HOPKINTON — Aug. 28, 2010 — The Nature Conservancy announced recently that it has acquired a 41-acre tract in Hopkinton, adding to the thousands of acres of conservation land in the Borderlands area of western Rhode Island. The property will be managed as part of the Canonchet Brook Preserve, a roughly 600-acre property the Conservancy manages for forest and watershed health.

 

The tract was sold by the Greene Plastics Corporation to the Conservancy at a cost of $200,000. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which will hold a Conservation Easement on the parcel, covered half the cost with federal open space funds from federal highway funding for development mitigation and The Champlin Foundations contributed the remainder. “We are so thrilled that we’re able to continue protecting important properties in the Borderlands, such as Greene Plastics,” said Janet Coit, state director of the Conservancy in Rhode Island. “We are negotiating several additional acquisitions in the area and we are glad to be able to add more properties for the public to enjoy and to protect the sensitive Wood-Pawcatuck watershed.”

 

The property, on Stubtown Road, is heavily forested with oak, birch and mountain laurel, and contains important forested wetlands which scientists have shown are critical to absorbing stormwater and protecting water quality downstream. No new trails are planned for the property at this time, but the Conservancy is currently enhancing existing trails and signs on the adjacent Canonchet Brook Preserve.

 

“This was another great opportunity to work with conservation partners to expand important land holdings in the Borderlands area and further protect this area’s natural resources” said W. Michael Sullivan, Director of the State Department of Environmental Management.

 

For more information about The Nature Conservancy and its work in the Borderlands, visit www.nature.org/rhodeisland.

 

 

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