Middletown, NY (OCLT): If you haven’t tried letterboxing yet, here is your chance! Join the Orange County Land Trust and outdoor educators from Hudson Highlands Nature Museum on Sunday, May 23 beginning at 1 pm at Moonbeams Preserve, the Land Trust’s 150-acre nature preserve at the base of the Shawangunk Ridge. Learn all about this fast growing hobby that is getting more Americans outdoors and into nature!
Letterboxing is an educational and fun outdoor activity for children and people of all ages combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming "treasure hunt" style outdoor quest. At an opening event hosted by the Land Trust, participants will be introduced to letterboxing, given a passport-style notebook and will make their own stamp, before beginning their letterboxing journey through the nature preserve. With a copy of Moonbeams Preserve Letterboxing Quest, participants will follow clues that lead them through the preserve, stopping at points along the trail that highlight a variety of the preserve’s natural characteristics and wildlife habitat, as well as historical points of interest, and ending at the site of a hidden letterbox!
Moonbeams Preserve is an ideal location for the Land Trust’s first educational quest where families and children can learn more about Orange County’s ecologically important natural areas. The meadows at Moonbeams are home to unique plant, butterfly and bird species and Bear Swamp is a documented breeding ground for the red-tailed hawk and the goshawk. The preserve is also a habitat for wood frogs, and has a high density of Black Gum trees and pockets of the uncommon Black Spruce. Alder Swamp is an ideal habitat for a variety of Bryophytes, and Peg’s Pond is a breeding ground for salamanders. As the preserve is open to the public every day of the year, this letterboxing course will remain at the site for self guided visits with downloadable maps available after this opening event at www.oclt.org and www.atlasquest.com.
Registration is required and space is limited. A donation of $5 per participant or $10 per family is suggested with all proceeds going towards the future stewardship of the Land Trust’s nine nature preserves in Orange County. For more information, registration and directions, call the Land Trust office at (845) 343-0840, x12. Directions to Moonbeams Preserve can also be found on the Land Trust website at www.oclt.org/mmoonbeams.htm.
The Orange County Land Trust is grateful to the family of Robert P. Augello, Esquire for their sponsorship of this event in his memory. Bob was a founding member of the Land Trust and Moonbeams Preserve was a special place for him and his family.
The Orange County Land Trust is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the fields, forests, wetlands, ridgelines, and river corridors in and around Orange County through voluntary land conservation for the benefit of people. The Trust owns and manages nine nature preserves open to the public every day for passive recreation such as hiking, birding and nature study. The Land Trust partners with other conservation groups as well as community and government organizations to preserve Orange County’s natural and agricultural heritage. For more information and for volunteer opportunities, ways of giving, and upcoming events, visit the website at www.oclt.org or call (845) 343-0840.
