Aquidneck Island Land Trust

06/18/2026

Green End Preserve has some frequent visitors! We recently reviewed footage from our trail camera and found quite a few deer making use of this Land Trust protected habitat as summer begins. Watch the full videos to see them interact with one another—and even investigate the camera!

06/16/2026

We would like to acknowledge all the participants in the 2026 Climate Resiliency Exhibition that took place at Rogers High School. Students were challenged to create solutions to help Newport and the greater Rhode Island area with the impacts of climate change. Many students shined through with solutions to air, water, and land pollution, as well as solutions to mitigate the effects of sea level rise. The winners of the challenge are as follows:

Tied for 3rd place: Moises Gomez Lima and Brian Taveras Polanco with First Beach Protection and CJ Gray and Bella Pettinato with Nature's Flood Shield

2nd place: Madison Taft with Smart Sewer for Tiverton Systems

1st place: Joshua Dahl and Aidan Ruston with Phenological Mismatch and Climate Resiliency

Aquidneck Island Land Trust thanks the William H. Donner Foundation for sponsoring these projects.

06/10/2026

Meet our Stewardship Assistant, Victoria Pappalardo! Victoria grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor's degree in Wildlife Conservation and Biology. She is passionate about both local conservation efforts and international initiatives to protect endangered species and vulnerable ecosystems around the world. She has experience working to conserve the Diamondback Terrapin, the only U.S. turtle that inhabits brackish waters, making it particularly vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise.

Her academic background in restoration ecology helped shape these interests by fostering a strong appreciation for habitat conservation, emphasizing the importance of connecting communities with their natural environments. She is excited and grateful for the opportunity to help preserve Rhode Island's open spaces while monitoring properties and supporting habitat quality for local wildlife and island residents.

06/04/2026

Meet Lilly Dick of Newport, RI, our 2026 Smart Growth Leadership Award winner!

Over decades of service to Aquidneck Island, Lilly has transformed the island's civic, environmental, and cultural landscapes. Lilly’s leadership is distinguished by her track record of translating ideas into enduring outcomes thanks to her vision, persistence, and ability to unite diverse public and private partners.

She contributed meaningfully to local policymaking and civic direction as a former member of the Newport City Council. Prior to elected office she developed and raised the funds for reintroducing Newport’s gas lights to bring street lighting down to a human scale and to cast a light that would bring out the beauty of Newport’s historic architecture and streetscapes.

Beyond elected office, she led the reshaping of some of Newport’s most important public spaces, including Washington Square and Spring Park — projects that not only improved vehicular flow and pedestrian safety and enjoyment, but also helped preserve the city’s historic character while strengthening its future.

Lilly’s influence extends deeply into environmental stewardship. Through her leadership with the Newport Tree Conservancy and Aquidneck Island Land Trust, and advocacy for the Newport Arboretum, she has helped advance urban forestry, biodiversity, and the preservation of Aquidneck Island's natural beauty.

We'll present our 2026 Smart Growth Awards on Friday, June 26 at our Power of Place Summit in Providence.

06/03/2026

Our stewardship team has started the hard work completing a monitoring visit for each of Aquidneck Island Land Trust's properties, which adds up to 115 visits total! Each year, we inspect or monitor all the lands we protect with conservation easements to ensure they are remaining as open space according to the individual legal agreement.

📸: The Carol C. Ballard Park and Wildlife Preserve, Newport

05/29/2026

05/27/2026

Aquidneck Island Land Trust is pleased to host a community conversation on “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Collaborating to Build a Resilient Aquidneck Island” with Glennie LeBaron and Paige Myatt. Join us on June 9 at 6 p.m. at the DiStefano Lecture Hall at Salve Regina University, 56 Lawrence Avenue, Newport, RI.

This event is free and open to the public.🌿
You can register today on eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teamwork-makes-the-dream-work-a-donner-climate-series-talk-tickets-1990040648149

Paige, Director of Aquidneck Resilience, and Glennie, Community Engagement Manager, will share how their team has been able to work across municipal boundaries, leverage existing community expertise, and incorporate island values as they embark on an island-wide planning process. The Climate Resilience Plan will serve as a guidebook to reduce our community’s risk to severe weather events.

Learn about their approach to community engagement how they’ve been able to strengthen relationships between organizations to address our Island’s greatest climate challenges. Attendees should come prepared to participate in fun activities and share their insight on their goals for Aquidneck Island!

Aquidneck Island Land Trust thanks the William H. Donner Foundation for sponsoring this public lecture.

05/24/2026

05/21/2026

A big thank you to the "Serve with Liberty" Liberty Mutual volunteers who helped us plant 54 native plants at Spruce Acres Farm earlier this month. In addition to providing important food for our local pollinators, the native plants will help add some color to the Spruce Acres bus stop off of East Main Rd. Check it out next time you're there!

05/19/2026

Aquidneck Island Land Trust has awarded 8 grants totaling $11,500 through the Merritt Neighborhood Fund, its annual grant program established in 1999 to honor the late Peter M. Merritt, the Land Trust's president emeritus.

Awards were given to the following applicants:
-Aquidneck Community Table: Thompson Middle School Community Garden Restoration
-Bike Newport: Trailhead for Miantonomi Memorial Park behind the Big Blue Bike Barn
-Common Fence Point Association: Freshwater Pond improvements with native plants
-Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District: Community Garden upgrade at AGInnovation Farm
-Middletown Tree Association: Resiliency against Beech Leaf Disease in Albro Woods
-Newport Tree Conservancy: Tree plantings in Ballard Park
-Norman Bird Sanctuary: "Good Gardens” infrastructure improvements
-Town of Portsmouth: Tree plantings for Glen Park Playground

Congratulations to this year's awardees and thank you to the Committee for their careful review of each application! If you'd like to contribute to growing the fund, please visit https://ow.ly/663M50Z0ph1