Westmoreland Sanctuary

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION 

A central facet of Westmoreland Sanctuary is the great variety of educational programs offered to students of all ages. During the school year, Westmoreland staff conducts programs for children from schools all over Westchester (NY), Putnam (NY), and Fairfield (CT) county. These programs are typically offered at our facility and include numerous environmental and cultural subjects like bird banding (with live native birds), insects and spiders, pond ecology, forestry and tree identification, bluebird house construction, candle making, and maple sugaring. 

Additional program options are offered in conjunction with the Boy Scout and Girl Scout handbooks. Local summer camps make use of our programming and facilities. And the Sanctuary staff conduct environmental outreach programs in a number of local school districts. 

Our educational programming is not limited to only school-aged children! Each weekend throughout the year, the staff conducts educational programming, leads guided hikes, and organizes special events for the general public. The vast majority of these programs are free thanks in large part to Friends of Westmoreland (membership) contributions. 

CONSERVATION 

The Westmoreland Sanctuary property is a complex array of ecosystem and habitat types, which support an abundance of wildlife species. A great deal of time and effort is put forth to monitor and properly manage a number of local wildlife populations. The conservation programs currently conducted on the Sanctuary include: 

- Bird Banding 
- Eastern Bluebird Nest Box Management 
- Wood Duck Nest Box Management 
- Aquatic and Terrestrial Turtle Monitoring 
- Amphibian Breeding Surveys 
- Christmas Bird Counts 
- Summer Bird Counts 
- Project Feeder Watch 
- Invasive Plant Species Control and Removal 

RECREATION 

The Sanctuary's nature museum and wildlife preserve is open for visitation daily. 

The nature museum hours are 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed on major holidays (Christmas, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc) and may be closed when the staff must be out on the preserve. The preserve is open daily from dawn to dusk.