V. THE STATUS OF OPEN SPACE

The individual open space inventories for the Ten Mile River and Narragansett/ Mount Hope Bay Watershed communities are contained within their respective Open Space Plans (collectively, numbering several hundred, the list and narrative would occupy dozens of pages of text). While not all individual community open space plans are up-to-date, SRPEDD, in conjunction with Mass GIS has developed an up-to-date open space database (compiled while completing build-out analyses for the cities and towns in southeastern Massachusetts) which is represented on the Regional Open Space Map contained in this document. As individual open space plans are updated, the regional map will be corrected accordingly.

The Regional Open Space Committee had the opportunity to review the Regional Open Space Map and had several observations on the quantity, classification and ownership/ investment in the region, specifically:

· While local land trusts have holdings in excess of 5,000 acres in the Ten Mile and Narragansett/Mount Hope Bay Watersheds, state and federal holdings (aside from the Federal Fish Hatchery land in North Attleborough) are sorely lacking; and, while a potential East Fall River purchase may remedy this situation somewhat, the municipalities along the Rhode Island border seem to be overlooked, perhaps due to their geography as much as anything else (despite some unique and outstanding natural resources);
· Regional Land Trust and Conservation organizations also lack significant holdings in the region; only Audubon in Attleboro (Massachusetts Audubon Society) and Seekonk (The Audubon Society of Rhode Island, 167 acres) have large refuge areas; recently, the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts has begun to focus more on the Ten Mile and Narragansett Bay area (working with property owners in Rehoboth, and, more recently, working with the Town of North Attleborough);
· The need to lock-up open space, through conservation restriction, deeded easement, direct purchase, partnerships, etc., is necessary in order to knit some of our important open space and focus areas together, and;
· The Committee felt that lands held by local land trusts, regional land trusts and regional conservation organizations should be considered as "permanently protected," as many of these lands have been held for long periods of time and have strict conditions attached with their conveyance to said groups.

The Regional Open Space Committee also felt that "permanently protected" land was really the bottom line in evaluating the condition of and potential for expansion of a regional open space system. One of the fears arising amongst Committee members, when reviewing the Regional Open Space Map, was that due to the number of Ch. 61A and Ch. 61B properties, a great deal of open space could disappear if land owners failed to continue their enrollment in these programs (this reinforces the idea that local officials involved with open space planning should work closely with their respective Assessor's Offices, and work to develop an agricultural land ranking and prioritization list for acquisition purposes; also, in working with the Assessor, local Open Space Committees should inform land owners of and promote new and continued enrollment in the Ch. 61 programs; these principals may also be applied on a regional basis).

Table V-1: Permanently Protected Lands*

Source: Regional Build-Out Analyses, SRPEDD for EOEA, 2000.

Table V-2: Lands Held by Conservation Organizations and Land Trusts

Source: Local land trusts and Assessors.

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* Land is considered protected if it falls into one or more of the following categories:
State land purchased with the use of federal funds, therefore covered by PL 88-578
State land owned by a state conservation agency, therefore covered by Article 97 of the
Massachusetts Constitution (See Appendix B)
Town land owned by or under the jurisdiction of:
a. Conservation Commission
b. Water Department
c. Any town department if dedicated to open space/conservation by a permanent deed restriction.

Private land:
a. Owned by a non-profit organization dedicated to land conservation (i.e. land trust)
b. Protected in perpetuity by a conservation or deed restriction
c. Protected by the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program
d. Protected by a conservation restriction (CR) under the DEP's Wetland Restriction Program

Ten Mile River and Narragansett/Mount Hope Bay Watershed
Focus Areas and Corridors

The "Focus Areas and Corridors" mapping was developed from a number of sources. Brian Reid, of the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, had been at work on a study of potential core conservation areas as part of a habitat atlas project for southeastern Massachusetts. In the course of his initial mapping, Brian had worked with many municipal, state and local environment groups. As a guest at one of the scheduled Committee meetings, Brian shared some of his observations on mapping
and evaluating regional focus areas and provided the Regional Committee a starting point from which to build a regional "Focus Area and Corridors" map.

At subsequent meetings the Regional Committee also heard presentations and received comment and insight from Joan Pierce of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Department of Fisheries Wildlife & Environmental Law Enforcement and Carl Mellberg of the US Fish & Wildlife Service (regarding USF&W's "Great Meadows" Comprehensive Conservation Plan update). The Committee based its mapping activities on a format used by Brian Reid. Committee members worked individually and collectively to develop a draft map during a scheduled working meeting. Comments on the mapped areas and their attributes were discussed and a final version of the map was created, by SRPEDD, in a GIS format. The "Focus Areas and Corridors Map," final draft version, was presented publicly at a Regional Open Space Plan meeting (on May 4, 2000) in Attleboro hosted by the Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance and the EOEA Basin Team.

The importance of mapping the regional focus areas and corridors is not only to display the unique environments, landscapes and ecological attributes of the watersheds, but to show how these areas are or can be retained or connected through cooperative conservation planning. The retention or restoration of these connective areas can help to offset the impacts of development, such as altered landscapes and fragmented habitat, and the resultant consequences for all living things in the proximity. The Committee regarded the connective or linkage functions of the focus areas and corridors as the "cartilage" between the "special bones" in the physical make-up of the watersheds (corridors carrying the connotation of more or less linear configurations of natural riparian communities, buffers, aesthetic and landscape features, rather than solely being regarded as pathways).

The "Focus Areas and Corridors" map is organized by color code according to the primary mapper or mappers. Each area on the map is also numbered to correspond to the following descriptive text.

(RED) -- Wildlands Trust and Committee and local partners

1. Attleboro Ledges - North Attleborough:
Unusual red felsite ledge formations, which are a very limited occurrence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; several very uncommon and high priority natural communities, including Rich Mesic Forest (with Sycamore and Basswood), Seepage Swamps, Rock Outcrop Pine Barrens, Circumneutral Rock Outcrop Community, Circumneutral Talus Slope, Hickory-Hop Hornbeam Forest, and several potential vernal pools (need to be certified); two rare plant species, and potential rare animals. This is one of the most important natural areas in the basin.

2. Bungay River - Attleboro:
Unusual Coastal Atlantic White Cedar Swamp; very mature Red Maple swamp forests.

2a. Attleboro Vernal Pools:
High concentration of certified vernal pools.

3. Ten Mile Headwaters
Two rare plant and two rare animal species; high quality vernal pool (and several potential VPs); Chestnut Oak Forests; Native grasslands; large undeveloped parcel has potential to connect two potential natural areas (Memorial Park and backlands behind dump); 170+ acre parcel threatened with development.

4. Dighton Ledges - Dighton: (NOT SHOWN)

5. Palmer River - Rehoboth:
Good quality Tidal Freshwater Marsh and Tidal Brackish Marsh; several rare plants including one of the largest known populations of Long's Bittercress (globally rare); Northern Diamondback Terrapin.

6. East Branch of Palmer River - Rehoboth:
Native Eastern Brook Trout. Unusual stream-side Cedar Swamps; rich aquatic habitat, perhaps one of the most undisturbed streams in southeastern Massachusetts.

7. Taunton Ledges - Taunton, Dighton, Rehoboth:
Unusual rock outcrops; two rare plants.

8. Watuppa Ponds - Fall River:
One of the largest natural lakes in the state, used as primary water supply for City of Fall River; over 3,000 acres of land, largely unfragmented forest habitat; globally rare Plymouth Gentian and other rare plants and invertebrates; Bald Eagle (nesting), potentially significant waterfowl area. Long term protection status of land outside of 400' limit of reservoir is uncertain, although not immediately threatened; potential part of greenway connecting Freetown-Fall River State Forest and Acushnet Cedar Swamp.

(BLUE) -- (Audubon and local Committee partners)

1. Bungay to Fish Hatchery to Cooper's Pond
2. Abbott Run Watershed (Plainville, Cumberland RI, North Attleborough
3. Cumberland Farms Property to Red Rocks area (described above)
4. Area around and including Orr's Pond and Manchester Pond
5. Chartley Brook to Hemlock Swamp area (which extends into the southwest corner of Norton) to Upper Palmer

(YELLOW) -- Seekonk

1. Upper Runnins River area
2. Lower Ten Mile River area
3. Property proposed for purchase with DCS funds in 1999 (extends into Rehoboth)

(BROWN) -- Attleboro

1. Locust Valley (currently, 10 certified vernal pools)
2. Rare species habitat between Collins Street and Route 1

(GREEN) -- Swansea

1. Two Mile Purchase area
2. Land above Village Park area
2a. Additional linkage lands
3. Agricultural land below the Two Mile Purchase

(PINK) -- Plainville

1. West side study area
2. Central habitat/open space cluster area