Nature Programs
Nature programs on Rauscher Farm are supported by donations, grants, and fundraising activities and through collaboration with private organizations and town departments.

As well as individuals visiting and enjoying the amenities of Rauscher Farm  on their own time, various programs introduce children and adults to the farm’s woodlands, fields, pond shoreline, and its varied plant and animal wildlife.

2019 Programs and Events

Past Programs and Events

Maintenance
Since the town’s purchase of Rauscher Farm, volunteers coordinated by the Rauscher Farm Management Subcommittee maintain and make improvements to make the property accessible and enjoyable for its many visitors.

Maintenance and improvement activities include

• Obtaining funding through the Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust’s dedicated Rauscher Farm Fund.
• Installation of on-site signage, including a map showing the several environments that constitute Rauscher Farm, namely, grassland fields, meadows, wetlands, woodlands, and Clamshell Pond.
• Sponsoring a survey of invasive species and development of a program to manage invasive  species.
• Overseeing the maintenance of managed grasslands, some which are former hayfields. Following guidelines published by the Cornell University Cooperative Extension program, we mow fields only after mid-September. This provides for the tall grass needed as safe nesting habitat for ground-nesting birds, such as bobolinks, and preservation of milkweed needed by Monarch butterflies until their annual southern migration.
• Establishing and protecting areas of non-fragmented wildlife habitat
• Enhancing habitat and suitable flora for pollinators
• Recruiting work parties by volunteers for removal of invasive plant species, trail maintenance, etc.
• With the support of the Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust and its dedicated CGCT-Rauscher Farm Fund and a grant CGCT received from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, raised money for the purchase of a brush cutter that enables mowing of grassland trails and control of encroaching brush throughout Rauscher Farm’s many habitats.
• Develoing preliminary plans for a universal access trail to be built from the parking area on Clamshell Road to the edge of Clamshell Pond that meets ADA guidelines while also routing all access to minimize wetland intrusion.
• Coordinating projects by volunteer groups. Scout projects have included Invasive plant tagging; development of an Eastern Bluebird nesting boxes trail; Clamshell Pond trail development and educational signage. A volunteer church group has removed several areas of invasive multiflora rose. Students from Worcester Pyrotechnic Institute researched and implemented a survey of public usage of Rauscher Farm.