Help us add native plants to public spaces in Town

The Hudson Land Trust invites you to join us for three fall workdays to beautify public spaces around town. We’ll be clearing invasive species and planting native plants and shrubs, and we’d love your help. No experience needed, and every pair of hands makes a difference.

Saturday, September 26, 10 a.m. — Tripp’s Pond Join the Tripp’s Pond neighborhood to remove invasive saplings along the pond’s edge. Meet at the corner of River and Maple Streets.


Sunday, September 27, 10 a.m. — Assabet River Nature Trail We’re returning to the Fossile property on the Nature Trail behind the High School to build on our previous restoration work and to prepare the site for native plantings. Meet in the Nature Trail parking lot off Chapin Road.


Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. — Nature Trail Planting Day The fun part! We’ll be planting native plants and shrubs on the site we prepared the week before. Meet in the Nature Trail parking lot off Chapin Road.


What to bring:
● Protective clothing: long sleeves, long pants, closed-toe shoes, and work or gardening gloves
● A reusable water bottle
● Sunscreen and insect repellent
● Hand tools if you have them (loppers, hand pruners, hand saws, shovels) — please label them clearly


Many thanks to Alexi Dart-Padover and Patrick Thayer for their help and advice.
Come for one workday or all three.

Questions? Email tom@hudsonlandtrust.org

Announcing the 20-mile challenge

Hudson is home to some really great trails — and we’re daring you to prove it with your feet.

Walk or bike our great rail trails. Wander the paths at Danforth Falls, Tripps Pond, the Assabet River Nature Trail, Gates Pond or the Goodale Forest. Take a hike and read a story with your kids or grandkids at the Old North Road Conservation Area. From riverside stretches to wooded loops, there are miles of trail right in your backyard waiting to be discovered.

Here’s the deal: Log 20 miles on Hudson’s trails, and you’ll earn an exclusive iron-on “20 Mile Challenge” patch — a badge of honor you can slap on your favorite pack, jacket, or hat. Get your miles in however you like — solo morning walks, weekend family hikes, after-work strolls with the dog. Every step counts.

It’s free. It’s fun. And once you start noticing how much trail this town has to offer, 20 miles will just be the beginning. Get all the details here.

Lace up. Log miles. Send us your log and we’ll send you your patch

Garlic mustard and skunk cabbage along the Assabet River Nature Trail

Removing Garlic Mustard on the Assabet River Nature Trail

Close-up of garlic mustard in bloomgarlic mustard leaves and flowers

Today (May 11th) we removed a huge bag of invasive garlic mustard from the Assabet River Nature Trail on the walk out to the Fossile Property.

If you see a tall plant with large triangular-shaped leaves with teethy edges. with small, white, four-petaled flowers in clusters at the top of the stems, PULL IT UP!!  Their roots are generally quite shallow, so they should pull out easily. Then BAG THEM and put them in the TRASH. Don’t leave them on the ground or put them in a compost pile where they will go to seed and spread further. 

Tripps Pond Clean-up

Thanks to the crew that came to pick up trash and remove invasive plants from the Maple Street side of the parkland at Tripps Pond. Thanks to the many neighborhood residents, members of the Conservation Commission, the Hudson Land Trust and members of Green Hudson who spent several hours on Saturday helping to keep Hudson’s parkland beautiful. Don’t forget the Town-wide Clean-up Day on April 26th. Information at https://greenhudson.org/town-wide-clean-up-day/