After tramping for more than an hour one sunny morning last week – over blazed trails, down an abandoned, unpaved road, across a power company right-of-way and along part of a high-school cross-country running course – members of the Waterford Land Trust suddenly veered into a shrubby thicket.

“Time for a little bushwacking,” Jim Luce announced, marching through the brush.

Following him were trust members Bert Chenard, Dave DeNoia, Dave Lersch, Tali Maidelis and Susan Stotts; naturalist Maggie Jones and I tagged along. The group was on a mission: explore potential routes that could connect the nonprofit organization’s 54-acre Woodlands Nature Preserve with other undeveloped tracts nearby.

“We’re in the very early stages” of the project, explained Bert, who brought along a map identifying existing protected land as well as properties through which the trust would have to obtain easements allowing for public access. Sometimes this process involves hiking “until we get lost,” he quipped.

Trust president Dave Lersch and Luce, who chairs the group’s land management committee, kept the group on course by referring frequently to navigation apps on their smartphones, so we managed to make it back to our cars following almost three miles of hiking.

We had accessed the preserve via a trail leading from the east end of Greentree Drive, and entered a forest of white oak, hemlock, black birch and beech, resplendent in autumnal hues of amber and gold. The trail passed through verdant corridors of mountain laurel and in view of steep ledges before connecting with an abandoned, unpaved section of Pilgrim Road. We then ambled onto a cleared path that turned out to be part of The Williams School’s cross-country course.

We also passed a couple old foundations, numerous walls and other stone structures that likely were built by native inhabitants long before the arrival of 17th century European colonists.

At one point, Maggie reached down to pluck a peeper frog that hopped across the trail. These tiny amphibians are usually most active in March and April, when they emit ear-piercing mating calls from vernal pools, but this fall’s protracted balmy weather must have stirred spring-like instincts.

“He’s confused,” Maggie said, just as the inch-long creature bounded from her hand.

Meanwhile, crickets chirped and katydids sang, additional reminders that seasons have been getting knocked out of whack.

The woods were otherwise fairly quiet, since most songbirds have already migrated south. As Maggie pointed out, resident birds and northern migrants are more secretive this time of year when hawks are around. We did hear a raven and a red-bellied woodpecker, and saw a few golden-crowned kinglets flitting about.

Maggie called the preserve “an asset to the town and the neighborhood,” adding that it “supports a diversity of forest interior birds based on its size, overall healthy undisturbed habitat and connection to other open spaces.”

The land trust bought the property from the estate of Madeline Cone for $45,000 in 1979, with the help of an anonymous gift, a loan from the Nature Conservancy of Connecticut, donations from approximately 45 families in the Waterford Village area, a contribution from the New London Garden Club, and donations from trust members. A year later, the trust purchased additional land to provide the entrance off Greentree Drive, and dedicated the access to Dr. Joseph Pereira, a founding member.

The organization, formed in 1974, originally was called the West Farms Land Trust. It changed the name to Waterford Land Trust several years ago.

The group’s website notes that during the 17th and 18th centuries, “West Farms” was the term used for the land now known as Waterford. The center of the colony was situated where New London now stands. The farmland and wooded lots, given by English grants to early settlers, were located west of the colony’s center – hence the name “West Farms.”

Over the past half-century, the Waterford Land Trust has acquired and preserved 19 properties totaling more than 350 acres, now available to hikers, joggers, birdwatchers, photographers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

Most of these are small properties scattered throughout town, but a few are close enough to consider connecting, thereby creating larger greenbelts to benefit the public, and wildlife.

“We are losing forest and agricultural land to lawns, roads and development,” Maggie noted, adding, “Preserving natural connections and corridors between preserves and managing invasives will improve overall habitat quality and value to wildlife, especially birds, which are important environmental indicators.”

More information about the trust and its properties is available at waterfordlandtrust.org.