In May, the Eightmile River Watershed was made part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers program. Staff Writer Judy Benson and videographer Peter Huoppi are hiking four key properties open to the public in the watershed.

The Patrell Preserve, a 43-acre woodland, is the newest piece of open space to be preserved in the Eightmile River watershed.

Considered a key parcel, it was purchased for $550,000 by the town of East Haddam, land trusts for East Haddam and Lyme and the Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy in August 2007, less than a year before the Eightmile watershed achieved federal Wild and Scenic River status. Five of its acres are in Lyme.

The Pleasant Valley Preserve and the adjoining Jewett Preserve, located in the southern third of the Eightmile River watershed in the town of Lyme, are just below where the east and west branches of the river converge to form one wide, steadily flowing artery of clear, clean water on its way to Hamburg Cove and the Connecticut River.