If kayaking the Long Island Sound is on your 2014 to-do list - and it ought to be - the land trusts in Lyme and Old Lyme are making it easy to check off that one.

The Old Lyme Land Trust is holding its first-ever kayak regatta Sunday, heading out from Black Hall Marina and Outfitters on the Black Hall River. Paddlers can either join a guided tour led by Barry Gorfain, a certified kayak instructor and chair of the CT Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club's flatwater and sea kayaking committee, out into Long Island Sound and along the shoreline, or meander up the shallow tidal tributary for a naturalist's look at Old Lyme through the marsh grasses.

"Old Lyme has some amazing coastal tributaries, so we encourage people to get out into nature," says Fred Fenton, OLLT Board member and regatta organizer. This event is a literal testing of the waters to attract more supporters and volunteers, as well as encourage people to embrace the land and waters that shape the town's character.

Land trusts are ubiquitous in Connecticut communities. Separate from municipalities but contributing to a town's open space goals, most of these nonprofit organizations are funded solely by donations and are made up of volunteers committed to stewarding and protecting undeveloped land and open space. The trusts may own land outright or hold the conservation easements that prevent future development while a property owner continues to use and often live on the land. When the owner sells the property, the conservation restrictions remain in force.

The OLLT, started in 1966, owns more than 800 acres, in 70 properties around town. Eleven of these properties are open to the public for walking and hiking on trails maintained by volunteers. Detailed trail maps are posted on the trust's website.

The trust's first preserve, Mile Creek, 44 acres of secluded woodland donated by William and Connie Pike in 1973, has a hiking loop designed with school children in mind. The Elizabeth B. Karter Watch Rock Preserve, 25 acres of coastal forests, open field, brackish marsh and rocky shoreline off of Route 156, is a prime example of conservation efforts focused on both land and water. The trust bought it in 1988 to protect it from development.

"One of our priorities is to buy land on important waterways," says Fenton, pointing to trust holdings along the Connecticut, Lieutenant and Black Hall rivers. "By protecting these, we preserve clean water and aquifers, which benefit the fisheries."

Another priority is to strategically keep larger swaths of open space by acquiring property adjacent to state- or town-owned parks, instead of isolated building lots. The greenways formed are more beneficial to wildlife populations and migration, too.

For more of a workman's outing, the Lyme Land Conservation Trust is seeking kayakers and canoers to come out on Saturday, Sept. 27, to pick up trash around Seldon Island and Seldon Cove on the lower Connecticut River. The cleanup is part of the 18th annual Source to Sea cleanup organized from New Hampshire and Vermont to Massachusetts and Connecticut by the Connecticut River Watershed Council. The council's state office is in Middletown.

Although Seldon Island is a state park, the Lyme trust participates in the cleanup because it's an important effort and message for the community and region, according to Humphrey Tyler, LLCT president. The Lyme trust, also formed in 1966, manages more than 3,000 acres of open space in Lyme. Some land it owns outright; it holds the conservation easements on private property and its volunteers manage some other preserves in Lyme. Several of its properties are on tributaries that feed into the Connecticut River.

"Our mission is to preserve open space," says Tyler. "It can be forest land, farmland, marshland and tidal estuaries. The benefit that we see is not only habitat for wildlife, but also a buffer zone for the Connecticut River to protect it from excess pollution runoff in the form of nutrients."

The focus of this year's collection is on recyclable bottles, containers and tires, although volunteers will collect and dispose of whatever trash they find washed up on the river island, a popular stop-off for boaters and campers.

When she's not gardening in Old Lyme, Suzanne hosts a weekly radio show, "CT Outdoors," on WLIS 1420 AM and WMRD 1150 AM on Saturdays from 1 to1:30 p.m., or listen to archived shows in the On Demand section of www.wliswmrd.net.

PADDLE WITH A PURPOSE

Old Lyme Land Trust Kayak Regatta, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21, Black Hall Marina, 132 Shore Road, Old Lyme. Bring your own kayak or rentals available; PFD required. Snacks and drinks provided. Donation: $10 per kayak or $25 per family. Call (860) 434-6294 or -2468 to RSVP; www.oldlymelandtrust.org

Lyme Land Conservation Land Trust River Clean-up, 9 a.m. - noon, Saturday, Sept. 27. Meet at Seldon Road, Lyme, to launch. Light lunch provided, small power boats and canoes welcome, too. Contact Brantley Buerger at bbuerger@3yankees.com. Rain date is Sunday, Sept. 28; www.lymelandtrust.org.