The SCC meets at 7PM on the second Monday of each month in the Courtroom of the Town Offices, 1 Main Street, Baltic. The public is always welcome.

Members                              Term (5-year Term)

Meeting Minutes

Sprague Land Preserve (Mukluk) News:

All Land Preserve information and news regarding our EPA cleanup grant, has moved to a separate page.

Please click here to be redirected to the Mukluk/Land Preserve Page.

STATE SEEKING REPORTS OF INVASIVE MILE-A-MINUTE VINE ALONG SHETUCKET RIVER
Please click here to access the report

Letterboxing in the Land Preserve

October 2009

This marks our fourth year of hosting Letterboxes at the Sprague Land Preserve. We have four there now, and we hope you’ll print out the clues (below, or at www.letterboxing.org) and take a nice fall hike and go find them. As always, we value your comments and suggestions, and in the case of our latest box, “Don’t Tread on Me,” we ask your patience as we refine the directions and give you some compass directions in the future. We know, we asked for your patience last year too, but we were doing maintenance on the others and just haven’t gotten to our most challenging one yet. If you find it and have taken compass directions we can use to make the clues better, please let us know!

There are now two additional letterboxes on the property placed by other letterboxing aficionados. Their links are also here.

Bobcat (our first letterbox and hand-carved stamp)

 Chipmunk Picnic

I Love Mukluk

Hunny Pot Waterfalls

See a Hat Turn into a . . .

What are Letterboxes?

Letterboxes are everywhere. You’ve passed by them on walks in woods, in public parks, probably even in bus stations and on the street in New York City. They are small hidden containers that have rubber stamps in them, and depending on their size they will have a small notebook, some ink, and a pen. The object of letterboxing is to follow a set of clues and find the box. Most clues are easy; but some are in difficult riddles and although planted years ago, have been found only once or twice! You take the stamp out of the box and you stamp your own notebook; then you take your own stamp (that you carry with you at all times in case of a letterboxing emergency!) and you “stamp in” to let others (and the letterbox “owner”) know you’ve been there. There are people who have thousands of stamps from every state and all over the world.

This is a GREAT activity for kids because it gets them outside, walking, reading, using a compass, re-packing the box carefully, then wanting to learn to carve their own stamps and hide boxes too.

But we are still new to the sport, so we need your feedback When you find the boxes (or if you can’t find them) drop us a line (grants@ctsprague.org) and tell us how we’re doing. But first, go to the www.letterboxing.org site to get an idea of what a popular yet largely “undiscovered” pastime this is.

Remember: The Town of Sprague Welcomes ALL visitors but please obey a few simple rules:

·         Drive your car all the way down the dirt road (7/10 mile) and park near the cabin where there’s room. Parking on the road means that other cars can’t pass you.

·         Please obey the signs that say to keep out of certain areas where we are cleaning up the lead pellets from years of hunting. You will know these areas immediately by the cheery orange and yellow fencing (no, we don’t like it either but it does the trick.)

·         ATV’s and motorbikes are prohibited. The area is patrolled and violators will be prosecuted.

·         Please respect this lovely resource and take out anything you bring into the woods—help keep our park gorgeous.

·         The Preserve is closed at sunset except to fishermen. Currently the gate will be locked at sunset.

·         Take note of seasonal hunting provisions in the Preserve and dress/hike accordingly

Happy Letterboxing, and enjoy the Sprague Land Preserve!

The Shetucket River Guide