AT A GLANCE
Why go?
On a quiet hillside road in Lincoln, Vermont, the Ron Rood Nature Preserve is a small, peaceful piece of protected land where upland meadow meets forested slope. It honors Ron Rood, a beloved Vermont author, naturalist and Vermont Public Radio voice, whose family worked with the Vermont River Conservancy to safeguard his land after his death in 2001—an enduring tribute to a life spent watching and writing about the wild places around him.↗
It is not a big-ticket attraction but a local gem: a short, gentle outing through open fields and woods on the edge of the Green Mountains, with the preserve overlooking a rare wetland complex along the upper New Haven River. Locals call it a "beauty spot of Lincoln," and it rewards anyone who wants a slow walk, some birdwatching and a little quiet.↗↗
A preserve named for a naturalist
Ron Rood was a writer, naturalist and longtime commentator on Vermont Public Radio, known for bringing the state's wildlife and landscapes to listeners in warm, observant prose. When he died in 2001, his family partnered with the Vermont River Conservancy to protect the land he loved. The result is a preserve that feels less like a park designed for crowds and more like a conservation promise kept—a place set aside so that meadow, forest and the wetlands below can go on being themselves.
