ALT Closes on Its Largest donated Conservation Easement to Date: 128.79 +/- Acres of Vaucluse East, Portsmouth, Rhode Island

This has been an amazing week for the Aquidneck Land Trust and thus an amazing week for all who cherish Aquidneck Island.  Just hours after the Land Trust signed an agreement to protect 28 +/- acres with the Town of Portsmouth and Carolann Brown, Barbara van Beuren and her family completed donating a perpetual Conservation Easement to the Aquidneck Land Trust on 128.79 +/- acres in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the largest donated Conservation Easement ever received by the Land Trust to date.

In 2004, the Aquidneck Land Trust completed a comprehensive mapping and prioritization project that identified and scored over 500 threatened open space parcels on Aquidneck Island.  From that work, over 100 priority parcels for protection were identified, one of which was this special property just conserved by Barbara van Beuren, her family and the Land Trust.

View of the Sakonnet River from the Vaucluse East Property

The 128.79 +/- conserved acres, which are part of a larger property owned by the van Beurens, have numerous conservation values.  The property is very important from an agricultural perspective.  It contains acres and acres of Prime Farmland and Additional Farmland of Statewide Importance as identified by the United States Department of Agriculture.  The property is also near a number of other agricultural properties.  This is important because fragmentation is one of the more significant threats to agricultural viability in New England.  Development has destroyed the needed critical mass of agricultural lands in many communities.  The parcel also affords the community breathtaking scenic vistas as it has significant frontage on Wapping Road (over 2,600 feet) and the Sakonnet River (over 1,250 feet).  Furthermore, the property has significant water resource values.  The property is located within the Sakonnet River sub-basin of the larger Narragansett Bay drainage basin, and directly abuts and buffers the Sakonnet River.  Two streams cross the property and drain into the Sakonnet River.  The parcel is also very important from a wildlife habitat perspective.  It contains a number of habitat types: cobble shoreline; perennial stream habitat; scrub/shrub wetland; forested wetland; and upland beech-maple forest.  Its diverse habitat types attract diverse wildlife species such as the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) which is listed on the Rhode Island Rare Native Animal List.

Barbara van Beuren and her family have long been recognized as leaders and benefactors to land conservation on Aquidneck Island.  In addition to this recently donated Conservation Easement on 128.79 +/- acres, the van Beurens have previously donated three other important Conservation Easements to the Aquidneck Land Trust on over 100 acres.  The van Beuren family is also the single largest donor of Trail Easements for the Land Trust’s Sakonnet Greenway Trail having donated three such Trail Easements.  When completed, the Sakonnet Greenway Trail will be Aquidneck Island’s single longest public walking trail at approximately seven miles long.  The van Beuren family provides significant charitable financial support to the Land Trust as well.

Ted Clement, the Aquidneck Land Trust’s Executive Director, stated, “It has been a true honor and pleasure to work with Barbara van Beuren and her family on securing green-gifts for the long-term well-being of Aquidneck Island during this time of intense development pressure.  Their vision and generosity are humbling and inspiring.”

The Aquidneck Land Trust’s mission is to preserve Aquidneck Island’s open spaces and natural character for the lasting benefit of our community.  The Land Trust has conserved over 1,422 acres on Aquidneck Island.  The Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  For more information, visit www.AquidneckLandTrust.org or call (401) 849-2799.