COVENTRY, R.I. — Although Jenna O’Del grew up in the same town as the Merrill S. Whipple Conservation Area, she hadn’t made the loop through its pines and cedars until recently.

“I didn’t know this existed,” said O’Del, while walking through its forest, “which is something we’re trying to fix.”

About a week ago, the Coventry Land Trust, a municipal body that conserves land in town and owns the conservation area, elected O’Del, a wildlife biologist, its chair. A few days later, she took a hike through Whipple’s woods to kick off one of the state’s signature conservation events, Rhode Island Land Trust Days.

Landing the starting part in the Rhode Island Land Trust Council’s more than two-month-long conservation extravaganza is just one way O’Del and the Coventry Land Trust, which is an all-volunteer organization, are trying to get the word out about their properties and their mission.

About half of the hikers at the Land Trust Days kick-off came from out of town, with a mix of locals and visitors seeing the area for the first time.

Although O’Del would like more people to learn about Whipple, she said those who do are regulars to its loop.

“People walk in it daily,” she said, and many end up picking up stewardship work like putting up birdhouses and picking up trash.

There’s “a lot of folks that care for it, not at our bequest, but because they love it,” O’Del said.

It’s an oasis of sorts that O’Del and many of the other hikers marveled at during the walk. Even though western parts of Coventry are more rural, the roughly 50 acres where Whipple sits is a pocket of green surrounded by development.

The conservation areas take hikers quickly away from the pavement and cars, the hustle and bustle, with a raised boardwalk at the entrance standing above prehistoric-looking ferns and mud, the remnants of vernal pools.

Over the boardwalk and past a brook and red maples of the swamp, the ground dries up, starting a wide, pine-needle covered path.

The area dries out by August, O’Del said, “but if you came in May, you’d need boots.”

Spring rains fill the pools on the property, and they in turn fill with all sorts of creatures.

There are “things that fish don’t eat,” like frogs and salamanders, she said, “and things that eat those things,” like minks and birds.

O’Del stopped the group to point to something white sticking up along the path’s edge: ghost pipe, a parasitic, chlorophyll-less flower.

Along the few miles through the woods, O’Del pointed out lots of small details like that, including an overlook with a great view of the Pawtuxet River and an American chestnut tree not yet hit by blight — “I like to call them the redwood of the Northeast,” she said.

Megan Palmer, another longtime Coventry resident who just recently started exploring Whipple, snapped photos throughout the walk. O’Del, who is a family friend, got Palmer involved to beef up the land trust’s social media presence.

She said it’s been really fun to get to know the property and the people who are giving so much time to it.

Near the end of the walk, the group emerged from the forest and into a meadow, a relatively uncommon type of habitat in Rhode Island. Coventry Land Trust member Linda Brennan explained that the area was called “Hope Meadows,” and local lore claims it was used for training by Revolutionary War troops.

Today, the meadow is maintained by the town and serves as an important habitat for birds and other wildlife.

“We’re a tiny little state, the size of a county anywhere else, and we have quite a bit of habitat,” Kevin Nelson, the land protection director for the South Kingstown Land Trust, remarked about the diversity even within one conservation area.

Robin Devin, who came from Hopkinton for the hike, said she would like to come back with some friends. The wide, easy paths make it more accessible to people with mobility issues.

“This is perfect for anybody,” she said, over the sounds of birds.

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