PORTSMOUTH — Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT) recently got one step closer to its goal of permanently conserving Little Creek Preserve off Bramans Lane.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced Friday the award of more than $3.75 million in grants to help communities and local organizations protect valuable green space throughout the state.

ALT received a $151,500 grant to acquire 15.6 acres at the headwaters of Little Creek in Portsmouth, which drains to the Sakonnet River. The wetland wildlife refuge is currently owned by Dennis Silvia.

The parcel is adjacent to ALT’s 10-mile Sakonnet Greenway Trail and would allow the Trust to reroute the trail onto the property and create a trailside park for passive recreation.

According to ALT, the wetlands and pond provide excellent habitat for a range of amphibian and avian species, including songbirds and waterfowl. The wildlife seen and heard on the property include wood ducks, spring peepers, woodchucks, turkeys, resident and migratory songbirds, barn owls, coyotes, and various small mammals, ALT says.

ALT is trying to raise $368,000 in grants and donations to purchase the property. For more information, visit https://ailt.org.

DEM offered matching grants to 17 projects o protect 889 acres of open space and farmland across Rhode Island. The funding is made possible by the 2016 Green Economy Bond passed by Rhode Island voters, and invests $35 million in preserving open space, improving recreational facilities and cleaning up lands and waters.