National Grid transfers properties to Burrillville Land Trust

BURRILLVILLE – The Burrillville Land Trust will celebrate the acquisition of 75 acres with a hike to the property on Nov. 7. The public is invited.

Following the hike, there will be an 11 a.m. celebration event featuring speakers. Hiking shoes and cold weather outerwear is a must for those planning to attend the morning hike, land trust officials said.

The event will be held at the corner of Jackson Schoolhouse Road and Olney Keech Road in the village of Pascoag at the Edward D. Vock Conservation Area. There will be signs for the event and parking.

The acquisition was made possible by National Grid, through its interstate reliability project, the land trust said in a press release.

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Nearly 10 years ago, members of the Burrillville Land Trust approached Brown University with a proposal to purchase 55 acres adjoining an existing land trust property.

“We wanted to acquire a conservation corridor between Jackson Schoolhouse Road and Eagle Peak Road a little over a mile from each other. And the property owned by Brown University would fit in nicely with this plan,” Paul Roselli, president of the private, nonprofit Burrillville Land Trust, said in a statement.

But at the time, the Burrillville Land Trust did not have the funds to acquire the property.

Then on May 22, the approximately 55-acre Brown University property and approximately 20-acre Clear River property were transferred to the Burrillville Land Trust for permanent preservation by National Grid.

As part of National Grid’s interstate reliability project, the company permanently preserved approximately 176 acres of undeveloped land in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The National Grid project included construction of approximately 22.5 miles of new electric transmission lines, and reconstruction and reconductoring of approximately 9 miles of existing transmission lines.

Because a portion of these projects resulted in unavoidable impacts to wetlands, National Grid had to compensate for these impacts, Roselli said. As a result, National Grid proposed to permanently preserve approximately 176 acres made up of several different parcels including the Brown University and Clear River parcels.

“We are proud to have been able to help the Burrillville Land Trust advance this very worthy goal of preserving more of the natural landscape in the town,” Rhode Island National Grid President Timothy Horan said in a statement. “Environmental stewardship is a top priority for National Grid and we are committed to respecting the environmental resources and biodiversity wherever we live, work and maintain facilities.”

“We can’t begin to tell you how excited we were in signing those deeds,” Roselli said. “This is a win-win for all in our state.”

The properties add to existing properties owned by the land trust. The 55-acre Brown University property adds to the 86-acre Edward D. Vock Conservation Area.

The Brown and Vock properties have one common boundary and provide a contiguous forest tree canopy.

The Burrillville Land Trust was started in 1999 to help protect the rural character of the town.

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