Bates Friends Forever

NEW LONDON, CT

Upcoming Events

March 7 9am-noon Invasive Workday
March 14 9am-noon Invasive Workday
March 21 9am-noon Invasive Workday
March 28 9am - 12pm Clean up Day
April 4 9am-noon Invasive Workday
April 4 1pm - 3pm Guided Hike
April 11 9am-noon Invasive Workday
April 18 9am-noon Invasive Workday
April 25 10-1pm Earth Day Fest
May 2 9am-noon Invasive Workday
May 2 1pm - 3pm Edible Plant Walk / Guided Hike (this was on April 25 but there were issues and this has been moved to May 2)
May 9 9am-noon Invasive Workday
May 16 9am-noon Invasive Workday
May 16 1pm - 3pm Edible Plant Walk / Guided Hike
May 23 9am-noon Invasive Workday
May 30 9am-noon Invasive Workday
June 6 9am-noon Invasive Workday / Clean up Day
June 13 9am-noon Invasive Workday
June 20 9am-noon Invasive Workday
June 27 9am-noon Invasive Workday
July 11 5pm Invasive Plant Grant Update Community Meeting
September 12 9am - 12pm Clean up Day
December 5 9am - 12pm Clean up Day

Please fill out our survey! It helps us to understand how folks use the woods and what the community would like to see. Find the survey here

SOIL

Donate!

OUR PURPOSE

Bates Friends Forever is a group of neighbors advocating for the stewardship of Bates Woods, an awesome park and open space in New London, Connecticut.

Bates Woods has rich educational, recreational and scientific history and unlimited potential.

A word of thanks to DEEP CT

Bates Friends Forever, and our fiscal sponsor Riverside Park Conservancy, would like to thank the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Projection (CT DEEP) for their support in our efforts to encourage connection, foster stewardship and increase access to Bates Woods, New London’s largest public parkland!

We are working under two Urban and Community Forestry DEEP grants in 2025-2026: one to combat invasive plants and another to complete a Forest Management Plan. Many of our activities through Spring of 2026 will be in support of these two endeavors.

Thanks so much to CT DEEP!

Upcoming Work Days

Want to get involved? We're holding workdays every Saturday until July 2026

We will meet at our yellow container near Animal Control at 9am and head out soon after.

Everyone is welcome, and you don't need to stay for the entire duration of the time specified.

Everyone is welcome to work at their own speed and to leave early if needed. We intend to work til noon.
We will provide tools and gloves, feel free to bring your own if you want! Remember to bring water.

March 7: 2026 9am-noon
March 14: 2026 9am-noon
March 21: 2026 9am-noon
March 28: 2026 9am-noon
April 4 2026 9am-noon
April 11 2026 9am-noon
April 18 2026 9am-noon
April 25 2026 9am-noon
May 2 2026 9am-noon
May 9 2026 9am-noon
May 16 2026 9am-noon
May 23 2026 9am-noon
May 30 2026 9am-noon
June 6 2026 9am-noon
June 13 2026 9am-noon
June 20 2026 9am-noon
June 27 2026 9am-noon

Saturday, April 25, 10-1, Bates Woods Earth Day Festival! Celebrate nature in New London’s largest park. Family fun, music, arts and crafts, plant give away and more!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Hey y'all, since we got a ton of snow last weekend we're cancelled the Feb 28 workday
See you next time

We had a great work day with the @conncollege ultimate frisbee folks! We cut vines and invasive plants in the woods. Are you interested in getting involved? Check out our website for the latest events!
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Sorry folks, yet again we have to cancel today's workday due to inclement weather. Hope to see folks next week, barring more poor weather!

Forest Management Plan survey now available in Spanish! Encuesta de Gestión del Bosque Bates disponible en espanol aqui:

Tomorrow's workday is cancelled. It's going to be super cold. Stay warm and we'll see you on Feb 7th!

Looking for a map of the trails in Bates Woods Park? Scoot on over to our website! It's out!
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Folks may have read about the Powder House in the recent @thedayct article. Here's what it looks like presently and the stone bridge nearby. Interested in checking it out? Let us know and if enough people are interested we'll organize a guided walk. We hope to get local historians to offer guided walks. Alternatively, stay tuned for a map, so you can check it out yourself.
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #bateswoods #newlondonct

Interesting in volunteering and getting involved with Bates Woods Park? Please check out our website at www.batesfriendsforever.org (link in bio) we have trail maintenance work, litter pick-up and invasive remediation going on, all year long.
#batesfriendsforever
#bateswoodspark
#newlondonct

Some Before/After of trees at Bates Woods with vines choking them, then after, free of the vines!

Much love to our volunteers who spent a beautiful morning in the woods, it started off cold but everyone ended warm!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

Check out this beautiful snowy scene at Bates Woods! So pretty!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #bateswoods #newlondonct

1. Skunk cabbage will take its chances! 2. Deer are a-hoof. 3. Thanks to our amazing volunteers who have cleared this beautiful grove over the past several months. 4. Icy brook. 5. Ideal shooting location for your next zombie fight scene?

Community meeting this Saturday after the litter pick up! We will talk about invasive plants. Come have input on things happening in your community!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

Many thanks to everyone who came out for our fundraiser! Thanks to @thediamond_pizzeria for hosting and @bardsofgungywamp for playing some great tunes!
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

See you at our fundraiser tonight! Come on out and chat with folks and enjoy some great tunes!

Thanks to @thediamond_pizzeria for hosting, to @bardsofgungywamp for playing and @tincupsigns for the great flyer.

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

Come see us and our friends @bardsofgungywamp at @thediamond_pizzeria tonight at 6! We'll have t-shirts for sale and good cheer for free.

Happy Thanksgiving! At BFF we're thankful for scattering milkweed seeds over Japanese knotweed. #gratitude #batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

Tomorrow's workday is cancelled due to rain!

Dang it's time to have a party and raise funds for doing cool stuff in the woods! 🥳🎈

We're having a fundraiser @thediamond_pizzeria
With @bardsofgungywamp on Nov 29, 6 to 8. There's a suggested donation but no one turned away! Come down for some pizza and a bevvie, hear some cool tunes and talk to all your new friends about your new fav place to hangout! The woods! 🌳🌿🌲💚

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Here's Clayton Potter presenting at the Bates Friends Forever Forestry Management Community Meeting at the @newlondonrecreation

Many thanks to Clayton for giving this informative talk! It was really fun!

This forestry management is thanks to a generous grant from @ct.deep many thanks!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

We're getting excited to talk forestry management, tomorrow at our community meeting? Have you RSVP'ed?

Heres Christopher Riely, thanks to a generous grant from @ct.deep we've hired Christopher to create a forestry management plan for Bates Woods! You can find Christopher via his consulting business, Sweet Birch Consulting

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Take our survey and help create a Forest Management Plan for Bates Woods - link in bio, or come to our event this Wednesday 11/12 at the NL Community Recreation Center: dinner at 5:30, program at 6.

Join us for a community meeting on December 6, we will talk about what we've been doing to deal with invasive plants and we want to hear from you! Tell us how you want to use the park, how do you feel about the changes happening and anything else Bates Woods related.

This will be after our litter pick up and we will have pizza!
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

Bates Woods needs your input for a Forest Management Plan. Come to the event - AND/OR look for our survey, coming soon to this space.

Fall in Bates Woods!
1) knot embrace
2) before
3) after
4) fall foliage

Post your pics of Bates and use the hashtag #batesfriendsforever and we'll share the pic!

#bateswoods #newlondonct #fallfolliage

Happy to announce that the Boulders Trail has been blazed! If you walk on it soon walk around the fallen trees, now where did I put that chainsaw...
#newlondonct #batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark

Trail-building newt: strong! But very shy.

Check it out! All ready for the next coat!
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

As y'all know, we bought a container and we've been hard at work! Here's a pic of us prepping for primer!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct

Beautiful day to tackle invasives, pick up trash and savor the last moments where the solar array is not completely fenced in...

We had a super successful day knocking out a whole chock-full dumpster of Japanese Knotweed on Saturday!

👍Many thanks to everyone who came out, especially the Connecticut College Women's Ice Hockey Team @camelswhockey

🌱Thanks to @ct.deep for making this possible through their grant!

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoodspark #bateswoods #newlondonct

We spent a great morning cleaning up the mugwort, bittersweet, and multi floral rose around the skate hut in Bates Woods! Thanks to Fred, you can see it from the road now! Check it out!
#newlondonct #batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #bateswoodspark

We have some fresh BFF tees!

Want to get yours?

Send us a DM or meet us at Bates for the Kart Away The Knotweed event, Oct 4, 9 to noon with cash (or we can figure something out).

#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #newlondonct #newlondon

1. Another beautiful day in Bates. Thanks as always to our wonderful volunteers fighting the good fight against the vines (and the trash)! 2. Should we call this one Fish Rock? Toad Rock? My-face-when-I-think-about-the-state-of-the-world Rock?

De-vining in Bates Woods takes a village. Thanks to @newlondonlandmarks for sharing our interest in protecting and improving New London’s largest public open space 🌳 For better or worse, solar array development in our public park continues by the truck load 😳

Come cut vines with us on Saturday. To paraphrase a friend: it's like a rage room, only good for the environment. Next invasive plant workday 9/20 9-12, meet at Pavilion 3. Dress for bugs; long sleeves a plus; bring water and work gloves if you have them; we have gloves and bug spray and tools.

Adaptation in Bates Woods 🐍#BatesFriensForever

We had a great meeting with our Forester to come up with a forestry management plan! And we saw these beauties 🥹
#batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #bateswoodspark #newlondonct

We had a great walk in Bates today! We went from the stone bridge all the way to the old powder house!
Are you interested in a guided walk in Bates? Let us know and if there are enough folks we will schedule another!

Wanna walk around the trails of Bates Woods? Ever wondered what else was going on in there but wanted someone to guide you? You're in luck! We have a guided walk this Wednesday at 6! Meet at the stone bridge!

#newlondonct #newlondonevents #batesfriendsforever #bateswoods #bateswoodspark

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@batesfriendsforever

CONTACT

Contact

Chester Street

New London, CT 06320

batesfriendsforever@gmail