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
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