Blog – All Topics

Please Consider Giving to the Lloyd Center’s 2024 Annual Appeal!

October 3, 2024

This has been a monumental year at the Lloyd Center! Our new Welcome Center, constructed by students from the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School and built to Living Building Challenge™ (LBC™) specifications, opened to the public. Even while under construction, our Education Team taught more than 10,000…

String Band

The Lloyd Center’s Fourth Annual Music in the Woods Event Celebrates Nature, Music, and Community

October 3, 2024

On September 22, 2024, the Lloyd Center for the Environment hosted its fourth annual Music in the Woods, a benefit for Lloyd Center members. The day offered a perfect blend of live music, nature, and community engagement, set against a backdrop of breezy fall weather. Musicians from the New Bedford…

LBC Grey Water

Greywater Event at the Lloyd Center

September 5, 2024

On Saturday, July 23, 2024, the Lloyd Center for the Environment, in conjunction with the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program/Grant, hosted a drop-in community outreach event. This was made possible by a state grant program aimed at mitigating climate change in Dartmouth. The drop-in event focused on the Lloyd Center’s new…

Habitat Replenishment Benefits Shorebirds – Lloyd Center 2024 Shorebird Wrap-up

August 26, 2024

As stated in the early season article, winter storms both reduced nesting habitat for breeding shorebirds where dense cobble washed up, and increased it through sand replenishment. While Piping Plover abundance is constrained on small sites with lower carrying capacity, microhabitat changes can create new nest locations for both small…

Lloyd Center Wednesday Bird Walks Return This Month!

August 1, 2024

Attention bird enthusiasts, including both beginner and more advanced birders. If you like a nice variety of bird species over a relatively small area, complete with an intricate complexity of habitats without having to travel great distances, these weekly walks in at the Lloyd Center for the Environment in South…

Ospreys at Lloyd Center

Lloyd Center Expands Osprey Territory

July 29, 2024

As the late summer movements of shorebird migration kick in, biologists are busy summarizing data for the nesting season for various species. For the Lloyd Center, this includes first and foremost, the shorebird nesting season which is on its home stretch. But first, we offer a brief summary of our…

SAVE THE DATE – Lloyd Center’s Fourth Annual MUSIC IN THE WOODS Saturday, September 21st!

July 29, 2024

Join us at the Lloyd Center for the Environment on Saturday, September 21st for the fourth Music in the Woods event, a free benefit for Lloyd Center members. Both Lloyd Center members and the general public are invited to enjoy a musical afternoon on the Center’s trails and grounds of…

Meet Bruce Traban, Lloyd Center Educator/Naturalist

July 29, 2024

Hey Y’all! My name is Bruce Traban and I am a lifelong Dartmouth resident. I spent my childhood exploring the local trails and going to the Lloyd Center to check out all the exhibits they had to offer. Not only did I visit, but I also volunteered and was a…

Box Turtle

It Happens Here

July 25, 2024

Getting kids up close with nature is the goal of this environmental center in southeastern Massachusetts DARTMOUTH – The Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, Massachusetts has been teaching children about nature for more than 40 years. Executive director Rachel Stronach said they’ve been around so long they’ve been written into…

A Day of Giving: Fernandes & Charest Staff Volunteer at the Lloyd Center

July 2, 2024

The Lloyd Center for the Environment recently hosted a productive volunteer workday, featuring staff from Fernandes & Charest in Westport, MA. This incredible team spent hours cleaning up the grounds at the Lloyd Center, contributing to the Center’s mission of promoting environmental stewardship. Volunteer workdays are an integral part of…

High School Student’s Ingenious Contribution to Lloyd Center’s Living Building Challenge™

July 2, 2024

At the Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, MA, a unique collaboration between Ryan Fortin, a graduate high school student, and Dartmouth High School’s Engineering and Robotics teacher, Samuel Brodsky, has resulted in the creation and installation of four walk-off mats. This initiative not only enhances the Lloyd Center’s…

Lloyd Center Educators At Work!

May 30, 2024

Our educators here at the Lloyd Center are busy, busy, busy! This time of year brings the students to us for adventures at the Center and to the very special barrier beach system. We focus on habitats and the adaptations of the plants and animals that live in those habitats.…

Snowy Owls to Saw-whet Owls

May 30, 2024

The Lloyd Center recently welcomed a Raptor Specialist, Norman Smith, for a captivating presentation about owls and his many years of work as a self-taught naturalist.  Norman Smith has worked for Mass Audubon since 1974 and recently retired as Director of the Blue Hills Trailside Museum and the Norman Smith…

Storms Shape Beaches For 2024 Shorebird Season

May 17, 2024

by Jamie Bogart, Lloyd Center Research Associate This past winter and early spring, storms and high tides ravaged our coastal region. For the highly rocky Buzzards Bay shoreline, this resulted in both gains and losses in shorebird habitat nesting. Pond channels and seaside roads filled with sand or even cobble,…

Dharma 3

Training at the Lloyd Center

April 29, 2024

This was the first week of training for the Next Level Rowing/Gutzy para-rowing quad. These women are training to become the first women’s adaptive rowing team to compete in the World Rowing Coastal Championships! This brave crew is overcoming significant physical challenges and breaking new ground in the sport of…

Be Part of Our Nature: Join the Lloyd Center Family Today!

April 2, 2024

Embrace the Heart of Environmental Stewardship—Become a Lloyd Center Member or Renew Today! Your membership is a vital part of our mission, supporting critical environmental education,  research, and outreach programs. By joining us, you help to sustain our 82-acre sanctuary, with its five miles of hiking trails and the habitats…

Dive into Discovery: Support Students with Your Donation!

April 2, 2024

At the Lloyd Center, our hands-on field study programs brought the wonders of our coastal ecosystems to life for thousands of students last year. Through the simple, yet profound act of dipping nets into the estuary, students embark on a journey of discovery and place-based learning. They see fish, crabs,…

Lloyd Center 2024 Summer Internships – Environmental Education/Outreach and Piping Plover Research 

April 2, 2024

Environmental Education/Outreach Internships  Do you have a passion for environmental science? Are you experienced or interested in working with youth? The Lloyd Center is in need of Environmental Education/Outreach interns to assist educators in teaching outdoor nature/science-based programs for our summer season.  The Lloyd Center’s educational philosophy is that hands-on…

BIRD ALERT – APRIL IS FOR THE BIRDS – ON THE SOUTH COAST

March 12, 2024

With the return of spring, we will welcome flocks of migratory and summer-resident birds to the South Coast. It is a time to celebrate our birds, and that is just what is here proposed. Throughout April there will be an exhibit at the Westport Free Public Library of paintings by…

Become a Lloyd Center Member or Renew Your Membership Today!

February 29, 2024

Your membership helps to support critical environmental education, research, and outreach programs. In addition, your contribution helps to maintain our 82-acre campus, five miles of hiking trails, and animal ambassador habitats (estuary organisms, reptiles, and amphibians). Although our exhibits are currently closed to the public, our animal ambassadors allow opportunities…

January Rains Again Impact Lloyd Center’s Winter Waterfowl Count

February 21, 2024

By Jamie Bogart, Lloyd Center Research Associate The meteorological winter count for the Lloyd Center’s 37th Annual Winter Waterfowl survey that took place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, involved Lloyd Center staff and volunteers at sites from Sakonnet Point in Rhode Island to Padanaram Harbor in Massachusetts. Abundance of migratory…

Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation Awards $5,000 to the Lloyd Center for the Environment

January 26, 2024

The Bristol County Savings Bank, through its Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation, has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Lloyd Center for the Environment, to support Environmental Science Learning Adventures for the Greater New Bedford and Fall River public elementary school students. This financial support will make a significant difference…

Lloyd Center Kicks Off 2024 With Winter Bird Walks

January 26, 2024

For over three decades, the Lloyd Center has started January with a walk at one of the more ecologically unique landscapes in the region, Gooseberry Neck Island in Westport. The island offers something to satisfy the curiosity of most any naturalist in any environmental field, all in one short stroll.…

Rainy December’s the Norm for Lloyd Center Winter Waterfowl Survey

January 5, 2024

On December 10, 2023, Lloyd Center staff and volunteers surveyed coastal ponds and estuaries from Sakonnet Point in Tiverton, Rhode Island, to Padanaram in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, for the 37th annual Lloyd Center Winter Waterfowl Survey. The ongoing study depicts trends in abundance, diversity, and habitat use for migratory, overwintering waterfowl…