The Aquidneck Island Land Trust has permanently conserved 0.77 acres on Coggeshall Avenue, protecting the site where the Newport Tree Conservancy grows the specimen trees it plants around the city.
Minnie Cushing Coleman donated the conservation easement, which covers several greenhouses and a lawn area. The conservancy will keep operating its nursery there under the easement’s terms.
Trees propagated on the property are grown to size and then distributed through the conservancy’s annual programs for planting in public and private spaces across Newport.
“The Newport Tree Conservancy is so pleased to honor Minnie’s generosity in a way that will directly benefit Newport’s trees for generations to come,” said Natasha Harrison, the conservancy’s executive director.
The parcel sits in the Almy Pond watershed, which the state classifies as impaired. The land trust says keeping it undeveloped helps limit stormwater runoff into the pond.
The easement bars development but allows horticultural use, gardens and small-scale farming. It’s Coleman’s second conservation gift on Aquidneck Island; in 2020 she donated an easement on 10 acres of coastal land off Ocean Avenue.
The property is private and has no public access.
The land trust has conserved 2,854.81 acres across 103 properties since 1990, about 12 percent of the island.
