Two-Year Clock Starts for Aquidneck Land Trust to Acquire St. Mary's Parcel

The  took another step forward on Wendesday in its latest campaign to acquire and preserve about 70 acres of open space on East Main Road.

ALT officials signed an option agreement on Wednesday with St. Mary's Church in Portsmouth and the Gibbs Trust that gives the ALT two years to come up with the $3 million needed to conserve the property, according to an announcement made Wednesday.

ALT officials characterized the signing as a "major step forward" in its latest .

The two parties executed an agreement that follows suit with the memorandum of understanding they reached on February 3, 2011 to conserve the land.

In April, the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service committed $1.5 million to the conservation project from Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program funds. The ALT also has been raising funds from community supporters since Feb. 3, when the campaign was announced and the memorandum of understanding was publicly signed before a crowd of several hundred supporters at the ALT's annual meeting.

The 70-acre parcel is located on St. Mary's Church land within the ALT's Center Island Greenway and would expand the area of previously conserved land within the St. Mary's Pond Watershed area that includes woods, fields and wetlands with diverse wildlife habitats, ALT officials said.

For more information, visitwww.AquidneckLandTrust.org