Story by Susanna Graham Pye Tracking turtles isn’t as easy as one might think, but HCT volunteer Michael Musnick, a passionate amateur herpetologist, is doing his best.  Holding an antenna and receiver, Musnick sets off down one of the grassy trails leading from the parking lot of Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Robert F. Smith Cold […] Read more »

Self-Guided Steps for your Night Sky Tour First, to orient yourself, download the July Evening Sky Map by clicking here. You will want to have the direction that you are facing at the bottom of the map. Find a location away from streetlights and as open to the horizons as possible. To read the sky […] Read more »

In the fields we let them have- in the fields we don’t want yet- where thistles rise out of the marshlands of spring, and spring open- each bud a settlement of riches- a coin of reddish fire- the finches wait for midsummer, for the long days, for the brass heat, for the seeds to begin […] Read more »

The walking trail is now open at HCT’s 17-acre Muddy Creek Headwaters Preserve! The new conservation destination on Church Street in East Harwich offers scenic vistas of a wildflower meadow in full bloom nestled within a forested valley that borders 1,400 feet of shoreline along Muddy Creek flowing into Pleasant Bay.  The trail length is […] Read more »

One morning last week, Nan Poor (a Trustee of the Harwich Conservation Trust) looked out her window into her yard next to the HCT Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve’s wetlands and walking paths. She has several bird feeding stations at her home. Among the visitors, there are often mourning doves eating seed on the […] Read more »

“But if I were required to name a sound the remembrance of which most perfectly revives the impression which the beach has made, it would be the dreary peep of the piping plover which haunts there. Their voices, too, are heard as a fugacious part in the dirge which is ever played along the shore […] Read more »

It’s been waiting for you, just sitting there quietly minding its own business of filtering water, growing trees and plants and sheltering wildlife. Waiting for a time in your life when you needed it most.  When you could not visit friends and family at their homes.  When your only choices were to remain inside 24/7, […] Read more »

To protect windswept wetland, tall oaks, and an active herring run, Doug and Carol Tuttle donated their 7-acre Oak Island Bog to HCT this May after their family stewarded the land for 132 years. The land is comprised of mostly salt marsh with some bordering upland in the Red River estuary. This particular salt marsh […] Read more »

The nonprofit Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) is interested in receiving word about Harwich box turtle sightings. As the weather warms, you may see an Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) on your local travels and walks. Learning about the locations of local sightings helps HCT understand box turtle presence relative to conservation lands and potential areas […] Read more »

On behalf of Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) and HCT volunteer astronomer Michael Payne, welcome to your very own backyard self-guided Spring Night Sky Tour. We’ve been watching the daily forecast for clear skies and tonight’s night sky viewing looks promising with cloud cover diminishing after 8:00 p.m. Usually we offer this celestial experience in person, […] Read more »