CILT Goes Digital

Map of CILT Properties

The Conanicut Island Land Trust (CILT) was formed in 1984 and is incorporated as a private, not-for-profit, tax exempt organization to promote the preservation of natural resources in Jamestown, Rhode Island. CILT is structured with a 14 member board of directors who serve on a volunteer basis. It has no paid staff. The Land Trust owns or has conservation easements on over 150 properties totaling approximately 500 acres.

In an effort to promote more comprehensive and efficient management of CILT's properties, the Land Trust has gone digital. Board member Jim Turenne has been working for over a year to develop protocol and methods to monitor and steward the properties more efficiently. “Jim has worked very quietly on this project with no fanfare and surprised the entire Board with a comprehensive finished product that revolutionizes our ability to access property information,” said Quentin Anthony, President of the Conanicut Island Land Trust.

The first step in the process involved assembling paper copies of 150 ± deeds and easements constituting the inventory of CILT land. Each deed was scanned and converted it to an electronic document. A database was then created which linked each digital deed to the corresponding parcel boundary on a geographic information system (GIS).

Inventory of CILT Property

With all the deeds and easements digitized, it is now possible to instantly access and review the terms of each deed to determine permitted and prohibited activities and other relevant information. The organization can then move from the easement language to an aerial photograph of the parcel in question and determine if any changes have occurred on the property in the course of the year.

According to Anthony, “Another remarkable accomplishment by Jim was the development of an online GIS mapping application that shows the property locations and deed information on a smartphone or tablet in the field. Having the digital map and the devices GPS allows for reasonably accurate property boundary locations allowing CILT to determine if there is encroachment of the easement requiring more investigation.” Another App allows field notes, photos, videos and voice recordings to be made while inventorying the property and store all the information on Google Earth.

In August, the Land Trust acquired easements to over 85 parcels on the Shores from the Town of Jamestown. Many of the parcels are small and scattered throughout the shores. Using this digital format will allow each of the properties to be efficiently and accurately monitored to assure the land is used for the intended conservation purposes. Property inventory began in January 2013 ans will continue until all lots are investigated and a stewardship report completed. Properties will be monitored each year and tracked electronically. For more information about this story email jimturenne@gmail.com 

2012 Annual Meeting

Volunteers planting shrubs at Godena

The Conanicut Island Land Trust had its 23^rd Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 13, 2012. The President of the Land Trust, Quentin Anthony, reviewed the highlights of a busy year. He explained that the Godena Farm Nature Trail, which had been in the planning stages for approximately 2 years, was now well under way. The Land Trust Board and as many as 25 volunteers planted approximately 1,000 native shrubs including viburnums, inkberries, elderberries, blueberries, and shadblow. He thanked Archie Clarke on behalf of the Board for the extensive amount of work in clearing both sides of the trail that made planting much easier. Anthony then went on to discuss the process by which the Land Trust planted 2 acres of native wildflowers. Plowing and harrowing had been done by Louis Godena to prepare the soil, and on August 7^th the Jamestown Litter Corp. hand-broadcast the native wildflower seed. The seed had been paid for by the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). Anthony explained that the wildflower seed is so light that it cannot be mechanically deposited, and 7 teenagers from the Litter Corp. walked the fields broadcasting the seed by hand from 5-gallon buckets. Louis then pulled a chain link fence through the field making contact between the seed and the soil. Three days of rain followed, and despite the late planting, the wildflowers were up and blooming by late September. Anthony went on to talk about our fourth Halloween event. He explained that children of the Jamestown school had made scarecrows as part of a school project, and the Land Trust had erected the scarecrows in the fields at Godena. Over 200 children and their families attended for a night of wagon rides, bonfires and songs.

New sign at Parker Farm

Anthony then talked about the success of the management program at the Parker Farm off East Shore Road. He explained that there had been an on-going, multi-year NRCS grant for warm season grasses. At the annual NRCS review of the Parker property, the state biologist said it was the best example of warm season grass management he had ever seen. The Land Trust finished up the 2012 season with 160 native shrubs planted at Parker.

Finally, Anthony went over the extensive work done by Director Jim Turenne on digitizing the Land Trust properties. Anthony said Jim had created a digital database that allowed anyone with a cell phone or GPS to locate Land Trust properties and boundaries. Never before was it possible to stand with a cell phone and identify the corner of a property. Anthony thanked Jim for bringing property management into the 21^st century.

Archie Clark, Vice President

Following this summary, the election of officers took place. Archie Clarke was voted Vice President, Lowell Thomas, Treasurer and Quentin Anthony President. Following this, a motion was made to make Louis Godena a lifetime member for his years of commitment and work on the Godena Farm. Two young volunteers, Meryl Nelson-Lee and Ben Lee, were recognized for their contributions during 2012 with the nature trail and other work for the Land Trust.

Dr. Scott McWilliams

 The meeting ended and the floor was turned over to Dr. Scott McWilliams, a professor of ecology at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. McWilliams has written and spoken extensively on the nutritional requirements of migrating songbirds. Much of his conversation concerned the black pole warbler and how it was able to fly nonstop over 2500 miles of open water to reach South America without refueling. He discussed the nutritional value of most of the native shrubs planted at Godena and how they contributed to bird survival. For example, he explained that the black pole warbler’s remarkable flight was due, in large part, the small blue berries produced by native viburnums. On the other hand, very few birds can digest the waxy coating on bayberries. Yellow-rumped warblers are able to overwinter because they tend to utilize the rich coating of the berry. Others such as tree swallows, cat birds, mocking birds, and the common chickadee are birds that can utilize the waxy fat source.