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Local Couple Protects Family Land on Quicksand Pond

Little Compton, RI—February 12, 2004—Fifteen acres on one of Rhode Island's most scenic coastal salt ponds are now protected, thanks to the generous conservationists who own them.

Larry Anderson and Nan Haffenreffer of Little Compton conveyed the conservation easement to The Nature Conservancy in a bargain sale. The land has 900 feet of frontage on the western shore of Quicksand Pond.

"We're very pleased to be able to work with the Conservancy to protect this land," said Nan Haffenreffer, whose family has owned the property for several generations.  "It has meant so much to us, and it's great to know it will remain beautiful and environmentally healthy for generations to come."

A conservation easement is a legal agreement a property owner makes to restrict the type and amount of development or other activities that may take place on a specific piece of property. The property still belongs to the owner and is not open to the public.

Haffenreffer, a registered nurse, is clinical nurse manager for the Little Compton site of the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Massachusetts. Anderson is the author of "Benton MacKaye: Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail," a biography published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2002. He has served as president of Sakonnet Preservation Association and a founding member of the Rhode Island Land Trust Council's executive committee.

"We knew of Larry and Nan's commitment to conservation in Little Compton and across Rhode Island, but this is a leap to a new level of generosity," said John Berg, director of the Conservancy's Sakonnet Program. "I hope this family has set an example others will follow."

A coastal oak forest of black oak with some American holly dominates the mostly wooded property. Its shoreline includes narrow-leaved cattail and marsh mallow, which along with several rare plant species still thrive in Quicksand Pond. Several local streams converge near the shore before draining directly into Quicksand Pond. The conservation easement protects all of these natural systems, which in turn help protect the life of Quicksand Pond.

Quicksand Pond and Goosewing Beach, the barrier beach that separates it from the ocean, are priority conservation areas for The Nature Conservancy. The 390-acre Quicksand Pond is one of Rhode Island's least disturbed coastal salt pond systems, making its protection an important component of the Conservancy's Sakonnet landscape program.

Although Quicksand Pond receives fresh water from streams and runoff, salt water also enters over the barrier beach during storms, making the water brackish. This provides a nursery for many species of fish and shellfish as well as feeding grounds for wading birds, migratory waterfowl and shorebirds. The beach itself provides dune habitat that supports the federally-threatened piping plover. Since 1997, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has recognized this area as a regionally significant coastal habitat in the northeast.