For more than 15 years, local preservation and conservation groups have been at the root of protecting Rhode Island’s natural resources. Now, that effort is branching across the state as the more than 35 land trusts will collaborate with the Nature Conservancy to form a Land Trust Council starting in early October. Though the new group will not have a non-profit status, and will not be able to purchase property, Kathleen Bridgehouse, land protection specialist for the Nature Conservancy, said the collaboration could provide more resources and strength for individual organizations. The conservancy will provide an arena for discussion among all land trusts, and Bridgehouse said, will provide assistance for land trusts when land is being purchased or when the trust is deciding what property to purchase.
“It will be an opportunity to coordinate all of our efforts,” she said. “Right now there is a critical need to share knowledge and experiences, as well as address problems.”
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
Land trusts, which first began with a conservation easement written in the late 1880s to protect the parkways in and around Boston, have since then protected more than 4.7 million acres of wetlands, wildlife habitat, farms, shorelines, forests and recreation land across the United States. They are non-profit organizations, that work with land owners to protect open spaces and green places, using a variety of tools, including conservation easements that permanently restrict the uses of land, land donations and purchases, and strategic estate planning.
Currently, Rhode Island has approximately 37 land trusts throughout the state, some of which have been in existence since the early 1980s, Bridgehouse said, and still more organizations are forming. Two-thirds of those land trusts are private community-based organizations, funded mostly through donations, membership dues, and grants.
“I think (private land trusts) play a very complementary role to both the state acquisition programs and other larger preservation organizations’ programs,” Bridgehouse said. “They are at the community level. They know the towns very well, understand the land owners, and often have contacts that the larger organizations don’t have.”
Bridgehouse said the remaining land trusts are municipal, or town run, funded through a town government budget line item, or a share of the conveyance tax, a fee imposed on each deed, or parcel of land sold in the town. The tax is imposed at $1.40 per $500 of the purchase price, and is usually paid by the selling property owner. If not used for the preservation of land, the conveyance tax is usually put back into a town’s municipal budget.
“Most towns play some sort of role in land protection,” she said. “Many pinpoint areas for protection through the comprehensive plan. Some do it through a municipal land trust, while others do it through the town planners.”
South King-stown, which has both a land trust, and a municipal policy aimed at preserving open space, is leading the way for other municipalities, Bridgehouse said. Last November, local voters approved a $5 million bond for the purchase of open space, in addition to supporting one of the oldest land trusts in Rhode Island.
“I would say South Kingstown has one of the more proactive programs in place,” she said. “They have put a lot of thought in it, and have done very well.”
Bridgehouse said many land purchases are the result of collaboration. Most often, she said, private land trusts will work with their local municipality
Karen Saucier, president of the Cumberland Land Trust, formed in 1989, said she believes it’s important to have a private land trust organization, but agreed that collaboration among groups is crucial to preservation.
“Since our beginning we have acquired approximately 140 acres,” she said. “In fact, we have just completed a big project with the Nature Conservancy and the town that resulted in the purchase or almost 50 acres. But when the group was originally formed, the steering committee thought it would be a wise idea to have a private organization, because that would give residents other options than the town could have provided. We can move more quickly, and are more flexible than the town. We take parcels that the town wouldn’t take.”
Land trusts can preserve land two different ways, Bridgehouse said. First, they can acquire the land outright through purchase or donation, or they can acquire the property’s development rights, owning only partial interest in the property, through either purchase or donation.
“Sixty percent of Rhode Island land trusts buy the property,” Brideghouse said. “Nationally though, conservation easements, or the purchase of development rights is much more likely to be used.”
And as land trusts have grown, so has the expertise of their members, Bridgehouse said.
“The primary mission for these groups is to preserve land,” she said. “Each has refined their own goals and decision of what kind of land to preserve and why. But what has really changed is the expertise. These groups are increasing in knowledge and experience.”
The groups have also seen an increase in support from Rhode Island taxpayers. In 1998, state-wide voters approved a $15 million bond for environmental and recreational purposes. One-third of that amount – close to $5 million – was given to the Department of Environmental Management to purchase land, development rights, and conservation easements. In November, voters will again be asked to support open space acquisition through another $50 million bond referendum.
And Rhode Island voters are not alone in their approval of government funding for land preservation. A July survey conducted by the Mellman Group and American Viewpoint, which surveyed 800 registered voters nation wide, found that two-thirds of those surveyed put protection of natural lands on par with education as an appropriate focus for state and local government. The majority even said they would be willing to pay $18 more a year in taxes to support using government funds to purchase and protect land.
“These polls tell us that land conservation and fighting urban sprawl is of high concern to the American People,” said Will Rogers, national president of the Trust for Public Land, who facilitated the study. “Americans want their government to do more to protect the lands they care about, and they’re willing to pay for it.”
Sixty-one percent of the people polled gave the federal government a negative rating on the job it is doing to create parks and preserve open space. A majority – 54 percent – feel the same way about state government. Local governments didn’t fare well either, as 48 percent of the respondents said that municipalities weren’t doing enough.
“The polls show that people feel every level of government has a responsibility to protect open space and public land,” said John Wilson, director of data operations, American Viewpoint.
