Congratulations to Susan Mitchell-Hardt
Acton Conservation Trust’s President, Susan Mitchell-Hardt, is being honored with Sudbury Valley Trustees Lifetime Achievement award at SVT’s Annual Meeting on October 18. Congratulations Susan!!
News
Growing the ACT Board of Trustees
Are you interested in preserving open space in Acton? While Acton has the benefit of many acres of open space, some prized undeveloped parcels in Acton are not yet protected. We encourage those interested in open space preservation in Acton to join with like minded citizens as a board member of the Acton Conservation Trust … Read more
Nature of Acton and Boxborough June 2023
BioBlitz 2023 got off to a good start on June 1, with 24 people signed up. By June 4 there were over 300 observations, including snapping turtles, a bobolink, and a running crab spider. On June 15, the last day, almost 1,000 observations had been recorded over two weeks, despite rainy weather and bad air … Read more
Pratt’s Brook Nature Walk
On June 10, 2023, our favorite storyteller and naturalist, “Boot” Boutwell led us on a spring nature walk in Pratt’s Brook Conservation Land, assisted by ACT’s Leona Burgess. Boot shared a great poem on how a lush lawn used to be a sign of riches, and weeds a sign of poverty, but how wonderful “weeds” … Read more
Spring Bird Walk 2023
Al Sgroi led our Spring Bird walk on Tuesday, May 16, capably assisted by JoAnne Sgroi and Ron Schlegel. We met at the Stoneymeade Conservation Land trail head (also a section of the Bay Circuit Trail) and walked through woods, listening to ovenbirds calling and watching tiny brown creepers move through the trees, until breaking … Read more
Spring Service Day 2023
There’s a new trail in town! Many thanks to our amazing group of ACT members, Scouts and AP Environmental Science students who helped clear a 1/4 mile loop trail off the Assabet River Rail Trail today. We had about 50 volunteers, and as you can see from the album below, they did an incredible job! … Read more
Woodcock Watch 2023!
It was a beautiful spring evening to hang out at Rolling Meadows in Boxborough. Temps were perfect for Woodcock Watching! Al Sgroi, Acton Conservation Trust member and local birder, shared pictures and lots of other information to guide us through the courtship ritual of the American Woodcock. Participants were very engaged and asked great questions! Right on … Read more
Annual Meeting March 12, 2023
Our Annual Meeting was lively and very well attended. Tom Tidman stopped by to accept the Carol Holley Conservation Award. President Susan Mitchell-Hardt gave opening comments, presented the award to Tom (who got a standing ovation), and ran the brief business meeting, which re-elected all incumbent officers and board members. Hart Millett gave our financial … Read more
Understanding Ticks: Strategy, Habitat, Ecology and Conservation March 1, 2023
Love the outdoors, but worry about ticks? This talk focused on learning more about ticks, how they operate and affect us and what we can do to protect ourselves from the diseases they spread. We had two terrific, knowledgeable speakers: Susan Rask and Michele Grzenda. Tricia McGean was also scheduled to talk, but had to … Read more
Winter tracking walk February 5, 2023
What a difference a day makes! Our annual tracking walk with Paul Wanta was originally planned for a day when a polar vortex would hold temperatures to a high of 13º. To avoid frostbite, we rescheduled to the next day, and afternoon temps hit 47º! Snow in Acton has been scarce this year, so the … Read more