This is a unique type of meadow and is found in wet areas along Route 35 by the Town Park, parts of Old Field and at Long Pond Preserve in Waccabuc. Unlike a wooded wetland, this wet habitat is open to sunlight and has only small trees such as red maple, elm and ash that have not closed the canopy. Open wet meadows are home to one of the rarest turtles in the world, the federally threatened bog turtle. This is a turtle that lives only in open wet meadows fed by clean, clear springs. Bog turtles were common in Lewisboro until the 1970’s. Pollution, development and habitat loss have eliminated them for our town.

The open wet meadows found along the marble bedrock valleys that run along Route 35, the Three Lakes Area, Lake Kitchawan, Nash Road, and Route 138 are particularly interesting because the soils are calcareous, that is, calcium-rich and therefore less acidic. These habitats merit special attention as they support a greater variety of wildlife and unique assemblages of plants. There is also a great diversity of insects including large numbers of butterflies, moths, damselflies, and dragonflies.