LLCT hosts conservation events

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust will host a talk on March 23 as well as  movie on climate change, a vernal pool walk, and birding expeditions in April.

Early 20th-century “Tree Huggers”: Mabel Loomis Todd, Millicent Todd Bingham and the Development of their Conservation Impulses

Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.
LLCT/RLF office, 145 Lincoln Rd., Suite 102A, Lincoln (second floor). Free.

To the extent that she is remembered today, Mabel Loomis Todd is known either as Emily Dickinson’s first editor or as Austin (Emily’s brother) Dickinson’s lover. Her daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham, is mostly relegated to footnotes for her work on Dickinson’s poetry. But both women have another important legacy as conservationists.

This talk by Lincoln resident Julie Dobrow will explore the untold stories of the influences that led Mabel and Millicent to make major land purchases in both Massachusetts and Maine, and their efforts to have the land preserved in perpetuity. There are many Lincoln connections, including early contact with Henry David Thoreau, Louise Ayer Gordon’s gift of her home and 215 acres to the Mass Audubon Society, and even Paul Brooks’s work to publish Rachel Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring. These and other influences give insight into these two trail-blazing women, and also into the way that the nascent environmental movement in this country developed.

Dobrow teaches in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, and in the Environmental Studies and Film and Media Studies Programs at Tufts University.

Sun Come Up

Thursday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m.
LLCT/RLF office, 145 Lincoln Rd., Suite 102A Lincoln (second floor). Free; movie refreshments provided.

The Oscar-nominated film Sun Come Up shows the human face of climate change and the story of some of the world’s first environmental refugees. The 38-minute film follows the relocation of the Carteret Islanders from their ancestral land, located on a chain of tranquil islands in the South Pacific, to a new place to call home. A group of young islanders are followed to war-torn Bougainville, 50 miles across the open ocean, and the film documents their journey as they search for land and build relationships.

Lincoln resident Jennifer Haugh, a member of Lincoln’s Green Energy Committee, will provide commentary and answer questions about the impacts of climate change. Haugh founded Iconic Energy Consulting in 2014 to help institutions find ways to motivate sustainable behavior through public art and design. In 2015, she launched the Harvard Energy Feedback Sculpture project, which features a winning design by Cambridge firm INVIVIA to provide a visual representation of freshmen conservation efforts.

Vernal Pool Exploration with Matt Burne

Saturday, April 1 at 1 p.m.
Meet and park at the far end of the parking lot beyond Donelan’s. Free and family-friendly.

Dress for weather conditions. Participants should wear footwear for a one-mile walk and wet ground conditions.

Matt Burne, a herpetologist and conservation director for the Walden Woods Project, will lead a walk to explore a vernal pool in Lincoln. Participants will look for signs of spotted salamanders, wood frogs, and fairy shrimp, and will hopefully see some creatures up close as well. Listen for the wood frogs’ duck-like calls and the high-pitched chorus of tiny spring peepers, a species of tree frog. Learn about the importance of vernal pools and how to protect them.

Co-sponsored by Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the Walden Woods Project, and the Lincoln Conservation Commission.

Spring birding in Lincoln

All outings are from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Bring binoculars and dress for the weather conditions (walks will not take place if it is raining).

Find out why birders love early mornings in spring as you learn to identify birds by sight and song, and explore some birding “hot spots” in Lincoln. At least two of the following local birding experts will lead each walk: Vinny Durso, Nancy Hammond, Norman Levey, Gwyn Loud, and Nancy Soulette.

• Sunday, April 23—Lindentree Farm and fields behind St. Anne’s Church. Park on Old Concord Road near the junction with Rt. 126.
• Sunday, April 30—Browning Fields and Pigeon Hill. Park by the riding ring in Browning Field on Weston Road.
• Sunday, May 7—Ricci Fields. Park by the trailhead on the east side of Bedford Road, just before the junction with Rt. 2A.
• Sunday, May 14—Baker Bridge Fields. Park at the Food Project on Rte. 126.