Nov. 21—Walking along a wooded trail in Groton on a crisp morning last week, a group of energetic second-graders approached a sheer rock wall covered in moss and lichen that glowed in the bright sun.
“It’s like ‘Jurassic Park’!” Dylan Peck, 7, shouted as he reached out to touch the green natural blanket.
Dylan and more than fifty of his classmates from Northeast Academy Arts Magnet School were on a two-mile walk organized by the Groton Open Space Association designed to encourage more young people to experience and appreciate the outdoors.
“Nature is beautiful! I love seeing all those beautiful colors!” exclaimed Presley Wetherell, also 7. She then described in detail how leaves change color in the fall, when green chlorophyll disappears due to lower temperatures and declining daylight. This reveals the yellow, red and orange pigments that are always present in leaves, Presley explains.
“I know a lot about nature because I spend a lot of time in the forest,” she said.
Presley’s teacher, Lauren Messina, noted that students recently read the book “How Do You Know It’s Fall” as part of the curriculum that focuses on environmental awareness.
“Nature is good for the body, mind and soul,” Messina said, crediting GOSA with creating and helping implement the program. Without these regularly scheduled outings, “some children are unlikely to venture outside the four walls” of their home, she added.
Lynn O’Connell, a GOSA volunteer who helped start the program, said the goal is simple: get kids outside, “and let them have fun. We want them to look under logs, touch trees and enjoy enjoy the outdoors.” Lynn and her husband, Dan, a director and former GOSA president, helped lead last week’s walks, along with GOSA volunteers Jerome Link and Bruce Jones.
“I do my best to think along the way,” she said.
Three buses carrying students, teachers and paraeducators arrived at Sheep Farm North, on the east side of Hazelnut Hill Road, not far from the Pequot Health Center. After the gathering divided into three groups, everyone headed out on well-marked trails, passing rock outcrops, glacial boulders, bluestem meadows, vast wetlands and two waterfalls—barely a trickle during this fall’s dry spell, but thundering in the spring.
The youngsters stopped now and then to pick up pine cones, rub the smooth bark of beech trees and rough oak trunks, and gaze from a rocky perch at Fort Hill Brook.
“Not too close to the edge!” Lynn O’Connell ordered, and the students stepped back a few feet.
Ben DeMarco, 6, said he enjoys walking with his father and has learned to look for chipped bark.
“That’s where deer rub their antlers,” he said.
Neveah Thompson, 7, summed up her perception of nature in one word: “Beautiful.”
“Nature is beautiful,” Presley agreed, “but you can’t rush it.”
GOSA not only organized the student walking program, but also protected the sheep farm and several other properties in the town from development.
Nearly 15 years ago, the property was zoned for a 34-lot subdivision, when GOSA was able to convince builders to design a woodland residential development that reduced the impact of stormwater runoff into Fort Hill Brook. Then in 2010, GOSA purchased 63 acres adjacent to the new homes to protect that area from future construction, and created a public recreation area complete with walking trails and picnic areas.
The Connecticut Land Conservation Council presented GOSA with the Excellence in Land Conservation Award the following year for protecting and preserving properties in continuous agricultural use since the 1750s, when Samuel Edgecomb Jr. bought land for a farm and operated a grist mill.
GOSA launched the student walking program in 2023, with enthusiastic support from Groton school officials. That year, volunteers led seven walks, thanks in large part to a donation from Sidney Van Zandt, who helped found GOSA more than 50 years ago and is now director and vice president.
This year, with support from The Kitchings Family Foundation to help pay for bus transportation, the program has expanded to 15 walks, involving students from all five Groton elementary schools. Two walks have already taken place this fall; 13 more are planned for the remainder of the school year at GOSA’s Merritt Family Forest, Avery Farm Nature Preserve and Candlewood Ridge, as well as the Sheep Farm.
GOSA (gosaonline.org) is one of several conservation organizations in southeastern Connecticut that offer programs for students. A list of local and regional land trust websites, each describing a variety of youth activities, is available through the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (ctconservation.org).
