation, changes in response to sea level rise as well as impacts by invasives. We will discuss the importance of coastal habitats for the migration of insects and birds, Anguilla Brook/Wequetequock Cove watershed protection, and Avalonia’s management plan for the property. This guided walk is sponsored in part by the Eastern Connecticut Conservation District (ECCD) and the Wequetequock Cove Clean Water Coalition.
Sunday, September 8
1 – 3 pm
Rain date if absolutely needed on Sept 22 at the same time.
REGISTER HERE
NOTES:
Tick/mosquito prevention spray and sunscreen are important.
There is no shade.
Please BYO water.
Park with care along the roadside.
Closed-toe shoes are recommended.
No dogs are allowed due to nesting animals, birds, and habitats.

Rocky Road: A Geological Exploration of Pine Swamp Wildlife Corridor in Ledyard
2025-05-10 10:00 - 11:30 | Pine Swamp and Wildlife Corridor, 113 Whalehead Rd, Gales Ferry, CT, 06335, United States
You’ve heard of tree-hugging…but boulder-hugging?
Join geologist Mary DiGiacomi-Cohen for a tour of Pine Swamp Preserve that explores the physical characteristics and geologic history of the area. We’ll learn to understand and apply terms like glaciation, dirt machine, shear zone, meltwater deposition, and eolian processes. We’ll deploy several of our senses, including sight, touch, and taste, during our exploration of this special environment.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
10 am – 11:30 am
Rain date: Saturday, May 17, 2025 (same time)
Participants will have the opportunity to get a little gritty, get a handle on a gneiss vug (huh?), and, yes, hug a boulder.
Post-tour reception will include beverages and gluten-free Rocky Road brownies. (No rocks will have been hurt in the making of these brownies!)
Parking: Room for up to three vehicles in a small lot. Additional parking is available on the side of the road on Stone Court (diagonally across from the lot).
Accessibility Note:
Parking: No accessible parking.
Trail: Trail begins at lot. Surface ranges from stony to packed earth and grass, with some roots and widths of two feet to six feet. Slope varies from level to some short, steep areas with slope as high as 1:4 (one inch of slope for every four inches of travel). An approximately 30 foot area may require some scrambling.
Communication: Walk will be amplified. Tour will include rich verbal description.
< The sign language interpretation for this event has been cancelled >

For more info, contact: accessibility@avalonialc.org (860) 884-3500.
Register:
Fill out my LGL Form!

Greet-the-Morning Hike at Tefftweald at Birchenturn Preserve in North Stonington
2025-06-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Tefftweald at Birchenturn, 282 Grindstone Hill Road, North Stonington, CT, 06359, United States
From time immemorial, observers have found poetry—and poetic prose—in nature. Whatever form your observations have taken, we’ll have plenty to observe and record as we greet the morning and hike Avalonia Land Conservancy’s Tefftweald at Birchenturn Preserve in North Stonington.
Tefftweald, a former Girl Scout camp, is a 77-acre masterpiece of upland forest, meadows, wetlands, old graveyards and cellar holes, and its wonderfully photogenic Wyassup Brook always offers inspiration. We’ll explore the woodland trails at a pace leisurely enough to enable everyone to give the Preserve a close read and stop often enough to capture the abundant plants and animals, from early blooming Mountain laurels to birds, butterflies, and dragonflies.
At the Poet’s Bench, we’ll pause to give everyone who’s willing the chance to share a treasured bit of verse. Walk leader Bruce Fellman is a veteran photojournalist, naturalist, and documentarian who has kept and published a weekly Naturalist’s Journal in a number of local newspapers for the past 47 years.
Registration is limited to 25.
Register Here

Accessibility Note:

Parking: Small lot located about 100 yards down an unnamed gravel-and-dirt side street off of Grindstone Hill Road (approximately 281 Grindstone Hill Road) at the start of the Tefftweald at Birchenturn Preserve’s main trail. Lot with packed dirt surface, no accessible space, room for 8–10 cars. Additional parking available along the road.
Trails: Narrow in spots, some slopes, some protrusions into pathway, occasional wet areas, and occasional off-trail walking.
Communication: This walk will be amplified; sign language interpretation will be provided.

Avalonia Accessibility Statement: https://avalonia.org/accessibility-for-people-with-disabilities-statement/
Accessibility point person: Mary Anne Sherman, 860-884-3500 or avalonialc@yahoo.com

Featured image: Avalonia’s Tefftweald at Birchenturn by Sherry April
