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Tales & Trails: Nature walks for young explorers

The Wellfleet Conservation Trust sponsors Tales & Trails: Nature Walks for Young Explorers, a new program of after-school walks through some of Wellfleet’s conservation areas. The walks are led by Heidi Clemmer, author of a new series of nature books for children. The program will expose kids and families to the beauty of Wellfleet’s conservation lands while teaching them about the habitats and wildlife of the outer Cape. Each of the walks will focus on a different eco-system and will be paired with one of the books in her series.

The first three walks this spring have been very popular and highly successful.  The program schedule includes cedar swamps in September, tidal flats in October and dunes in November.

Press release: 

In cooperation with children’s author Heidi Clemmer, WELLFLEET CONSERVATION TRUST launches new program: Tales & Trails: Nature Walks for Young Explorers

(Wellfleet, MA… March 2nd, 2016) – Wellfleet Conservation Trust (WCT) announces Tales & Trails: Nature Walks for Young Explorers, a new program of after-school walks through some of Wellfleet’s conservation areas. The walks will be led by Heidi Clemmer, author of a new series of nature books for children. The program will expose kids and families to the beauty of Wellfleet’s conservation lands while teaching them about the habitats and wildlife of the outer Cape. Each of the walks will focus on a different eco-system and will be paired with one of the books in her series.

WCT will offer six walks throughout the year. The program represents an expansion of a pilot walk offered last October, when a group of nine elementary school children listened to Clemmer’s Salt Marsh Secrets and then explored the salt marsh eco-system around Hamblen Island Park and Uncle Tim’s Bridge. “The first walk was so well received by kids and parents alike that we decided to offer more,” commented WCT President Dennis O’Connell, “and we are delighted to work with Heidi Clemmer.” The first walk about vernal pools is scheduled for Wednesday, April 6th. Following that, the program schedule calls for heath lands in May, barrier beaches in June, cedar swamps in September, tidal flats in October and dunes in November.

After 21 years as an elementary school teacher, Heidi Clemmer retired and decided to devote her leisure time and energies to her true passion: teaching children about nature. With illustrator and collaborator Marisa Picariello, she has launched an ambitious nine-title nature book series called Cape Cod Eco-Tales. Tales & Trails: Nature Walks for Young Explorers is a program that combines the educational content of Clemmer’s books with a live ‘hands-on’ experience in Wellfleet’s conservation areas. On the walks, children get to listen, explore and create: they hear a nature story told by the author herself, explore the corresponding ecosystem, and then create their own souvenir of the experience in art, writing, or photography. “In addition to being a thoroughly enjoyable family activity, we hope it will foster an early appreciation of our surrounding natural resources in our kids,” added O’Connell, “something they can keep throughout their lifetimes.”

The walks are planned for Wednesday afternoons and are geared towards children 6-9 accompanied by an adult, although all are welcome. There is no cost to participate. Advance registration is required. The walks begin at 2:30PM at locations designated on the WCT website. Tales & Trails is funded by WCT and supported in part by a grant from the Wellfleet Cultural Council, a local agency which receives funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. To register or inquire about the walks, email Heidi Clemmer at ecotales@aol.com.

Drummer Cove Link Lot offered

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On December 31, 2015, The Wellfleet Conservation Trust acquired the “Drummer Cove Link Lot” in South Wellfleet from the Drummer Cove Nominee Trust (DCNT), a group of conservation-minded individuals.

The DCNT approached WCT offering to acquire the property for conservation and recreation purposes until such time as WCT could take ownership. The agreement gave WCT time to fundraise and to make application for a Conservation Partnership Grant with the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

drummerThe Drummer Cove Link Lot, located on the northwest shore line of the Drummer Cove, was considered to be of highest conservation priority. The three quarter acre Link Lot parcel preserves critical coast line habitat and offers valuable public and historic benefits as well.  Once part of the historic and picturesque walking trail that led from Pleasant Point to the Pond Hill School in South Wellfleet, the Drummer Cove trail is now restored for public enjoyment.

Read a poetic perspective by Dwight Estey on this extraordinary property.

Ninth Annual Walk, LeCount’s Hollow

From the Fall 2015 WCT Newsletter:

Ten thousand steps – that’s what one participant’s pedometer recorded on September 12 at the end of the Trust’s 9th Annual Guided Walk that began and ended at the LeCount’s Hollow Beach parking lot. The 4 mile walk included talks at the start and at five points along the route by South Wellfleet historian Pam Tice, and by Trustees Dennis O’Connell, Bill Iacuessa, Dwight Estey, Don Palladino, and Mary Rogers.

Around seventy-five enthusiastic walkers gathered at 9 a.m. on a perfect day in the parking lot where President Dennis O’Connell and Walk Director Bill Iacuessa welcomed everyone and introduced the speakers. Mary Rogers discussed the original Maguire co”ages which were located at the beach. Pam Tice gave history of the brief-lived German glider school and Cook’s Camp to the south of the area.

The group headed up Ocean View Drive and into the woods along a trail that comes out onto the old Buffum Road, the way into Wellfleet-by-the-Sea before Ocean View Drive was built. The first stop was at a Modernist house, designed by Olaf Hammerstrom around a preexisting dwelling. There the group learned about the old road, about the creation of Ocean View Drive, and about the Surf Side Colony which they had passed on the way into the woods.

From there, the walkers went deep into the wood on a trail known as the “Gauntlet,” which runs roughly parallel to Ocean View Drive. Dwight Estey expanded upon the various colorful names given to different sections of the Gauntlet according to their terrain. The group proceeded west to the outskirts of the WCT Clover Trail. The walkers followed the railroad bed to LeCount Hollow Road, passed through the Rail Trail parking area and crossed Blackfish Creek, walking along the bike trail. From a vantage point high above the east side of Blackfish Creek, Pam Tice gave background on the early South Wellfleet General Store and Post Office, and Don Palladino discussed Blackfish Creek.

The group followed an old section of the Old King’s Highway to Marconi Wireless Road. In front of the newly rebuilt home of Bill Carlson and Lonni Briggs on Marconi Wireless Road, Dennis O’Connell explained their conservation restriction (CR), and Bill Iacuessa discussed the Marconi Station, which was located on top of the dune at the end of the sand road. This was the last stop before returning to the starting point, LeCount’s Hollow Beach parking lot. The total walk took about two and a half hours at a leisurely pace.

Participants were delighted with the walk which opened up new territory to many from Wellfleet and from far away. Come back again next year. We’re already making plans for our 10th Annual Guided Walk in Wellfleet on the Saturday after Labor Day.

 

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Charles and Adelaide Walker Family Conservation Land and Trails are now open

Walker trailhead
Walker family
Americorps helpers

From the Spring 2014 WCT Newsletter:

The Walker property consists of 8.3 acres of wooded slopes, a maple swamp, and a small pond, which is a certified vernal pool. The conservation plan for this property was completed in April 2012, and walking trails (approximately 0.6 miles in length) are now open to the public. We hope you will explore this new trail!

In spring this trail comes alive with music, color, and fragrance: the gentle chorus of spring peepers, the rhythmic bass of bullfrogs, the sweet scent of blackberry blossoms, the lime-green buds of swamp maples, the lavender blossoms of wild phlox, and the black and orange mosaic of monarch wings covering milkweed stalks. On the evening following the first warm rain of spring, you might even catch a glimpse of mole salamanders gathering at the vernal pool to breed and lay their eggs.

In fact, it is a festival of life and feast for the senses in all seasons. WCT trustee Dwight Estey was so captivated that he was inspired to compose poetry, which will be published on the WCT website. Here is a sample of his verses:

Through trees below, water I saw Glassy, dark with black reflection The Walker Pond below my perch Mirrored nature’s perfection.

Browns, tans and yellows shimmered And upon still waters seemed Like jewels laid out before me A view for kings and queens.

– Dwight E. Estey From Ode to a High Bench, A Poet’s Walk

Will the muses also fill you with creative spirit when you visit the Walker Conservation Land and Trails? If they do, we want to hear about it! You are invited to share your poetry, photography, and artwork with us. Once again, we express our deepest gratitude to the Walker family for working with WCT to preserve this gem.

Access to the new trail is next to 70 Coles Neck Road and marked with a sign.