Upcoming Field Trips

NEBC Day Field Trips in 2017

Join us and explore interesting places with great plants, led by local expert botanists. Trips for June, July and August, 2017, are planned, and participants must contact the trip leader 1 week in advance. See all details below or print this PDF.

About the Trips

• You must pre-register to get information on the trip meeting place and time. This will ensure that you have a slot, and will let the leader contact you if there are any changes. Trips may be cancelled if enrollment is low.
• Each trip is limited to 12 people, so please contact the trip leader at least 1 week in advance to be assured of a slot.
• Bring lunch, water, insect repellent, plant field guides, hand lens, etc.

Saturday June 17 – Arcadia Wildlife Management Area, West Greenwich, RI

• Arcadia WMA is one of the largest natural areas in the state. It includes a diverse array of habitats such as sandy pitch pine, oak/hickory/white pine forest, some forested wetlands, rivers, and Rhode Island's only black spruce bog. We will focus on the Pine Top section, in the vicinity of Escoheag Hill in West Greenwich. There are some rich mesic forested areas with sugar maple; some early successional forest periodically cut; an old gravel parking lot being maintained as early successional habitat with some sandy, bog-like areas. We'll also visit some forested seeps near the base of the hill, along the Wood River.
• Level of Difficulty -Moderate. We’ll be off-trail in a variety of habitats.
• Trip Leader: Tim Whitfeld (Timothy_Whitfeld@brown.edu) and Doug McGrady. Tim will send meeting time, location, and directions to those who register for the trip.

Sunday July 9 - Washington, VT

• Field trip to typical, sugar maple forests of the Vermont Piedmont in the town of Washington (just north of Chelsea), Orange County, Vermont. Rich woods, fields, hedgerows and shrublines of the old hill-farm countryside.  Terrain is hilly but not steep, easy walking on roads and trails, a lovely landscape. Collecting specimens for the Club herbarium is a feature of this trip.  No "very special" habitats are here, but we will see some interesting plants including a positively identified Crataegus holmesiana, ginseng, ferns, woodland violets, and what-have-you.  A very nice vernal pool is also on the property.
• Level of Difficulty – Easy
• Trip Leader: Art Gilman (avgilman@together.net).  Art will send meeting time, location and directions to those who register for the trip.

Sunday July 30 - Salmon River Cove, East Haddam, CT

• NEBC will join with members of Connecticut Botanical Society to survey the shores and fresh water tidal wetlands of the lower Salmon River. We will paddle upstream as far as Machimoodus State Park where there is a boat launch area to come ashore for lunch. This site was recently bulldozed and may offer interesting pioneer plants. There may be time to botanize other parts of Machimoodus as well. Several State listed species are known from this area. Bring binoculars; this is a great birding area too. Participants must provide their own canoes, kayaks, and PFDs, or arrange for a space in someone else¹s boat.
• Level of Difficulty - Moderate
• Trip leader: Bryan Connolly (bconnolly@framingham.edu). Bryan will send meeting time, location, and directions to those who register for the trip.

Saturday August 12 – Pepperell Springs Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA

• This trip focuses on natural communities, including rich Northern Hardwoods forest (Sugar Maple - Oak - Hemlock Forest patches with Hemlock stands, occasional talus slopes, an intermittent stream) and mixed oaks with mountain laurel, hemlock stands, Red Oak - Sugar Maple Transition Forest. We'll also visit a rock outcrop with a cedar glade-like area and patches of rich Sugar Maple - Oak - Hickory Forest, mixed with hemlocks, and perhaps a Red Maple-Black Ash Swamp. Anyone who wants to can return to Heald Pond with their own kayaks or canoe and explore areas with purple bladderworts, water lilies, floating peat islands with poison sumac, and acidic fen conditions. Permission to collect herbarium specimens has been granted for public and private lands visited. Perhaps other new county records will be located; Staphylea trifolia was found earlier this year. For more information go to Pepperell Trail Guide (PDF), Pepperell Springs Conservation Area (PDF), and Pepperell Springs Map (PDF).
• Level of Difficulty - Moderate - we'll be mostly on trail on dry ground, with some steep sections, except for the swamp.
• Trip leader: Pat Swain (pcswain@zizania.org) and Karro Frost. Pat will send meeting time, location, and directions to those who register for the trip.