Norwalk Land Trust Seeking Volunteers!

The Norwalk Land Trust is seeking volunteers to be trained as guides to conduct tours of the Farm Creek Preserve for fourth grade students at Norwalk’s 12 public schools.

The ecosystem of the tidal estuary has been converted into an outdoor classroom for more than 5,000 fourth-graders since the NLT initiated the tours 10 years ago.

They are introduced to the fascinating world and biodiversity of the preserve, a wildlife sanctuary with a salt marsh and meadows rich with wildflowers and butterflies. They are given an opportunity to see white egrets, yellow crowned night herons, fiddler crabs and osprey--and to learn how use the landscape to make whistles with two blades of grass.

Buses carry the youngsters and their teachers to the preserve for morning outings over five weeks between April and June. 

Training sessions or the volunteer guides have been arranged at the Stone Barn in the preserve (34 Sammis St.) in Rowayton April 23 (Tuesday) from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and April 25 (Thursday) from 11 a.m. to noon.

The NLT’s experienced guides conduct the training and work with the new volunteers at the morning visits to the preserve.

Tammis Lazarus, the NLT’s education coordinator, describes the field trips as “a fun and rewarding experience for the children and the guides.”

“You may inspire the next Rachel Carson,” adds Lazarus.

The land trust is a 501c3 nonprofit that has preserved nearly 100 acres of open space on 26 plots across Norwalk.