Hikes, Paddles, & Wellness
At the Westerly Land Trust, we love to guide outdoor experiences for our community.
Thursday Hikes:
Click for Hikes September October 2025
Each Thursday, we have either a guided hike (fall, winter, and spring) or a guided paddle (summer). Thursday hikes and paddles are FREE for all and begin at 10am, unless otherwise stated. For these events, you will visit various local conservation properties, including some of our Westerly Land Trust preserves. Walks are between 1 ½ to 3 hours and are open to all ages with the target group being agile seniors.
Event Hikes
Event hikes are generally centered around a theme and include seasonal refreshments. These hikes are FREE for WLT members and $10 for not-yet members. Some of the more elaborate hikes are $5 for WLT members and $15 for not-yet members.
We hope you will join us for these outdoor adventures! They are great opportunities to meet new people and spend quality time outside.
Wellness in the Woods
The benefits of nature for mental and physical health are innumerable. Here at the Westerly Land trust, we are grateful to play a role in connecting our community to the great outdoors for the holistic benefit of body, mind and soul. Wellness in the Woods is a series of outdoor events that was brought on by the pandemic and the increased interest in health and use of outdoor spaces. We are now entering our third year and our wellness programs are continuing to grow. All events are run in conjunction with highly trained and certified individuals/partners such as BarreCoast, Dr. Dierdre O’Connor, Westerly Track and Athletic Club, certified local yoga teachers, and certified mindful outdoor guides. We hope you will join us as we tap into the many benefits that nature has to offer.
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Spent a beautiful day on the trails with a great group of Girl Scouts at Grills Preserve🥾🧭
They learned how to identify animal tracks, tell native from invasive plants, pack a first aid kit, stay safe on the trails, read maps and trail signs, and use a compass - then put it all into practice on a hike to the overlook. 🐿️🐝
The best part? They earned badges for all their hard work and new skills! 🍀
So proud of how much they learned and how confident they were out on the trails!
Will Wholean recently completed his second summer internship with the Westerly Land Trust. In 2024, he served as the Conservation Programs Intern, and in 2025, he returned as the Land Stewardship Intern. As part of his most recent role, Will was tasked with developing and leading a stewardship project. With guidance from Land Stewardship Manager Marc Doherty, Will conducted a trail camera wildlife survey at the newly protected Champlin Farm Preserve.
The goal of the project was to gather baseline data on the local wildlife population to help inform WLT’s ongoing stewardship efforts. Over a 43-day period, Will installed and monitored five trail cameras strategically placed across the preserve. His survey captured images of five animal species, with white-tailed deer being the most frequently observed.
To read Will’s full report, including methodology and findings, follow the link in our bio.
Will has now returned to Clark University in Worcester, MA, where he is pursuing a degree in biology. The WLT team thanks him for his dedication, curiosity, and commitment to land stewardship!
In July, siblings Ellen, Sarah, and Bob Madison met with the Westerly Land Trust to propose relocating their aunt Eloise Saunders’ memorial stone from Burlingame State Park to the Sunnyacres Preserve on South Woody Hill Road — land their family has cherished for generations.
In 2016, Ellen Madison partnered with WLT to permanently protect 18.5 acres of the historic Saunders Farm, which had been in the family since 1857. That act of conservation established the Sunnyacres Preserve, which has since expanded to 35.5 acres.
Eloise Saunders was originally memorialized by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island in June 1989 with a large stone birdbath and plaque placed at Burlingame State Park, honoring her support of the Kimball Wildlife Refuge within. However, the Madison family felt that the Sunnyacres Preserve — where Eloise had been the last resident — was a more fitting and personal location.
WLT quickly took action, beginning with a review by the Stewardship Committee and securing permission from RIDEM, which manages Burlingame. From there, a section of WLT’s CCC (Coffee and Clearing Club) led by Dave Prigmore got to work and made the relocation happen.
Today, Eloise’s memorial rests on her family’s beloved land at Sunnyacres Preserve. “I appreciate everyone who made this run so smoothly,” Ellen Madison said. “We are all so grateful.”
🌱Welcome to Westerly, Green Legacy Salon! Owned and operated by Conner Pierce (Chariho grad!), this new salon at 106 Cross St is dedicated to using green practices and sustainable products. They have partnered with @greencirclesalons who will collect and recycle all their beauty waste— can you believe the waste baskets featured in the second image here are made out of recycled hair clippings?!! 💇♀️
You’re invited to the Green Legacy Salon’s open house on Sunday, September 21st, 12-3pm. In addition to refreshments and salon tours, Conner is hosting a basket raffle to benefit the Westerly Land Trust! We are honored to be a part of the salon’s grand opening. Keep up the good work, Conner!!
#westerly #greenlegacysalon #greencirclesalons #sustainablehaircare #landtrust #conservation #environment #sustainablity
The Westerly Land Trust’s Farm Dinner is a celebration of the land’s bounty and the people who grow and produce our food. We were so fortunate to connect with Julian Elfedayni-Connell and his team from @thetinpeddler and @barbarycoastct . Julian enthusiastically took on the whole menu—and what a treat it was! His business partner Mariah Pfiffner curated the wine list, and his sous chef Tabitha Soto was responsible for the grand finale, the native corn tiramisu. Julian led a group of veteran chefs who volunteered their time and services: Chris Champagne, Tom Champagne, Jennifer Gibson, Allyson Mansfield, David Miguel, and Andrew Nathan. At the dinner, Chef Julian mentioned that the Connecticut Restaurant Association is currently accepting nominations for their “CRAzies Awards”. If you are moved to do so, please follow the link in our bio to nominate Julian, his team, and his restaurants by Sunday, September 21st at midnight.
We can’t thank our partner farms and producers enough—not only for supporting the Farm Dinner, but also for feeding our community. If you’re searching for fresh local food and flowers, please visit these places: Adam’s Garden of Eden, @baffonispoultryfarm @carpentersfarmstand, Dunns Corners Market, @echo_rock_flowers @frontierfarmri , Hillandale Farm, @greysail & @southcountydistillers @simplicityfarmsri @vestabakery @watchhilloysters @wehpittituckfarm @westerbeeri and @westfarmorganics
#westerlyri #rhodeisland #landtrust #nature #hike #conservation #outside #summer #stoningtonct #farmdinner #localproduce #farmtotable #community
Welcome back, Farm Dinner! Oh, how we missed you last year. After pressing pause in 2024 to focus on protecting the Champlin Farm Preserve, we had some butterflies about bringing back this iconic event—but seeing all the smiles and feeling the sense of community reminded us of why the event is so special. Indeed, it is more than just a signature fundraiser supporting WLT’s conservation work. It is about bringing our community together to appreciate the land and Westerly’s rich culture of local food production. 🦪🌸🥗
Many thanks to the South County Tourism Council who helped make this evening possible as the 2025 Farm Dinner Presenting Sponsor. We’d also like to thank our 2025 Corporate Sponsors for supporting our conservation work year-round.
And to our guests: by reserving your seat at the Westerly Land Trust’s Farm Dinner, you are playing an important role in local land conservation. Thank you for taking action to preserve and steward these special places in Westerly, and by doing so in fabulous fashion! 💚🌱
Homeschool students learned all about the Wacky Weather in New England yesterday. We searched for clouds to identify in the sky and then created our own clouds in a jar and on paper! Students got to use real anemometers to measure wind speed and investigated the weather station we have here at Barlow Nature Preserve. 🌧️☀️⚡️
This past weekend, we hosted an Introduction to Nature Journaling workshop led by Jonah Salsich, a teacher, naturalist, and artist. We slowed down, looked closer, and connected with nature.
🌱Everyone went on their own journaling journey, some wanted to draw, others wrote, and some just observed. At the end we spread our journals out and saw how differently everyone noticed and recorded things, just like nature, full of variety and all the more beautiful for it.
📔We have two more workshops coming up!!
Workshop #1: Saturday, September 20, 9:30 am at Wahaneeta Preserve
Workshop #2: Saturday, October 4, 9:30 am at Wahaneeta Preserve
Follow the link in our bio to our Calendar of Events to sign up and learn more about the upcoming workshops! We hope to see you there!
