Follow the Trail with Bill Reid,
The Last Green Valley's Chief Ranger
Get Out and Paddle Along Our Rivers This Spring
Rivers are the lifeblood of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor. They define our region’s history, from transportation and sources of food for the original inhabitants of our beautiful valley to powering the age of industry. Today, our rivers provide exceptional recreational paddling opportunities…
Spring promises a variety of song and eggs
In my office I have a photograph of two bald eagles in a nest with two young hatchlings. The eagles built it about 10 years ago in a tall sycamore tree adjacent to the Quinebaug River. The nest is at least six feet in diameter…
Nature’s Transformation Has Begun With Winter Finally Behind Us
We are gratefully sliding from April into May. Frankly, I am happy to see April headed toward the rear-view mirror. It, along with March, was unseasonably cold and snowy. I have been joking with friends that 2018 saw the creation of a “fifth season” non-affectionately…
Red Fox is The Ghost of The Forest
This winter, I spent several days skiing in Vermont. Several large snow storms created a canvas of fresh snow on the mountainside, and every morning a new scene played out in the fresh tracks that were revealed. The chairlift to the summit was the perfect…
Consider Joining a Cleanup for Earth Day
Next Sunday is Earth Day, celebrated each year on April 22. For many of us who live and work here in The Last Green Valley, every day is our own personal earth day. We enjoy a region that remains 77 percent undeveloped land dominated by…
Spring’s Early Arrivers Have Made Their Return
Spring may be here, but at this writing many of our avian signs of spring are still to the south waiting for later departures. May is the month when songbirds seem to abound in New England with courtship songs, displays, territorial disputes and nest building.…
Time to Spring Outdoors
What a winter it has been here in The Last Green Valley. Winter skated into December with deep-freeze temperatures. January brought a whole new mind-boggling meteorological term, “bomb cyclone.” I didn’t hear a bomb or see a cyclone, though we had some snow and high…
Snowshoe Hare Hop Around Northern Parts of the State
Last month, I ventured to my family’s property in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Located in the Monadnock region of southwestern New Hampshire, Fitzwilliam is about 90 minutes from where I live in Putnam. My grandparents bought the property in 1933, my father took it over in…
First Woman of Dentistry Practiced in Killingly
Over the past six months I have spent several hours in a dentist’s chair. My teeth have endured three crowns and paradental gum procedures. Luckily, I have dodged the dreaded root canal (so far). While I appreciate receiving much-needed and excellent dental care, getting to…
Mansfield Hollow Worth a Visit Any Time of Year
The morning of Feb. 10 was bright and sunny, with temperatures rising into the 30s and heading for the 40s. As I pulled into the parking area at Mansfield Hollow Lake and State Park, I found a dozen or more ice fishermen already set up…
Celebrate Presidential Visits to The Last Green Valley
Monday is Presidents’ Day, a national holiday held on the third Monday in February to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present. For me, and I think for most folks my age, I remember the holiday as a birthday celebration of both George Washington (Feb.…
We Can All Work Together to Protect Bird Populations
Why do birds matter? As author Jonathan Franzen wrote in the January edition of National Geographic, “they are our last, best connection to a natural world that is otherwise receding.” As a subscriber to National Geographic, I was pleased to get my January issue and…