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Tiverton Land Trust Purchases Key Property within the Largest Undisturbed Forest in East Bay
Pereira Family Honors Mother’s Wishes
The Tiverton Land Trust (TLT) is pleased to announce the purchase of 48 acres from the Alfred and Mary Pereira family. “This is an exciting time to have been able to work with the Pereiras and further the land trust’s efforts to preserve Tiverton’s rural character,” said Trish Sylvester, President of the Tiverton Land Trust.
The 48 acres are part of the largest undisturbed forest in Rhode Island East Bay region which includes the area east of Main Road, south of Route 177 and north of East Road. The Pereira acreage fronts to the east of Main Road, near its southern junction with Nannaquaket Road.
In June of 2000, Mrs. Mary Pereira, widow of Alfred, contacted the TLT through her daughter, Myrtle Letendre. Mrs. Pereira wished to preserve her family’s land stretching up the ridge and east behind her home on Main Road. Sadly, in August 2003, Mrs. Pereira died before signing the P&S agreement. To honor their mother’s wishes, a new series of discussions began with Mrs. Pereira’s heirs: daughters Myrtle Letendre, Ruth Berube, Barbara Medeiros and Diane Peckham; son, Alfred C. Pereira, Jr. and granddaughter, Stephanie Mullins.
A coordinated effort on the part of the TLT, The Nature Conservancy, and the Pereira family has culminated in the property’s sale on July 26, 2006 and the beginning of the preservation of this sensitive area. Funding for the purchase was attained from the Rhode Island Greenways Grant Award (an open space bond grant through DEM), The Nature Conservancy of RI, an interest free loan from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation, Inc., a grant from the Bafflin Foundation and contributions from the TLT membership with designated donations for land acquisition.
The Tiverton Land Trust will own the property and the State of Rhode Island, acting through the Department of Environmental Management, will hold a conservation easement. The land was purchased for $350,000.
“This is a huge milestone in the process of achieving one of Tiverton’s major comprehensive plan goals, preventing the suburbanization of the town by preserving appropriate natural areas. The Pereira land is perfect for this. It has significant environmental value but low development value,” said Garry Plunkett, co-chair and Property Habitat Manager of Tiverton Open Space Commission. The land will be managed in such a way as to improve forest health and maintain the integrity of the native plant community. Limited, guided educational activities will help to ensure and protect the rarity of such an undisturbed forest.
In an effort to continue to find ways to preserve much of this undeveloped forest in the area, the TLT is working closely with other landowners, The Nature Conservancy, and the Tiverton Open Space Commission. The TLT hopes to have more announcements of land acquisition as this long-term preservation goal continues. More funds need to be raised, not only for the Pereira property to pay the Norcross Wildlife Foundation, Inc. loan within the next year – but to fulfill future preservation goals in the area.
In commenting on the Pereira property, Laura Epke, Vice President of the TLT, said, “This purchase will prove to be a wonderful asset for the town of Tiverton and a great legacy for the Pereira family.” The TLT commends the Pereira family for its vision and commitment to Tiverton’s rural character.
Please note the following habitat description:
Together with Weetamoo Woods, Pardon Gray Preserve and surrounding unprotected parcels, the contiguous forested area in this vicinity is over 2,000 acres. Forest cover of this size will support area-sensitive breeding birds (Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Hooded and Worm-eating Warblers). It is also an important feeding and resting station in the North Atlantic Coast neotropic bird migration route. Several of the forest stands have mid and late successional maturity, with excellent multi-layered vegetation. Given a few decades of protection and minimal disturbance, the unique qualities of deep, old growth forests could return and provide habitat for flora and fauna that is only found in that extremely rare ecosystem.
The Pereira parcel contains a wonderful diversity of habitats seen throughout the forested ridge area. This results from the juxtaposition of swamps, upland forest, areas of xeric ridge and bedrock, and scattered concentrations of glacial erratics and composites. A north-south line of intermittent, exposed bedrock and ridge that characterizes the eastern bank of the Sakonnet River is prominent on the Pereira parcel. Wetlands straddle this ridge along much of its length, as they do here. The western wall of the Pereira section of the ridge forms a sheer, vertical bluff that towers some sixty-five feet over the swamp below with a sweeping view of the landscape to the west.
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