PLEASE RSVP by September 16th to Patti at 845-254-4126
Please join Bill and Patti Ridge at their home as they host “The Ladles”.
This all-women band presents a blend of swing and old-time folk with three-part harmonies and achingly beautiful lyrics. Enjoy this incredibly talented and delightfully entertaining threesome, one of whom has local roots and revealed a hint of family story and thereby connection to JB… Come and prepare to be enchanted! It promises to be a lovely afternoon.
The next and final Wild Saturday of the year at Woodchuck Lodge, on October 6th at 1pm, is entitled Face-to-Face with Raptors. Annie Mardiney, federally licensed wildlife “rehabilitator”, shares her deep passion by bringing hawks, owls, and falcons to Woodchuck Lodge. Come meet them face to face! Last year, we received almost 60 visitors for this talk by Annie, one of the most popular talks we’ve hosted.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered throughout the summer on the first weekend of the month on Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm, between May and October, so if you can’t make our Wild Saturday, you still have the rest of the weekend to take a tour with one of our docents on October 6th and 7th which will be the last chance to visit Woodchuck Lodge before it closes for the summer.
Visitors can also now take advantage of our new trail. Woodchuck Lodge received a grant to develop the trail around the Woodchuck Lodge grounds and our Trustee Patti Rudge has been overseeing its construction. The trail provides a unique view of the property, snaking up and behind the Lodge and through a forest and out into our meadow that has stunning views.
Wild Saturday events take place at 1pm at 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474. Children are welcome.
On Saturday September 1st, 2018 at 1pm, Mairead Mulhern gave a fascinating talk on Wildlife Near Home at Woodchuck Lodge. Mairead, an Environmental Educator discussed local wildlife found in Upstate New York. Who knew that porcupines swim – or rather bob along — when they really need to get away, with thousands of air-filled quills keeping them afloat?
John Michelotti, owner of Catskill Fungi and President of the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association, discusses the ecological functions of fungi, common edibles and medicinal mushrooms in the Catskills, as well as historic uses of fungi and present day research and innovations. Find out more at CatskillFungi.com.
This event takes place at Woodchuck Lodge, 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474 at 1pm onAugust 4th, 2018. All are welcome.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered the first weekend of the month, May to October, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
The John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday July 15th, 2018 at 1pm.
The meeting will be open to the public and, after agenda items are discussed and trustees are voted in for another term, there will be a hike to the new summer house, free gifts for attending (book, refrigerator magnet or CD) and light refreshments.
This event takes place at Woodchuck Lodge, 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474. All are invited.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered the first weekend of the month, May to October, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
With a $3000.00 matching grant under our belt from Delaware County Tourism and Promotion Board and a commitment of $2000.00 from the Woodchuck Lodge budget, the Board is committed to raising the final $1500.00 to fund the summerhouse!
Trustee Patti Rudge has accepted the challenge to swim across Lake Champlain on August 18 and is seeking sponsors to raise the final monies for John Burroughs summer house. The swim is 3.75 miles from Essex NY to Charlotte Vt., and is billed as an open water competitive swim. On a northeasterly course, she is quietly hoping for a tail wind. She is well into her training, bobbing in choppy, cold water. It is “another realm of solitude and wildness out our backdoor”.
Can you help Woodchuck Lodge with a donation towards the summerhouse? If so, please address checks to Woodchuck Lodge with “summer house swim“ in the memo. Mail checks to JB Woodchuck Lodge, PO Box 492, Roxbury, NY 12474.
Thanks so much and if you are in the Catskills and near open water, take a good look.
Paul Misko, founder of THE CATSKILL 4000 CLUB presents a multi-media presentation on how hiking in the Catskills has changed over the years. He uses humorous and disturbing anecdotes from John Burroughs’ adventures, and from a few other historic folks, and then will add some of his own experiences. He will touch on the clothes and equipment used, the food eaten, the coming of the marked trails, and what has stayed the same. He will end his talk with a brief segment on how to properly equip a day pack.
This event takes place at Woodchuck Lodge, 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474 at 1pm on July 7th, 2018. All are welcome.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered the first weekend of the month, May to October, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge’s Wild Saturday Series continues on June 2nd, 2018 at 1pm at Woodchuck Lodge, with a talk by naturalist Bill Cutler.
Bill will share his knowledge of amphibians, reptiles, critters and plants found on the lodge property, and discuss their importance to the Catskills and impacts on increasingly fragmented habitats in New York State. Kids will love this presentation. Bill is a former National Park Service Ranger, Field Research Associate in Trinidad and Environmental Consultant.
Presently, he is Vice President of the Sullivan County Audubon Society, volunteers for the Basha Kill Area Association and works as Sullivan County’s Recycling Co-ordinator.
This event takes place at Woodchuck Lodge, 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474 at 1pm on June 2nd, 2018. All are welcome.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered the first weekend of the month, May to October, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
The Trout-Lily trail marks a significant development in the maintenance of Woodchuck Lodge, as this new trail is actually part of a partially restored footpath that was developed by Dr. John Lutz, great grand nephew of John Burroughs and founder of Woodchuck Lodge, Inc, winding up into the hill behind the woodshed. We cleared blow-down, brushed back the undergrowth, improved the footing and constructed an inviting stone staircase at the base that reflects the era of creativity, simplicity and permanence reminiscent of John Burroughs, the naturalist, returning the path to its glory days. Continue reading “The Opening of The Trout-Lily Trail May 5th, 2018”
John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge’s Wild Saturday Series begins on May 5th, 2018 at 1pm at Woodchuck Lodge, with “Alien Invaders in Burroughs Backyard”, a talk by John Thompson, Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership Coordinator.
John will update us on how Catskill forests have changed since John Burroughs tramped through these woods. Forests are now threatened by the introduction of species that would be unfamiliar to Burroughs. There will be discussion of invasive species and what we can do to help protect the Catskill Mountains for the future. This is a chance for all to learn how to identify the top pests that are killing our trees. It’s estimated that the Emerald Ash Borer will have destroyed all the ash trees in the Catskills in a couple of years. Hemlock Wooly Adelgid is hard at work on our beloved hemlock.
This event takes place at Woodchuck Lodge, 1633 Burroughs Memorial Road, Roxbury, NY 12474 at 1pm on May 5th, 2018. All are welcome.
Free, guided tours of Woodchuck Lodge are offered the first weekend of the month, May to October, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
Immediately following John’s lecture, the opening of our new Trout-Lily trail will take place. The Trout-Lily trail is modest and gentle, suitable for young and old alike, running through a small forested area, into the meadow and opening up into spectacular views of Delaware County, the kind of views that Burroughs himself enjoyed one hundred years ago, when the area was rolling meadow and farmland.
