Community Corner

Little Compton Conservation Leader Earns Peter Merritt Award

Heather Steers received the Peter Merritt Award earlier this month for her years of dedicated work with the Sakonnet Preservation Association and the Rhode Island Land Trust Council.

A Little Compton resident joined a selective list of distinguished land conservation leaders earlier this month at the ninth annual Rhode Island Land & Water Conservation Summit held at the , according to ecoRI.

Heather Steers earned the prestigious Peter Merritt Award for her continuous dedicated work on the Sakonnet Preservation Association (SPA) and the Rhode Island Land Trust Council (RILTC).

She served on the SPA board in a variety of capacities since 1991, and has dedicated herself to the work of the organization as secretary, as president of the board for six years, as a member of SPA’s accreditation team and currently serves as a member of its Land Protection Committee. According to her nomination, as board president Steers was responsible for the development of SPA’s first comprehensive strategic plan and the board vote committing the organization to the Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices.

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Steers also served on the board of the RILTC.

Since 2007, Steers has chaired SPA’s Stewardship Committee, ensuring that every conservation easement is carefully monitored on an annual basis and each inspection is documented and archived. Currently, her work involves supervising 32 volunteer monitors who visit a total of 65 Little Compton properties at least once each year. In addition, she manages all the details entailed in the stewardship of these properties. Single-handedly, she has created a model of quality stewardship of which, according to the SPA, is justifiably proud.

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Steers worked prodigiously in 2009 and 2010 leading her committee through revision and creation of the policies and procedures essential to consistent, effective stewardship. In the SPA's review by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, the high quality of the organization’s stewardship practices was evident.

She sent thoughtful notes to donors and land owners, successfully pulled off complex property acquisitions, fine-tuned property details that guide the SPA stewardship, showed a highi level of planning and organization during her tenure as president and she continues as stewardship chairperson.

Steers continues engaging local board in the statewide network of land conservation groups represented by the RILTC continues to this day.

The Peter Merritt Award is named after Peter Merritt, one of the founding members of the Aquidneck Land Trust.


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