Help Improve Water Quality in The Last Green Valley
Join The Last Green Valley’s Water Quality Monitoring team and become a citizen scientist. Jean Pillo, Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator for TLGV, is hosting a training on Riffle Bioassessment Water Quality Monitoring. Hundreds of water quality monitoring volunteers work throughout The Last Green Valley National…
Exploring The Last Green Valley: This is ‘empty nest’ time for us and the birds
Two weeks ago, my colleague took her youngest child to college thereby joining the “empty nest” club. My youngest left the nest more than 15 years ago, but I still remember the jumbled feelings of hope and pride mixed with a tinge of sadness. For…
Exploring The Last Green Valley: General Lyon’s birthplace and burial along Natchaug Trail
It was during a Walktober event led by State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni that I first learned about General Nathaniel Lyon of Eastford. Bellantoni took us along the Natchaug Trail in the Natchaug Forest to Nathaniel Lyon Memorial Park and the remains of Lyon’s birthplace home…
Walktober Guides Are Here!
In Southern New England, Walktober is the most wonderful time of the year. Brought to you by The Last Green Valley, Inc. (TLGV), the 29th year of Walktober runs from Sept. 21 to Nov. 3 and offers an array of adventures, with more than 200…
Join us for a French River Paddle Sept. 29
Join us 10:30 a.m to 1 p.m. Sept. 29 for an easy to moderate paddle in a mill pond created by a dam on the French River. The French River strolls into this pond from the north, and we will paddle upstream one mile+ and…
Join us for our Autumnal Equinox Hike Sept. 23
Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox with TLGV Chief Ranger Bill Reid with a six-mile hike 9 am to 1:30 p.m., Sept. 23 on the Nipmuck Trail and Breakneck Pond trails at Bigelow Hollow State Park and Nipmuck State Forest. Participants should bring a trail lunch to…
Exploring The Last Green Valley: Luna moth a recognizable, beautiful creature
A few weeks ago, I discovered a large, bright green caterpillar in the yard. It was the size of my thumb with small dark spots and several hairy spines on its back. The caterpillar was inching through recently mowed grass and I tried to entice…
Acorn Adventure — Into the Woods on Sept. 21
Join TLGV’s Chief Ranger for an Acorn Adventure to teach the kids a bit of hiking 101! We’ll gather from 10 – 11:30 am, Sept. 21, at West Thompson Dam. Ranger Bill will show kids and their families how to pack for a day hike…
Understand the Invasive Japanese Knotweed before doing battle
This is the time of year when the invasive plant Japanese knotweed is blooming in large clusters of greenish-white flowers. This perennial plant blooms in August and September and is quite visible along sunny roadsides in long swaths of green from 3 to 10 feet…