Conserving Charlestown

Two Families Donate Conservation Easements to Protect Their Land

Richard and Mary Heines and George and Susan Tremblay were looking for a way protect the land they hold dear in Charlestown. Long-time residents with deep roots in the community, they have stewarded their wooded properties carefully for decades and didn’t want to see them lost to development. In the end, they independently arrived at the same solution: preserving their open space by donating the development rights to the Charlestown s Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy. We’re honored that the Heines and Tremblay families entrusted us to keep their land safe.

Both properties have significant ecological value in the context of larger natural area. The 45-acre Heines property is just southwest of the Carter Preserve, and contributes to a growing corridor of conservation along the Pawcatuck River. The Tremblays’ 40-acre tract provides a buffer to the wetlands around Pasquiset Pond, part of an important drinking water recharge area for southern Rhode Island. We are deeply grateful to the Heines and Tremblay families for their generous gifts. We are also lucky to have a terrific community partner in the Nature Conservancy, which will co-hold the conservation easements that protect both properties in perpetuity.

The Charlestown Land Trust has several other projects where the seeds of change have been planted; with the hope of protecting what we love here in Charlestown. New, permanent charitable tax incentives approved by Congress in 2015 have provided a powerful conservation tool that is already helping to save special places. For more information about the deduction, one can contact the Charlestown Land Trust, Karen Jarret, kljarret153@gmail.com, or contact Scott Comings, Associate State Director Nature Conservancy, at scomings@tnc.org