Aquidneck Island has seen rapid, unchecked development, loss of working family farms and open spaces, and a growing threat to Narragansett Bay and our drinking water supplies over the last few decades. The Aquidneck Land Trust was founded in 1990 to halt this trend and to preserve the natural character and open spaces of our special Island home for the lasting benefit of our community.

The next five years will define our Island's natural heritage for all time.

The Aquidneck Land Trust takes its responsibility to permanently steward and defend all acres in its care very seriously. Identifying all conserved lands on the Island, including those not in the Land Trust's direct care, and ensuring their lasting protection is a natural extension of our mission.

Until recently, no one knew how much open space on Aquidneck Island had been preserved. In 2004, the Aquidneck Land Trust undertook an extensive mapping project to find out which parcels are protected, by whom, and to what degree of permanency.

How much of the Island's 24,484 acres could be called conserved open space? The results showed that about 17 percent — or 4,072 acres — of the Island had been conserved, including 1,104 acres on 30 distinct parcels permanently protected by the Aquidneck Land Trust. As a comparison, 40% of Block Island, 44% of Nantucket, 34% of Martha's Vineyard, and 19% of Manhattan had been conserved at the time of the land trust mapping project.  Fortunately, due to the effort of the Aquidneck Land Trust and others, Aquidneck Island's conservation numbers are moving up.  For example, today the Aquidneck Land Trust has conserved over 1,983 acres.

The Mapping project also revealed that the Island's conserved acres could be placed in three distinct categories or levels. The safest type of conserved land carries a perpetual conservation restriction held by a conservation entity qualified to do so, such as a land trust. This restriction is a legally binding land preservation agreement between the landowner and the qualified land trust, which guarantees that the parcel will be preserved according to the agreement forever. But land that does not have this level of protection may be in jeopardy.

Ted Clement, Executive Director, said, "Land that is conserved with a deed restriction alone, such as land conveyed to a town by bequest, and land that has only conservation intent, such as the Glen in Portsmouth, are the other two levels of conserved land." "Good conservation like good government requires a set of checks and balances, so it is in everyone's best interest that parcels in these latter categories be blanketed with perpetual conservation restrictions such as conservation easements," according to Clement.

The Land Trust mailed the findings of its mapping project to 23,000 households on Aquidneck Island and invited residents to workshops explaining the results. The response was positive as hundreds of Islanders turned out for workshops to learn more and find out how they could help make a difference. As the Land Trust's mapping project shows, we must continue to work on protecting the unconserved open space on Aquidneck Island while also shoring up the protections for those more vulnerable conserved open spaces.

For years, we have heard that conservation efforts are too late for Aquidneck Island - but that is obviously not the case. This project has shown that if the members of the community rally around land conservation, we have two great opportunities. First and foremost, we can work together to ensure that the 4,072 acres the Land Trust identified remain protected forever. Further, the Aquidneck Land Trust can continue to work with visionary landowners, generous donors, and the community to conserve the last unprotected great spaces on Aquidneck Island. But we must act now. Our opportunities to act won't last forever - but land conservation does.

Click links for maps:
Aquidneck Island
Newport
Middletown
Portsmouth