Glocester Land Trust considers purchase of Putnam Pike property with help from RIDEM grant

GLOCESTER – The Glocester Land Trust has been approved for a $142,500 grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to fund the purchase of a lot abutting the Steere Hill Conservation Area.

The lot, dubbed “Payton Woodlands” is made up of forest, wetlands and streams, and would be protected and improved under the trust, according to RIDEM.

It could also be used to provide new road frontage and auxiliary parking for Steere Hill, a conservation area comprised of four abutting parcels acquired by the trust between 1967 to 2010, with a total of 448 acres featuring several miles of marked and maintained trails that connect the properties. The four combined sites are rich in both history and biodiversity.

While land trust members have said they have not yet negotiated details of the potential purchase, a 23.1 acre wooded lot owned by Bruce Payton sits immediately adjoining the conservation area at 416 Putnam Pike. Payton served as trustee of the land trust from 1988 through 2006 and again from 2021 to 2022, was chairman of the GLT from 2006 until 2013, and has also served on the Conservation Commission.

Town property records show that Payton purchased the lot adjoining Steere Hill Farm for $285,000 from DCL Investments last September.

If purchased with approval from the 7-member trust, the lot could offer more contiguous open space at Steere Hill, accessed from a parking lot on Putnam Pike, as well as room for more visitors.

Speaking this week to The Valley Breeze, Land Trust member John Pitocco reportedly said the property has a history as a site for toboggan races.

The grant was among several others statewide totaling $1.23 million announced last week by RIDEM. The agency noted that 174 acres of green space are on track to be protected across Rhode Island through its Local Open Space Grant Program, funded with a voter-approved Green Bond in 2022.

In addition to the Glocester grant, the agency authorized $500,000 to conserve 49 acres overlooking Mount Hope Bay in Tiverton; $200,000 for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island to preserve 23 acres of river corridor and shrub swamp; and $391,000 to the West Greenwich Land Trust to protect 78 acres of farm and forestland between Big River and Arcadia Management Areas.

“Since 1985, over 13,000 acres have been protected through this program, supporting Rhode Island’s outdoor economy and creating places for the public to camp, fish, hunt, hike, and explore the great outdoors,” RIDEM noted.

Editor’s note: An original version of this article stated that Bruce Payton served as GLT chairman until 2022 and also that Trek & Tunes was held at the Steere Hill property, when it was actually held at Sprague Farm. The information has been corrected above and we apologize for the error.