PORTSMOUTH — Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT) recently opened a new 165-foot boardwalk at its Little Creek Preserve property on Bramans Lane.

The boardwalk is one of many improvements made to the 15-plus-acre site, which was conserved by ALT in 2018. 

The boardwalk, which ends at an 8x16-foot viewing platform over a marsh, was built by JAM Construction and designed by Narragansett Engineering.

Little Creek Preserve features picnic tables, benches, and a half-mile loop trail that links to the Sakonnet Greenway Trail, a 10-mile nature trail through ALT-conserved properties stretching from Linden Land in Portsmouth to Wyatt Road in Middletown.

“The boardwalk is a terrific addition to this beautiful property,” said Chuck Allott, ALT’s executive director. “We are very grateful to the hundreds of donors who contributed both to its purchase and, later, to the improvement fund. We thank the Bafflin Foundation and the Betty Byrne de Zahara Charitable Fund for their generosity as well, and invite everyone to enjoy the results of this community-supported project.” 

Little Creek Preserve is home to the headwaters of Little Creek and is bordered by three other ALT-protected open spaces. Formerly part of a dairy farm, it is now conserved in perpetuity as a public open space and wildlife refuge. 

The mix of meadow, upland scrub-shrub, marsh, forested wetlands, vernal pools, and riparian areas around Little Creek provide habitat for a range of amphibian, mammalian, and avian species. The property is considered an excellent spot for birding and is free and open to the public daily, from dawn until dusk.

The nonprofit ALT has conserved 2,635 acres on 84 properties across Aquidneck Island since its founding in 1990. For more information, visit www.ailt.org.