WAYNE — The Kennebec Land Trust announces the spring lyceum series, “New England Nature Writers on the Land,” which will focus on the connection between people and the land, reflected in and expressed through writing.

Featured authors will explore ideas involving how people have affected the course of nature, the progression of technology in nature and a celebration of nature.

The  lectures are modeled after the early New England lyceums that began in 1826 in Massachusetts. KLT’s March Lyceum and the associated field programs are supported by Gloria, Lincoln and Robert Ladd. This year’s lyceum is sponsored by the Departments of Biology and English and the Environmental Studies Program at Colby College.

The series is announced as follows:

“Wilderness Lost, Wilderness Regained”: from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 17, Ladd Recreation Center.

Robert Kimber, author of “A Canoeist’s Sketchbook,” “Upcountry,” “Living Wild and Domestic: The Education of a Hunter-Gardener,” will read from his essays on subjects as various as dogs, black flies, brook trout and wilderness.

“Technology and Sense of Place”: from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24, Ladd Recreation Center.

Jane Brox, author of “Here and Nowhere Else,” “Clearing Land,” “Five Thousand Days Like This One,” will read from her most recent work, “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light,” and will talk about the way changes in technology change people’s sense of place. She’ll speak specifically about the transformation of the American countryside in the 20th century as rural electrification transformed life on the farm it also transformed the way rural people saw themselves and their place in the world.

“A Party in the Woods: Loss and Celebration Under a Changing Sky”: 7 p.m. Monday, April 11, Olin Center, Colby College, Waterville.

John Elder, author of “Reading the Mountains of Home,” “The Frog Run,” an environmental activist and Emeritus Professor of English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, will focus on sugar-making as a chance to register the damage to the woods from climate change and to seek a more community-based and inviting approach to environmental activism. The 19th-century Maine painter and abolitionist Eastman Johnson is one historical figure on whom he will focus.

Lyceum field programs will include “Earth Week: Birding, Hiking and Nature Writing at Gannett Woods and Wyman Forest” from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday, April 23.

Stewards Jeff Janell and Dave Courtemanch and birder Tom Danielson will lead a hike that will feature spring birds, Shedd Pond and the Wyman-Gannett trails. Nathalie Woolworth, KLT conservation assistant, will lead an optional nature writing activity.

“New England Nature Writers and Vernal Pool Ecology for Teachers” will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday, May 6, with Theresa Kerchner, KLT executive director; Ron Joseph, wildlife biologist; and Mary Sturtevant, steward.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn from Wayne Elementary School teachers as they lead vernal pool discovery activities at KLT’s Besse Historic Conservation Area vernal pool. Meet at Wayne Elementary School; return there for the workshop. Fee is $5; call KLT at 377-2848 to register.   

“Creating the All-Season Nature Journal at Historic Camp Bearnstow” will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 17.

Join Linda McKee, English teacher, at historic Camp Bearnstow on Parker Pond in Fayette. Learn a variety of journaling techniques for developing a closer connection with nature. Call KLT at 377-2848 to register.   

All lyceum events are open to the public. Visit www.tklt.org for a complete list of program offerings, KLT properties and directions.

The Kennebec Land Trust is dedicated to protecting the landscape of the Kennebec River and Lakes region. Visit www.tklt.org for information on program offerings, KLT properties and directions.

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