Good Dirt

   Today the City of Newport conveyed permanent Conservation Easements to the Aquidneck Land Trust on two strategic open space parcels owned by the City – the 58-acre Gooseneck Cove area and the 12.1-acre Morton Park – while ALT provided Newport with $50,000 and other assistance to help it with the Gooseneck Cove salt marsh restoration project. This marks the successful closing on the agreement reached by ALT and the City in September of this year.

    A Conservation Easement is a legal agreement whereby a landowner, such as Newport in the closing today, transfers a partial property interest to a qualified conservation entity, such as ALT, to permanently limit a property’s uses in order to protect the property’s conservation values. Conservation Easements are given special force and effect under Rhode Island law.

   Nationally and locally, numerous municipal parks and conservation areas that lacked adequate conservation restrictions have been lost to development.  Some of these municipal lands have been developed for other municipal purposes such as schools or police departments while in other cases these lands have even been sold for residential and commercial development.  In the closing today, two Newport conservation areas were placed under permanent ALT Conservation Easements.  The ALT Conservation Easement on Gooseneck Cove will supplement an older State of Rhode Island Conservation Easement on the site.  Efforts to secure municipal conservation areas are especially important for the long-term sustainability of a place like Aquidneck Island because the precious remaining open space parcels here are experiencing intense development pressure which will only increase with time.  

   Gooseneck Cove is a compromised salt marsh in the Ocean Avenue area of Newport.  There are three primary impediments to adequate tidal flushing of the Gooseneck Cove area: Ocean Avenue; an old dam; and Hazard Road.  Because of these tidal restrictions, the Gooseneck Cove area has exposed barren peat flats, algal blooms, and decreased water quality and habitat value.  The restoration project will address the tidal restrictions so as to improve the quality of the Gooseneck Cove area.  With the closing today, ALT has now joined the City, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service, Save The Bay, and EA Engineering, Science, and Technology on this important restoration project.

   Regarding the closing with ALT, Mayor Stephen C. Waluk said, “This is an exciting opportunity for the City to partner with the Aquidneck Land Trust and preserve two vitally important pieces of land. As a green space within a neighborhood it is so important that Morton Park be preserved for future generations.”

    “With today’s closing, we have now conserved over 529 important open space acres with the City of Newport.  That is a real testament to the value of the partnership established between Newport and ALT,” Clement said.

    ALT’s mission is to preserve Aquidneck Island’s open spaces and natural character for the lasting benefit of our community.  With today’s closing, the organization has conserved 1,956.36 acres on Aquidneck Island.  ALT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  For more information about ALT, visit www.AquidneckLandTrust.org.

As always, thank you for your continued support
for conservation on our Island.

This email update has been sent to the entire Aquidneck Land Trust email list. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive these email updates by replying to this message. If you have any questions or comments, please call 401/849-2799 x18 or email jpohl@ailt.org.