Against a backdrop of uncertain federal funding that leaves planned projects in limbo, local conservation organizations face significant hurdles, including everything from land fragmentation threatening habitats to nature-deprived areas disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. However, a few small-but-mighty groups are up to the challenge. Land trusts and conservation organizations are dedicated to conserving and protecting natural areas that are not only vital to plant and animal life but also key in providing people opportunities to commune with nature. One of the ways they do this is by acquiring, protecting, and connecting parcels of land to create large swaths of green space.
Kate Sayles is the director of the Rhode Island Land Trust Council (RILTC), a statewide coalition dedicated to supporting more than 50 land trusts, which are essentially entities that manage property, in this case for conservation. Sayles describes her organization as a “one-stop-shop of resources” for those land trusts.
“We support them through our advocacy work at the State House, by providing land trusts with the field tools and acquisition support necessary to do their work successfully, and by offering public engagement opportunities,” she explains, noting that 73 percent of the organization’s work is done by volunteers. In addition to supporting land managers, the organization advocates for good land use policies and helps land trusts access funding, but the work is daunting and the RILTC is trying to double its impact.
One way they do this is through the Campaign for Conservation, a four-year effort to raise $1 million, now entering its third year. Funds raised will go to support advocacy, volunteer efforts, technical assistance, and engagement activities, like the organization’s RI Walks Challenge, a scavenger hunt and nature walk activity designed to encourage locals to get outside and enjoy the environment. Hidden along 30 trails in Rhode Island are 34 creatures with associated QR codes. Participants can scan the codes and those who find all of the creatures win a prize. “Having these engagement programs to facilitate people getting out and exploring nature, particularly as we head into whatever this federal landscape is, will be very important,” Sayles says. “Being outside and connected to nature is vital to our mental health.”
The organization also aims to increase its impact by building its land protection grant program, which offers small, $3,000 grants to support land acquisition. “Sometimes appraisals, surveys, or consultants are required to help land acquisitions go through,” Sayles explains. “Our grant program helps offset those associated costs.”
Sayles says that Rhode Island holds a unique spot in the conservation movement. “We are the second most densely populated state in the country, but we are more than half forested,” she says, “and because we’re such a small state, all of our conservation partners know each other. We can access each other in ways other states can’t, and that allows us to get really creative in our conservation efforts.”
One such partner is the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, and their senior director of conservation, Scott Ruhren, agrees with Sayles’ assertion that the state’s small size allows for efficient collaboration. “Even though we’re going after the same money, we try to collaborate rather than compete,” he says. “The different groups work well together. You see the same people every time at a meeting, so sometimes when a landowner comes to me with a donation, I might refer some of those smaller pieces to a different organization that would be a better fit.” Even when it comes to conservation, Ruhren says that Rhode Island is Rhode Islanding. “For such a small state, we have a huge number of land trusts,” he says affectionately. “Rhode Islanders like their fiefdoms!”
Like other conservation organizations in the state, one of Audubon’s goals is protecting and connecting pieces of land, often through acquisition or easement, which occurs when a landowner retains ownership rights, but works with a conservation organization to protect that land. Recently, Audubon received a huge acquisition from a family that donated 67 acres to establish the Eleanor & Maurice H. Gordon Wildlife Refuge in South Kingstown.
“A family of four siblings owned the property. They wanted it to be protected and thought that Audubon would be a willing landlord,” Ruhren explains. “One sibling is still living on the property as a resident caregiver.” One of the things that makes this swath of land so exciting is that it connects to the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, state land that is home to forested wetlands, which are an important habitat for a variety of local flora and fauna. “When it comes to wildlife, bigger is always better,” Ruhren says.
Ruhren wants to deliver the message that donation is not the only way to protect land. “People can talk to me anytime to ask about options,” Ruhren offers. “People who are worried about their land and its future can protect it using a variety of strategies.”
Scott Comings, associate state director of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), says that his organization owns and protects about 15,000 acres of land throughout Rhode Island. TNC is a global organization that is represented in 80 countries, with chapters in all 50 US states. The Rhode Island chapter has been operating since the late 1960s. “Our mission,” Comings explains, “is to conserve the land and waters on which all life depends, and support clean air, clean water, resilient systems, and resilient communities.”
Within the last 18 months, TNC was able to permanently conserve 11 acres of coastal wildlife habitat. In partnership with the Block Island Land Trust, the organization purchased five acres of land on the island that contains salt marsh, one of the most imperiled habitats in the state. “It has some pretty key marshy areas that are important to shore birds and wading birds, as well as coastal shrub,” Comings explains. “The land also abuts the most threatened part of Corn Neck Road, which regularly floods. Some models suggest that that road will disappear at some point, so owning that property helps us address some of the threats.”
The other piece of land is six beachfront acres in South Kingstown next to the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge. “The owners chose to prevent future development on the land by giving the development rights away. It’s a wonderful gift for the property to stay in its natural state,” Comings says. This is an easement acquisition, which means the landowner retains property rights, but negotiates with TNC about prohibited uses. “For example,” Comings explains, “you can walk on it, but you can’t cut things down. You can’t alter the terrain, but you can hunt on it. After negotiations are complete, we meet with the owner once a year to ensure those rules and regulations are being followed.” Like Ruhren, Comings notes that bigger is better when it comes to wildlife. “The bigger and more connected the protected spaces,” he says, “the more resilient they are to storms and climate change.”
All three organizations recognize that the Ocean State is facing multiple land use issues that might seem at odds, such as land conservation and the state’s housing crisis, but Sayles believes that people can have safe, affordable places to live as well as local healthy food and open spaces. “These things are not mutually exclusive, but it’s important that conservation organizations work with community developers in land use planning,” she says. “People in conservation are working through the lens of keeping people healthy in mind and body. We just want to make sure our communities have what they need to be successful and the conservation organizations like Rhode Island Land Trust Council are part of the larger conversations.”
Learn more about ways to get involved in conservation initiatives, make a donation, or follow along for updates by finding these organizations online.
Audubon Society of Rhode Island: ASRI.org
The Nature Conservancy: Nature.org
(search Rhode Island for volunteer opportunities and more)
Rhode Island Land Trust Council: RILandTrusts.org
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here