DEM Announces $2.6 Million To Protect Open Space But Charlestown Opted Out

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On May 9, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced the award of $2.6 million in grants to help communities and local conservation organizations protect valuable green space throughout the state.  Eleven projects will receive matching grants through DEM’s competitive Local Open Space Grant Program to protect 383 acres across Rhode Island, but Charlestown will not be one of those communities.

This year’s funding is made possible by the 2022 Green Bond, which was passed statewide in the 2022 general election and by over 65 percent of Charlestown voters. Despite Charlestown voters supporting the bond and paying for it through their state taxes, for the first time in many years, Charlestown did not even bother to apply for money to fund a land conservation project.

For many years the town of Charlestown has submitted land conservation projects to this competitive grant program. Charlestown was awarded money under this program to purchase the Saw Mill Pond Watershed (2022,) Tucker Woods (2020,) Patricia Sprague Forest Preserve (2016,) and South Farm Preserve (2002.)

Since the 2022 election, land conservation has been blocked in Charlestown.

Although DEM awarded the town $400,000 in 2022 to protect the 100-acre Saw Mill Pond Watershed, the purchase was blocked when Councilors Carney and Klinger refused to support the expenditure of $4,750 to fund the required real estate appraisal to determine the fair market value of the Saw Mill Pond Watershed. To prevent the grant from being forfeited altogether, after the 2022 election, but before the new town council took over, the council released the $400,000.00 grant to the Charlestown Land Trust, so that it could pursue the additional funding needed to protect the land. That process is still ongoing.

With the new council in place since the 2022 election, no open space grant was submitted to DEM for the 2024 grant round.

Despite Charlestown turning its back on open space and the protection of scenic views; wildlife habitat; ground and surface water protection; and permanent public access to hiking trails, forests, ponds, open fields, and the Pawcatuck River, other local communities that share many of the same natural areas did receive land conservation money in the 2024 grant round. We can thank committed, conservation-minded people in South Kingstown, Westerly, and Hopkinton for the projects below that will create jobs, provide recreational opportunities, attract tourists, and improve the quality of life even for us as neighbors.

Projects close to Charlestown that were awarded funding include:

  • South Kingstown – $300,000 to acquire a Conservation Easement over 10 acres of the historic Kinney Azalea Gardens in Kingston. Since 1955 this public garden has welcomed visitors to admire more than 500 varieties of azaleas. The gardens were designed by Lorenzo Kinney, Sr. who was the University of Rhode Island’s first professor of botany.
  • South Kingstown – $400,000 to acquire 34 acres along the South County Bike Path contiguous with DEM’s Great Swamp Management Area. The property contains more than 500 feet of frontage on White Horn Brook upstream of its confluence with the federally designated Wild and Scenic Chipuxet River.
  • Westerly – $400,000 to acquire 90 acres of farmland and forestland containing more than 1,000 feet of frontage on the federally designated Wild and Scenic Pawcatuck River.
  • Westerly – $87,500 to acquire 4.6 acres along the Wild and Scenic Pawcatuck River abutting the Westerly Land Trust’s 150-acre Riverwood Preserve. The property contains a paddle craft launch on the Pawcatuck that will be maintained by the Westerly Land Trust.
  • Hopkinton – $185,000 grant to acquire 25 acres of core forestland contiguous with Rockville Management Area and Canonchet Brook Preserve.

It’s unfortunate that Charlestown’s name can’t be in that list, but with a town council majority more interested in development than conservation, it’s not unexpected.

Ruth Platner

 

 

You can learn more about the author, Ruth Platner, on her profile page.

Banner image is a photograph of the Pawcatuck River in the Patricia Sprague Forest Preserve by Cliff Vanover.