TIVERTON – Thanks to a $4 million public-private partnership, 179 acres adjacent to the Fogland Marsh and Sakonnet River in Tiverton will be preserved and protected from future development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday.
The area, which includes farmland as well as marsh and tidal land, is part of East Bay’s iconic coastal potato farm Ferolbink Farms, which spans 275 acres. Owner Jason Peckham expanded the farm that he had inherited by buying nearby farms.
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A preservation ceremony Friday was attended by Sen. Jack Reed and USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, the first high-level Obama political appointee from the agency to visit Rhode Island.
Funding for the preservation effort was supplied by several organizations, including the U.S Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, which secured $1.92 million. Also, the R.I. Department of Environmental Management accounted for $1.1 million, the Nature Conservancy and the Champlin Foundations supplied $773,500, and the Tiverton Land Trust and the Little Compton Agricultural Conservancy Trust provided $110,000 and $80,000 respectively.
The marsh and tidal creek areas serve as a refuge for birds and a buffer against storms; there are also nursery areas for juvenile fish and other fauna, said the USDA, adding that the Nature Conservancy will restore the vegetation along Almy Creek.
