PRESERVING THE PLACES YOU CHERISH

Established 1987

Beautiful Properties. Community Benefits.

The Westerly Land Trust conserves open space, revitalizes culturally significant properties, and provides environmental programs for the enduring benefit of our community.

Trail Maps

Save time by saving the Westerly Land Trust website to your phone’s home screen for quick and easy access to our trail maps

Properties

We have grown from conserving one property, Avondale Farm Preserve in 1998, to more than 1,800 acres of forests, grasslands, agricultural fields, and wetlands

Education

The Westerly Land Trust welcomes school groups, summer camps, and scout troops to use our preserves as living laboratories

Events

Attend our wide range of events to connect with the land and with each other

Join Our Efforts

The Westerly Land Trust’s conservation efforts are fueled by community support

Volunteer

WLT’s volunteers roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty–forming community and connections along the way

Our Properties

The Westerly Land Trust stewards conservation lands, areas for public enjoyment, and urban spaces throughout Westerly.

Our Team

Jennifer Fusco

Executive Director

Lauren Barber

Conservation Programs Manager

Erika Lebling

Director of Development

Colleen Sullivan

Accountant

Marc Doherty

Land Stewardship Manager

Emma Stahl

Conservation Programs Coordinator

Join Our Efforts

Membership

Annual support is vital to our work

•  Receive Sense of Place newsletter

•  Early notification of events & programs

•  Members-only pricing on select events

President’s Circle

Our leadership giving circle
($1,000+)

•  Includes all Membership benefits

•  Invitation to President’s Circle event

•  VIP presale for our annual events

Orchard Society

Our planned giving society

Includes all President’s Circle benefits

•  Leave a lasting conservation legacy

•  Invest in WLT’s future success

What our fans have to say

  • The Westerly Land Trust is not only an organization that takes great pride in helping others in the community, but it offers a sense of belonging. Members develop friendships and there is a feeling of great camaraderie. We feel strongly about offering as much financial and physical support as possible in return for the pleasure and fun we have gained from being a part of this family of community members.

    Jenny and Ian Sykes

  • The Westerly Land Trust is a treasure shared by all who live in our various shoreline communities. As donors, we are unified by a love of green space and productive farmland. We also have the profound joy of ownership of so many diverse parcels of land, forever protected.

    Gale and Terry Hunt

  • Avondale is like a cathedral of nature. The care that WLT takes to preserve the essence of naturalness, whether it’s the little round-about to the bee center or the path through the high bushes challenged by the red-wing blackbirds–it is all magical. It would not be so special if it were not for the regular mowing and care you provide.

    Peter Bartol

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WLT conserves open space, revitalizes culturally significant properties and provides environmental programs for the enduring benefit of our community.

Our first Wednesday Wonder Walk was truly wonderful! 🍂✨

Families explored Wahaneeta with curiosity- studying leaves, and lichen up close, climbing over logs, and discovering every corner of the cabin together.

We’re so excited to partner with @wildrootsplay.ri for these monthly nature adventures. 💚

Join us for the next Wonder Walk on January 14th: Feathered Friends at Grills Preserve! Come walk, wonder, and grow with us!

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Open post by westerlylandtrust with ID 18425981458112991
Our first Wednesday Wonder Walk was truly wonderful! 🍂✨ Families explored Wahaneeta with curiosity- studying leaves, and lichen up close, climbing over logs, and discovering every corner of the cabin together. We’re so excited to partner with @wildrootsplay.ri for these monthly nature adventures. 💚 Join us for the next Wonder Walk on January 14th: Feathered Friends at Grills Preserve! Come walk, wonder, and grow with us!

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This season of gratitude brings to mind the Westerly Land Trust’s pick for our 2025 book club last April: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This book promotes the benefits of the gift economy, encouraging readers to count the gifts the land gives us—food, water, wildlife, inspiration—and then reciprocate through stewardship, care, and conservation. Kimmerer speaks to the joy that’s born out of this gift giving cycle, saying,

“To name the world as a gift is to feel your membership
�in a web of reciprocity.”

As a part of the Westerly Land Trust community—whether you’re a donor, a volunteer, an advocate, a student, or the like—we hope you feel your special place in our web of reciprocity. Your continued care returns to the earth, enriching our shared landscapes and nurturing our community. And for this we tip our hats, and send this message of thanks:

From all of us at the Westerly Land Trust, thank you for building bridges between neighbors and nature, for believing in the importance of protecting these special places, and most of all, for being a part of our family.

Happy Thanksgiving! 🧡🌳

#community #thankful #westerlyri #rhodeisland #stoningtonct #pawcatuckct #conservation #outside #nature

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Open post by westerlylandtrust with ID 17904992982293332
This season of gratitude brings to mind the Westerly Land Trust’s pick for our 2025 book club last April: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This book promotes the benefits of the gift economy, encouraging readers to count the gifts the land gives us—food, water, wildlife, inspiration—and then reciprocate through stewardship, care, and conservation. Kimmerer speaks to the joy that’s born out of this gift giving cycle, saying, “To name the world as a gift is to feel your membership �in a web of reciprocity.” As a part of the Westerly Land Trust community—whether you’re a donor, a volunteer, an advocate, a student, or the like—we hope you feel your special place in our web of reciprocity. Your continued care returns to the earth, enriching our shared landscapes and nurturing our community. And for this we tip our hats, and send this message of thanks: From all of us at the Westerly Land Trust, thank you for building bridges between neighbors and nature, for believing in the importance of protecting these special places, and most of all, for being a part of our family. Happy Thanksgiving! 🧡🌳 #community #thankful #westerlyri #rhodeisland #stoningtonct #pawcatuckct #conservation #outside #nature

...

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When @westerlylandtrust and @wildrootsplay.ri come together, learning turns into a magical adventure!✨

At our Prints, Paths, and Play program students discovered animal tracks and signs🐾, then hiked over to @wildrootsplay.ri for a cozy afternoon of play and tea. So grateful for a partnership that keeps curiosity and community thriving! 💚🌳

#westerlyri #rhodeislandlife #nature #conservation #hike #outside #childdevelopment #childledlearning #explore

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Open post by westerlylandtrust with ID 18293747893286604
When @westerlylandtrust and @wildrootsplay.ri come together, learning turns into a magical adventure!✨ At our Prints, Paths, and Play program students discovered animal tracks and signs🐾, then hiked over to @wildrootsplay.ri for a cozy afternoon of play and tea. So grateful for a partnership that keeps curiosity and community thriving! 💚🌳 #westerlyri #rhodeislandlife #nature #conservation #hike #outside #childdevelopment #childledlearning #explore

...

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November brings shorter, colder days, but also more time to pause and reflect on the year coming to a close. Soon, we’ll all be in full holiday mode, moving a mile a minute. But until then, allow yourself space to sit and contemplate. How have you progressed toward your personal goals in 2025? What remains on your to-do list before the year ends? 🍂

🌳At the Westerly Land Trust, we find that these internal conversations are best had outdoors, surrounded by nature. Big things feel more achievable when you take notice of the everyday miracles around you.

💚In October, the world lost a conservation giant, Dr. Jane Goodall. As we slide headfirst into the holiday hustle, may Dr. Goodall’s words and outlook stay with you:

“People say to me so often, ‘Jane how can you be so peaceful when everywhere around you people want books signed, people are asking these questions and yet you seem peaceful,’ and I always answer that it is the peace of the forest that I carry inside.”

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Open post by westerlylandtrust with ID 18296586307283153
November brings shorter, colder days, but also more time to pause and reflect on the year coming to a close. Soon, we’ll all be in full holiday mode, moving a mile a minute. But until then, allow yourself space to sit and contemplate. How have you progressed toward your personal goals in 2025? What remains on your to-do list before the year ends? 🍂 🌳At the Westerly Land Trust, we find that these internal conversations are best had outdoors, surrounded by nature. Big things feel more achievable when you take notice of the everyday miracles around you. 💚In October, the world lost a conservation giant, Dr. Jane Goodall. As we slide headfirst into the holiday hustle, may Dr. Goodall’s words and outlook stay with you: “People say to me so often, ‘Jane how can you be so peaceful when everywhere around you people want books signed, people are asking these questions and yet you seem peaceful,’ and I always answer that it is the peace of the forest that I carry inside.”

...

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