The Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship – What We Are and How to Get Involved

this is a very little talking and lots of walking trip... we fondly call it our "death march"

Water and Farmland
Dates: Sunday July 27
Distance 3 miles
Terrain: Moderate
Meet: 9 a.m. Thanksgiving Forest (Janet Road)
Pre-register: Please pre-register by sending an email
to Phil@thechelmsfordian.com so we know how many
people to expect.
We will meet at the parking lot and walk along the pond
passing the beaver dams and into Great Brook. After
a quick tour of Great Brook (and a stop for ice cream)
we will return to Thanksgiving Forest and see one of
Chelmsford’s most interesting rock formations that is
over 20 feet high. This is a long walk but you will have
a lot to see. No open toe shoes and please bring a hat,
a water bottle and bug spray. Please remember to
bring ice cream money!
If you have a Scout troop, church group or walking
group and would like a tour of the trail system, check
out our upcoming events. If you have a group of fi ve or
more, please e-mail us and we can arrange a walking
tour (no charge). If you have tools like rakes and shovels
or any other items we can use , please let us know and
we would be happy to pick them up. If you are a company
and want to do an employee work day, we have a
variety of projects available. For more information, contact
Phil@thechelmsfordian.com or call Phil Stanway at
978-273-1474.

I have added 138 photos and moved the gallery around to make it easier to use. so clikc the camera and start your trip!

Wow long day! site checks at 7am... 2 walks.. one geo clinic and a geo hunt... butterfly garden... I am just beat with a club!... lots of phtos I will post tommrow once I sort them. Thanks to EVERYONE!

Garden will be planted at 9:30 Sunday morning July 13. Stop on over and say hello and maybe give them a hand and look at the yard!

Those coming to Geocache 101 will be given a chance to be the first to search for the new cache at Red Wing. We will be stocking it with goodies and a FTF drawing for a prized Yellow Stewards shirt.

Looking for something fun to do? something free? check out the self guided tree tour of Wright Reservation. Great for a afternoon with kids.

Click here for Self Guided tour

Family Event: learn about Geocaching! click the link below for the full flyer!

Click here for Full Flyer

Nice to see everyone at the 4th.. well except the rain!. Tune in tommrow for picture and some video of the storm and information on our open spaces.

I would do it now .. but hey its the 4th and I have a cold one and a burger waiting.

The second bridge at deep brook is in. 12 people showed up and it was a blast! Check out the photos

Click here for photos

Thanks to the Independent for a great story on Red Wing. Click on the camera icon on the left to enter the gallery system and explore Red Wing and other sites in town. One BIG mistake in the article “500 a month” … not even close .. its 500 per YEAR! That 60 cents per acre per year. That’s why we are looking for donations. Each time we cut the grass at Red Wing its 25-30 dollars so we have next to nothing. If you have an old riding lawn mower, grass cutters , chain saw, weed wackers, rakes and want them to have a second life and help out the program WE NEED THEM!.

My number is 978-273-1474 Want to see what we do drop by Deep Brook this SUNDAY 9 am we will be building a bridge over the stream.

Click here to see what we will be doing

Click here to see Red wing Work

Click here for Bikes Trails at Russel Mill


http://wwc.townofchelmsford.us/conservation/townmap.html

Bill Edge/Deep Brook Reservation

Located on Dunstable Road in North Chelmsford the Bill Edge/Deep Brook Reservation consists of just less than 16 acres of land. Much of the property is wetland associated with Deep Brook, but there are also stands of soft and hard woods. Access is available from Dunstable Road where there is a small parking area. Although relatively small in size, Deep Brook Reservation "feels" bigger due to the unbuildable land along Deep Brook and the abutting Lowell Sportsmen's Club to the South. There is a small system of walking trails through the property, one which leads to the pond in Deep Brook.

Location: Dunstable Road, 1 mile northwest of North Chelmsford Center (Vinal Square)

Hiking in Your Own Home Town –
Free Guided Tours Through the
Chelmsford Open Spaces
With more than 700 acres of conservation land and
nine additional Chelmsford Land Trust sites, Chelmsford
has a wide variety of beautiful wooded sites to
discover. Whether it be the hidden water fall just off
Chelmsford center, the rare trees and plants left over
from an old nursery, or even walking through the rocky
crags of the old quarry, there is a lot you might not
know about our town. The Open Space Stewardship
has been working hard for almost two years to restore
and improve the trail systems that wind through these
areas and we are ready to show some of them off. We
will be offering three walks to explore some of Chelmsford’s
best hiking and walking trails this summer.

When: Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 2:00pm. RAIN OR SHINE.
Where: Thanksgiving Forest, Chelmsford (MA).
What: Learn the basics of Geocaching.

The listed coordinates (N42 34.000 W071 20.282) are for the Thanksgiving Forest parking area/trail head at the end of Janet Road. We will assemble there at 2:00pm on Sunday 7/13/08.

This event will focus on the basics of geocaching, but attendance is not limited to novices. If you're an experienced geocacher you're welcome to participate well. It's nice to have multiple sources for novices to tap for information.

Topics covered will include:

* GPS basics. How do I get coordinates loaded? How close to the geocache will it get me? ...etc.
* Geocache containers. We'll have several different types for show-and-tell.
* Hide styles. We'll go over some of the various methods used to hide geocaches.
* Using geocaching.com. How to find (and interpret) geocache listings.
* Trackable items. Travel Bugs, Geocoins, etc.
* Geocaching etiquette. Respecting property, trading fairly, Cache In/Trash Out, ...etc.

After discussing the above topics we'll go out and find some geocaches in Thanksgiving Forest. The hike will be about 1 mile total. We'll be happy to field questions and discuss other aspects of geocaching while we're hiking/seeking.

Thanksgiving Forest is one of many Chelmsford open spaces that is maintained by the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship program (aka COSS). Some of the COSS stewards will be on hand for this event. Aside from the incredible work that COSS does on their open spaces they encourage geocaching in Chelmsford by regularly promoting it at town events, checking up on existing geocaches during their daily trail walks, and providing input/approval on potential new cache locations. We are fortunate to have such a great group of stewards here in Chelmsford. Thanks, COSS!

Description: Wear your old clothes and bring some pruners and gloves for a few hours of brush and vine clearing. A rewarding wildflower discovery both during and after. Get to meet the stone walls up close and personal.
Date: Saturday, June 7, 2008

where did all the mulch come from for all the sites in town? they came from a generious donation from Brown & Parsons Earth Products. Please think about using them if you need mulch or tree work.

Click here for Location and how to get therey

Click here for photos of the big load up

Well the Land Trust had its trip on Russel Mill pond at Thanksgiving Forest. Small pond but fund to see a lot of brids.

Click here for Photos