The first agricultural fields saved from the bulldozer in Northwestern RI

Ernie and Norma O’Leary Agricultural and Conservation Land Dedication and Celebration August 24th, 1pm

A first for northwestern Rhode Island. The Burrillville Land Trust will celebrate the acquisition and dedication of a 65 acre property in Northwestern Rhode Island as the Ernie and Norma O’Leary Agricultural and Conservation Land on August 24th from 1pm till 2:30pm. Invited guests include the Governors from Rhode Island and Connecticut, federal and state representatives from both states and folks from environmental and land conservation organizations from around the region. The public is invited.

Because of the generosity of a family steeped in farming in Northwestern Rhode Island, a group of private and public open space and conservation organizations could buy a 65-acre parcel in Pascoag, RI known for its prime agricultural soils and save it from development forever. For more than 40 years, Ernie and Norma O’Leary grew corn for the family’s dairy herd on the land, which abuts Buck Hill Management Area. After Mr. O’Leary passed away in 2021, Mrs. O’Leary worked tirelessly to fulfill her late husband’s wish of seeing this piece of the Rhode Island landscape preserved for all time. She fulfilled this wish and sold the property to the Burrillville Land Trust, a private all volunteer land trust in Burrillville. Funding for the purchase came from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) through funds from voter-approved green economy bonds, The Nature Conservancy from their Ginty Fund, the Bafflin Foundation, the June Rockwell Levy Foundation, and members of the Burrillville Land Trust.

The O’Leary family will continue to grow corn on 22 acres via a lease agreement with the land trust. The leased area will continue to be farmed but closed off for any and all public use.

“The land will continue to be farmed as Ernie wanted,” said Mrs. O’Leary. “I am very pleased with how this worked out and know that Ernie would have felt the same.” “Agriculture and agricultural soils in Rhode Island are under threat,” said Burrillville Land Trust President Paul A. Roselli. “Rhode Islanders are losing much of their healthy, produce-producing soils to the bulldozer. We are extremely happy to save this property for agriculture in perpetuity.”

“Only a true love of the land would motivate generosity like Mrs. O’Leary’s, and DEM is very grateful for it,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “The O’Learys’ farm is another key piece in the natural corridor that runs down the Rhode Island-Connecticut border,” said Scott Comings, TNC Associate State Director. “By keeping the forest and farms connected, the area stays resilient to climate change and continues to sustain migratory birds and other wildlife in two states.”

The celebration takes place on Saturday, August 24th from 1pm. Use 265 Croff Road, Pascoag, RI or 41.97689° N, 71.79693° W as GPS guides to get you to the event site. From the east enter Croff Road from Buck Hill Road just before you reach the CT border. Travel South down Croff Road about 3/4 mile. Event is on your left. Park on your left. There is a 0.2mile walk in the woods to the event site. Wear sturdy shoes. A brief speakers program. Meet and greet the O’Leary family. Cold lemonade. View site of poet E. Merrill Root cabin. For more information call 401.447.1560 or send an email to burrillvillelandtrustfriends@gmail.com.

The Burrillville Land Trust is an all volunteer, non-profit, USA IRS classified 501(c)(3) public charity, RI registered non-profit corporation, and private land trust in the Town of Burrillville. The land trust owns nearly 300 acres and has conservation easements on two properties totaling 36 acres. The Burrillville Land Trust recognizes those peoples that steward and lived on these lands long ago. The mission of the Burrillville Land Trust is to preserve and protect the rural character of the Town of Burrillville through education, advocacy and acquisition. The land trust is not connected with town government. All the land trust properties are managed by volunteers who love the forests, the hills, lakes, ponds and streams and all species that live on these lands.

Open Space and Core Forests are under threat

The Burrillville Land Trust announced on February 10, 2020, that the core forests in Northern Rhode Island are under threat and it is time to do something about it. “It started with the potential for clearcutting 200 acres for a power plant in Burrillville. Now 400 acres in North Smithfield for a solar array are under threat as well as Hopkinton, Coventry, Foster and more. All areas contain forests that are considered “core” forests in the Ocean State,” so says Paul Roselli – president of the Burrillville Land Trust. While Rhode Island calls itself “The Ocean State” the title does not reflect the fact that forests comprise more than half the state’s land area. 56% or 368,373 acres of the state’s land area is covered by forests. 68% of that land is privately owned and since colonial times has seen cutting cleared for ships’ masts, factory support beams and agriculture. An estimated 213,000 acres, or 58% of the forested land in the state, is considered core forest. Core forests are defined as blocks of forested land greater than 250 acres in size. Such as the 400 area site in North Smithfield. Such large, intact forests have high conservation value, especially for RI’s small size. But the largest intact areas are in the northwestern part of the state with greater concentrations of intact forest to the west in Connecticut and north into Massachusetts. When combined, this three state forested region is one of the largest intact tree canopies in all of the lower 48 United States. “This is where the problem lies. We take too much of it for granted. Town planners, municipal governments look at land as opportunities for industrial growth. Often in places where industry doesn’t belong. Solar arrays wipe out a lot of the forests, fragmenting these large tracts of land and damaging water quality, air quality, forest habitat, species life and why people moved here in the first place,” Roselli states. In a report released by the Department of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, College of the Environment & Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island forestry and wood products sector spans commercial loggers and arborists, forest consultants, sawmills, wood products manufacturers, woodworkers and tree farms. These 513 firms, as calculated in the report, generated 2,482 jobs and $407.2 million of gross sales in 2016. Including spillover effects across all sectors of the Rhode Island economy, the total economic impact was 4,824 jobs and output of $715.04 million (+/- 17.8%) according to the report. This study is the first to measure the economic impact of the RI’s forestry and wood products industry. “This report, and others, shows the economic value of our forests. The intrinsic, cultural and environmental impact is far greater. Imagine what it would cost to build a water treatment facility to purify drinking water. Nature does it for free,” Roselli says. The land trust is doing something about the forest clearcutting. On February 13th, the Burrillville Land Trust along with Engage North Smithfield, North Smithfield Heritage Association, Rhode Island Association of Conservation Commissions and the Rhode Island Forest Conservators Organization is holding an hour long workshop on saving the farm and forest. The presentation starts at 7pm and is held at Heritage Hall, 101 Greene Street, North Smithfield, RI. The event is free and open to anyone interested in saving Rhode Island’s farms, forests and special places. “There are alternatives. It’s time to save our land from the bulldozer,” says Roselli.

Learn the Facts – Public Forums on the fracked gas-fired power plant in northwestern Rhode Island

If built, the proposed fracked gas-fired power plant in northwestern Rhode Island will be the largest fracked gas-fired power plant in New England impacting over 67 acres for the power plant and another 200 acres of forested land and wetlands for the transmission lines, waste water, gas and cooling water pipelines in Northwestern Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and other conservation organizations have referred to the site of the proposed power plant as “too good to lose”. Yet, both the Governor of Rhode Island and the director of RIDEM support building the power plant.

Every day of operation, nearly 3.2 million tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the proposed power plant will be released into the atmosphere covering a thirty-one mile radius impacting most of Rhode Island and releasing greater than normal EPA emissions levels to the towns of Burrillville, Woonsocket, Glocester, Smithfield and North Smithfield as well as Douglas, Webster and Uxbridge, MA and Putnam and Thompson, CT. The greenhouse gas emissions from this one power plant, according to J. Timmons Roberts – Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University will, in his words, “…make it impossible for Rhode Island to meet the carbon-emission reduction targets” of the Resilient Rhode Island Act.

The Burrillville Land Trust along with the Rhode Island Association of Conservation Commissions is holding interactive public forums addressing the many issues regarding the proposed power plant in the northwest corner of Rhode Island.

The power plant comes at a time when New England and the US (through the Paris Climate Change Conference) is moving away from fossil fuels and towards renewable resources and energy efficiency. This power plant will lock Rhode Island into an antiquated fossil fuel economy for the next 50 years.

The power plant became a statewide issue owing to the support of Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island. While the proposed power plant would be built in northwest Rhode Island, the impact will be region wide. “The concept that the opposition to this power plant is one of ‘not in my backyard’ faded away long ago as the Resilient Rhode Island Act became law for the entire state,” so says Paul Roselli, president of the Burrillville Land Trust. “The Paris Climate Change Conference elevated the RI Act from a state level to a regional and global issue. Increased greenhouse gas emissions know no boundary,” Roselli said.

To date, the land trust and the conservation commission association has conducted 47 public forums since November 2015. This pubic forum gives attendees an opportunity to learn some of the facts about the proposed power plant. While both organizations are interested in land preservation and increasing the health and protection of all species, the public forums provide factual information so the audience can decide for themselves what is best for their town and for their state.

Presentations take place on the following dates, times and locations:

August 2, 2016 – 6:30pm to 8:30pm – First Universalist Church of Burrillville, Harrisville Main Street, Harrisville, RI; August 18, 2016 – 6:30pm to 8:30pm – First Universalist Church of Burrillville; September 8, 2016 – 6:30pm to 8:30pm – First Universalist Church of Burrillville;and, Date, location and time to be announced: Barrington, RI.

Burrillville Land Trust president, Paul A. Roselli gives the presentation along with invited experts in biology, water and air quality and more. Invenergy’s proposal to build in northwestern Rhode Island would be the largest fracked gas/diesel oil fired power plant in New England. Learn how and why this project would impact all Rhode Island. Contact: (401) 447-1560 for more information. The public is invited.

The Burrillville Land Trust is a private non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust in the Town of Burrillville. Out mission is to preserve and protect the rural character of the Town of Burrillville through acquisition, education and advocacy. We are not connected with the municipal government of the Town of Burrillville but have had a good working relationship with the Town since the land trust began in 1999.

Join the Burrillville Land Trust • RhodeMap RI – Great Places

January 23, 2014 • Jesse Smith Library • 100 Tinkham Lane • Harrisville, RI • 5:00 – 7:30 PM

The gatherings represent Round Four (final round) of a four-part Great Places workshop series. This effort is just one part of the ongoing RhodeMap RI planning process, a comprehensive statewide planning strategy that also includes plans for housing and economic development. The Great Places work includes the identification, mapping and intersection of Green Resources (water supply, farmland, cultural areas, historic sites, recreation and open space areas), Economic Resources (land use, transportation networks, water and sewer, power and communications), and Social Resources (community facilities, social services, public transportation, labor/workforce opportunities). Over the first three rounds, participants worked with a series of regional, city and town maps showing those areas of the state where growth and revitalization makes the most sense, based on the location of roads and other infrastructure and the need to protect important natural and cultural resources.

The purpose of this final round of workshops is to bring together the entire analysis to provide a comprehensive look at priorities for conservation and development across the state. Participants in the workshops will also have an opportunity to weigh-in on some preliminary results from the Housing and Economic Development groups, and to get a first look at how everything is coming together. The feedback from these workshops will be used to shape new state policies for economic development, housing, environmental protection, and land use as part of a broader, comprehensive statewide strategy.

Those who attend will participate in a fun, interactive session that will start with a look at the results of the Round Three Growth Centers Game, showing potential growth centers, key transportation networks, and Green networks. Overlays will show what participants indicated was the economic role of each center and the amount of future growth that is appropriate. This is an important opportunity to see how potential growth centers in each city and town fit into the regional economy. Participants will also discuss how local conservation priorities and hazards due to storms and potential flooding should shape future growth. Finally, those who attend the final round of workshops will be able to discuss infrastructure grants and other incentives that may be needed to bring this shared vision to life.