On July 10, Heather Steers retired from the board of the Sakonnet Preservation Association, the organization she shaped for 27 years. 

"There is scarcely a place one could look in Little Compton that Heather hasn’t left better than she found it,” said Abigail Brooks, SPA board president.

“Knowing a good thing when they saw it, Sakonnet Preservation asked Heather to join its board shortly after she moved full time to Little Compton in 1991,” said Ms. Brooks.  

She immediately said “yes” and then proceeded to take on a variety of leadership roles over the next 27 years, Ms. Brooks said. In 2012, the Rhode Island Land Trust Council awarded Ms. Steers its Peter Merritt Award for “outstanding achievement in the land trust community.”

At its annual meeting this year, more than 130 attendees laughed and applauded as Ms. Brooks led a group honoring Heather’s accomplishments. 

“To represent the things you were looking forward to removing from your car after all these years, we present you with: a hammer and rebar for boundary marking; a property binder; orange spray paint; a metal detector for finding bounds; a sprig of wisteria representing the work tackling a wicked invasive species; and a supply of Post It notes representing the many notes you’ve left in binders,” Ms. Brooks said.

On a more serious note, she also announced that the organization’s Land Protection Fund has been re-named the Heather Steers Land Fund.

Heather Steers’ gift to both the conservation community and her home town is a legacy of land protection and stewardship practice of the highest quality, recognized at statewide and national levels, Ms. Brooks said.

"Sakonnet Preservation is deeply indebted to Heather for her profound commitment to the work of this organization. Her contributions have helped SPA fulfill its mission with the utmost integrity, quality and diligence, and she will be missed,” Ms. Brooks said.

The Sakonnet Preservation Association (SPA) has dedicated the efforts of its all-volunteer Board of Directors to fulfilling its mission of conserving and stewarding Little Compton’s natural landscapes and resources. These efforts, supported entirely by annual membership donations and gifts as well as the generosity of donors of land and conservation easements, have resulted in the permanent preservation of more than 60 properties totaling more than four hundred (457) acres of Little Compton land.

SPA was founded in 1972 as the first private, community land trust in Rhode Island. It is fully accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.