Buzzards Bay Coalition helps protect 27 acres in Dartmouth
The Buzzards Bay Coalition recently partnered with the Lloyd Center for the Environment and the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT) to protect 27 acres of forest and wetlands along the Little River estuary in Dartmouth, one of the last pieces of unprotected and undeveloped land in the Little River watershed.
The now-protected land was originally an unrestricted gift to the Lloyd Center from its founder, the late Karen Lloyd. Appraised at over $1.6 million if sold for development, the Lloyd Center board instead decided to conserve the property, which stands across from its headquarters and nature preserve on the Slocums River. The DNRT and the Coalition came on board to partner with the Lloyd Center in crafting a plan to permanently protect the property through a conservation restriction.
To support the project, the Coalition secured a $500,000 grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That grant was used to purchase a conservation restriction from the Lloyd Center, now co-held by the Bay Coalition and the DNRT. The conservation restriction has permanently removed the possibility for development, forever protecting this beautiful and ecologically rich property.
“I am enormously gratified that the Center’s board of directors has unanimously elected to conserve this fragile piece of Little River shoreline property,” said Lloyd Center Board Chair Robert “Brodie” MacGregor. “We are grateful to our colleagues at the DNRT who have given unselfishly of their time to help the Center achieve this important conservation goal and to those at the Coalition whose expertise and hard work were critically important to the securing of the NAWCA grant.”
“The Buzzards Bay Coalition is incredibly proud to have partnered with the Lloyd Center and DNRT to help make this conservation plan a success,” said Coalition President Mark Rasmussen. “We are excited to have received this grant from NAWCA and to be able to apply it to conserving such an important property on the Little River estuary. We applaud the Lloyd Center for their vision to secure permanent protection for this land and thank the DNRT for their leadership in conserving this property and so many of Dartmouth’s treasures.”
The property is a mix of forests and coastal wetlands which, in addition to protecting the health of the Little River, will also be open for the public to enjoy.
“This was a great partnership that came together to protect one of the last unprotected parcels on Little River,” said DNRT Executive Director Dexter Mead. “DNRT is especially pleased that the public will be able to enjoy exploring this beautiful property.”