Coming Events:

Essex Savings Bank members: Vote to support your favorite local charities through the month of February!

Every year, Essex Savings Bank donates up to 10% of its after-tax net income to non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations operating in its local area, and Bank members get to choose where 30% of those funds are allocated. It’s all done with a balloting process in the month of February, and here is how it works:

•      Each organization will receive funds according to their proportion of the total vote

•      Ballots listing all participants will be available in all Essex Bank offices

•      Customers enrolled in Online Banking may vote online

•      Each Essex Bank customer can vote for up to 3 participants

•      Voting will begin February 1, 2026, and conclude February 28, 2026

•      Results and checks will be distributed in April 2026

Please consider supporting the Lyme Public Hall and Local History Archives as well as your other favorite organizations by voting! You can vote for up to three organizations, or throw all of your support to just one or two.

Building Layers for Biodiversity Saturday, February 28 11:00 am — 12:30 pm The Lyme Pollinator Pathway and Pollinator Pathway East Lyme invite you to attend a presentation on gardening for maximum biodiversity by Anna Fialkoff, the Connecticut College Arboretum Horticulturalist. Ideally, a native plant garden should contain all the layers, from the ground up to the canopy, to fill every open niche for wildlife habitat and to hold its own against invading weeds. Learn how to group trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants together for maximum impact and beauty for a variety of situations and growing conditions. Anna Fialkoff will also share her top plant picks for pollinators and birds this coming growing season, and highlight the Connecticut College Arboretum as an educational resource and inspiration for native plant pollinator gardeners.

Anna Fialkoff, Connecticut College Arboretum                                                                           RSVP for this free talk at the Lyme Public Hall at  lymepollinator1@gmail.com and to sign up for the Lyme Pollinator Pathway’s mailing list for future presentations. The Lyme Pollinator Pathway is an initiative of the Lyme SustainableCT Committee

Fishing the Local Waterways with Rowan Lytle

Tuesday, March 10 from 7:00 — 8:30 pm 

Are you a fishing enthusiast? Have you always wanted to be one? Or are you just interested in the fish that are likely to be lurking in the waterways you encounter while hiking the trails of Lyme? Either way, you’ll be interested to hear this Lyme Land Trust talk focusing on our local waterways. 

Local angler and fishing guide Rowan Lytle relies on healthy fisheries to make a living. In this presentation at the Lyme Public Hall, he describes the history of some fisheries in and near the Lyme area, the challenges they have faced or still face, and what role anglers and guides can and should play in their protection, along with the role land preservation plays in not only preserving the waterways on that very land but those nearby. He pulls from his unique perspective as both a resource stakeholder and a staunch conservationist to come to conclusions that not every fishing guide might come to. 

A registered Connecticut fishing guide, Rowan operates both wading and canoe-based trips in central and eastern state waterways. He has been fishing ever since he can remember and an avid fly fisher since he was 14 years old. He fishes between 250 and 320 days each year, catching over 160 different fish species on the fly. He has traveled all over the Eastern US to fish for species big and small, and has learned how to do long fishing trips on a tight budget.

Rowan has written about fishing since 2012, both for his own personal blog, Connecticut Fly Angler, and for fly fishing and outdoors print publications. He has guided, taught fly-casting instruction, and tied flies commercially. Rowan advocates for the protection and preservation of wild native fish and the ecosystem needed to sustain them. He was featured in a recent article in The Fisherman: https://www.thefisherman.com/article/pro-files-rowan-lytle-the-fly-rod-naturalist/

To register for this talk, please email: education@lymelandtrust.org

Native Plants and Habitats of Southern CT with Jim Natale

New Date:

Sunday, April 12, 4:00 — 6:00 pm

The Lyme Pollinator Pathway invites you to join Jim Natale, native plant landscape expert, at the Lyme Public Hall for a presentation on what we can do to preserve our natural heritage. As he takes us on an exploration of our natural open space areas, he will discuss the threat of invasive plants and the rarely seen native plants that are at risk of local extinction. Jim will also talk about what homeowners can do on their own landscapes to help.

Jim Natale is owner of Wilder Gardens, LLC, whose mission is to establish a regional native plant garden community, exposing the people to the beauty of our natural world and promoting the stewardship of our natural areas for the benefit of wildlife and mankind. Jim is an expert native plant identifier, having submitted over 50,000 observations to the iNaturalist app in the last six years. (Photo of Showy Orchids by Jim Natale)

Please register: openspace@townlyme.org