For half a century, a small group of nature lovers has made a huge impact on Little Compton, helping to preserve more than 460 acres of open space in the town.

In 1972, a group of concerned residents formed to establish the Sakonnet Preservation Association after recognizing increasing threats from development to the town's character and natural resources. Sakonnet Preservation was the first private, non-profit community land trust in the state, and has been nationally accredited since 2011.

"Without conservation protections, we stood to lose for all time much of what the original mission statement referred to as the ‘natural heritage of Little Compton," president Abigail Brooks said.

Throughout the years, Sakonnet Preservation has preserved its acres either through outright ownership or with the acquisition of conservation easements. It's an effort that's long received wide support across town as over the past few decades, local citizen surveys and vote counts on open space referenda have made clear how committed a majority in the community are to conservation efforts.

“Protecting our vulnerable water resources, creating recreational opportunities, maintaining scenic vistas, wildlife habitats, and farmland as well as keeping taxes low are all citizen concerns tied to the work of conservation that we and others hold as priorities in accepting properties for protection,” Brooks said.

The organization works collaboratively with property owners, public agencies, and other municipal and private conservation organizations to preserve property. They mainly rely on public financial support as well as volunteer engagement in the work involved. The organization is fully supported by donations from members, grants, and public and private funders.

“We are most especially reliant on landowners willing to give up the development rights to their property in favor of perpetual conservation,” said Brooks. “This can be a major sacrifice for the long term good of the community, leaving a permanent legacy on our landscape for generations to come.”

As far as plans for the future, the organization has goals in terms of fundraising and acquiring more land going forward.

“We are just winding up the first phase of major fundraising to support our long-term operations expenses,” said Brooks. “In doing so, we are freed to raise funds for land acquisition projects without impairing our need to subsidize our underlying operations costs.”

The organization's next phase of planning involves developing priorities for conservation internally, and then sharing them with other conservation groups in Little Compton in the hope of creating a collaborative vision of community conservation priorities.

“Approaching landowners to consider conservation in those priority areas will be the step that follows,” said Brooks. “My hope is that landowners understand the benefits of protecting their property as it fits into a larger scheme of creating habitat greenways, watershed and wetland protection corridors, scenic and historically important landscapes that will add appeal to their consideration of conserving.”

In celebration of the 50th anniversary, the organization will be hosting a sold-out gala event on Saturday, July 16 at Sakonnet Point from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. For more information, visit sakonnetpreservation.org