RI E-IQ = Rhode Island Environmental Information Quotient
What do you know about Rhode Island's natural environment?
I've just spent a little time looking for locally produced lists of Rhode Island rivers and native mammals, and I am not satisfied with the results. I don't want to rely on Wikipedia for this information ~ some Rhode Island organizations probably have reliable, comprehensive resources that would interest both children and adults, with photos and details about habits, diet, etc., of native mammals. Surely the RI Natural History Survey has a good list of native mammals. I'm sure some of the many water-related groups have the list of rivers. This is standard almanac info, and of course it's in printed reference books. But web searches on >>"RHODE ISLAND" RIVERS<< and on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "NATIVE MAMMALS"<< do not produce nice, neat complete lists.
I'd like to be wrong about this! So if you can find comprehensive lists of RI rivers and native mammals online let me know!
It should be easy for anyone to find the answers to the following questions with a quick online search, don't you think? Online answers turn up quickly for the first two questions, but the last two questions, not so much.
What are the names of the islands in Narragansett Bay? A search on >>"NARRAGANSETT BAY" ISLANDS<< easily turns up a list on providenceri.com (City of Providence website) with historical information about the approximately 30+ islands in the bay. This was written by Stuart O. Hale in the 1980s or earlier. Very interesting and informative, only it lists 22 islands, not the 30+ mentioned at the top of the chapter. Maybe the rest are smaller than Whale Rock? .... How many bay islands can you name? What islands can you see from Colt State Park?
Where are the boundaries between watersheds in Rhode Island? A search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" WATERSHEDS<< turns up a lot of resources, but I almost drowned in the flood of information I found. Excellent maps are easily located, however: The RI Critical Resources Atlas has very informative maps of each watershed. I count 12 watersheds at this site.
What are the names of Rhode Island's rivers? Search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "RIVER NAMES"<< and the top 10 results in Google turn up a lot of wikis plus Twin River Gambling Casino. I'll ask the river experts I know and compile this list soon...
What mammals are native to Rhode Island? A search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "NATIVE MAMMALS"<< results in lots of detailed info and many references to a 1900 book available online, but no concise, illustrated list of animals. I have a resource we use in the Master Gardener Learning Landscape program that would be a good model for such a web page.
What else should we know about Rhode Island's natural world? Amazing quantities of data are available. Let's also make it easy to grasp the basic facts about our environment.
We Rhode Islanders are experiencing the worst flooding in memory this week, with record rainfalls of 8-9 inches in two days and many of our rivers not only at flood stage but at record levels that have broken records set barely two weeks ago. And we're painfully experiencing what "WATERSHED" can mean when too much water has to drain in too little time.
A watershed is essentially a natural, intricate system for draining water from the land. The EPA describes watersheds this way:
"John Wesley Powell, scientist
geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is:
'that area of land, a bounded
hydrologic
system, within which all living things are inextricably linked
by their
common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic
demanded
that they become part of a community.'"
The Providence Journal published a good description of How
a river floods: Rainfall just the beginning, (by C. Eugene Emery Jr.,
Journal Staff Writer on March 30, 2010. I think I'd reword the title, though, to be "How a river floods: An extraordinary rainfall can be the last straw." The article highlights that even though the rainfall has ended, the flooding will still increase for a while before subsiding. But how we work and plan together to manage our local watersheds BEFORE the rainy days can make things better or worse than they might have been.
This rainfall is so extraordinary that no matter how well we had prepared, Rhode Island would be in an emergency. Many Rhode Islanders work hard to manage our watersheds year in and year out, among them The Friends of the Pawtuxet. I'm sure that a lot of folks don't think the Pawtuxet is their friend today as the river's waters flood their homes and streets, destroying their belongings. But our rivers will continue to need all of us to be Friends, to speak up in public meetings and reasonably deal with the issues involved in development and water management.
The worst flooding is along the Pawtuxet River. Here is the Pawtuxet River Watershed Authority description of this watershed comprised of 64 ponds, 93 brooks, 7 tributary rivers, and 18 dams:
"The Pawtuxet River watershed, located in central-western Rhode Island, is the largest watershed in the state. The river flows generally from west to east. Its headwaters are in the hills of western Rhode Island. Its mouth is in historic Pawtuxet Village between the cities of Warwick and Cranston, the state's second and third largest cities. The watershed encompasses all or portions of the following communities: Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Providence, Scituate, Warwick, West Greenwich, and West Warwick. The Pawtuxet River watershed comprises the Scituate Reservoir and its tributaries, the North Branch of the Pawtuxet, the Pocasset River, the Big River and its tributaries, the Flat River Reservoir and its tributaries. the South Branch of the Pawtuxet, and the main stem of the Pawtuxet."
Gene Emery's article in the Projo points out some of the factors involved in the buildup of the rivers' waters. I've elaborated a little more on the March 29 PREFLOOD factors:
A complex river system with several large tributaries and ponds. The Pawtuxet takes the natural runoff from all the smaller streams and rivers listed above that drain into it.
Land use practices that prevent water from soaking into the ground.
Development that does not incorporate systems for preventing runoff from roofs and parking lots, such as green roofs, water barrels, rain gardens, catchment basins.
Urban sprawl that increases the paved surfaces on our land, and often along our rivers.
Pressure to develop wetlands that would absorb extreme amounts of water.
Impervious pavement (water can't go through it, so it runs off from paved surface to paved surface eventually going directly into the storm drains). Parking lots can be paved with materials that let the water through, and perhaps damaged pavements could be replaced with this kind of material.
Weak dams that we have not repaired, maintained well enough, or removed because of cost-cutting, pressures to fund other projects, the economy.... Ongoing proper management of the dams in Rhode Island is critically important on March 31, 2010, although most days it does not seem so. The care of dams requires ongoing voter support for enough DEM staff (which has been seriously cut in the last few years) and for funds for these projects, among other things.
Acquisition of development rights to land in flood zones to control flooding when it occurs. Rhode Islanders have been champion supporters of open space acquisition bonds. We must continue to support the funding of floodplain projects also.
Previously saturated ground from earlier rains. The ground was still coping with the record rains of two weeks ago when this latest storm came through March 29-30, 2010. We weren't sitting ducks, but rather we were floating ducks on March 29.
What can we do now? We just got the Perfect Storm. The rivers are doing what they do ~ drain the land ~ and they will subside eventually. But meanwhile....., and then in the coming months and years, what makes sense to do?
This video is from March 8 (!), WEEKS BEFORE BOTH record-breaking storms we've suffered since mid-March, about buying up development rights to land along the Pocasset and Pawtuxet Rivers to help control flooding.
This video was from March 15, so you can imagine how saturated the land is by March 29:
This video is also from March 15 on Perkins Ave in Cranston. An evacuated homeowner says in it,
"...we're going to lose everything again, it's the second time in five years. ... They should just condemn this street and let the river take it. Get rid of all the houses because everyone's in jeopardy."
This is truly an extraordinary situation. We can't do anything about how much rain falls in a day. There will always be flooding now and then. But there are some sensible long-term responses we can make. Anyone can explore YouTube for videos of the latest flood pictures, and local news programs such as the Rhode Show have collections of photos and videos that may raise other issues and give us ideas for future action.
Our watersheds bring Rhode Islanders into a community, and we need to help out our neighbors who have been flooded in the short term. In the long term, we can also learn more about a "watershed approach" and work together to minimize the effects of future floods.
The Center has released the Latest Manual in the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series.
Until now, no definitive guidance has been available on the
art and science of urban retrofitting. The Center for Watershed Protection's new manual reflects over two
decades of Center experience in retrofitting more than 25 urban watersheds
across the country.
As a country, we have degraded many
of our small urban watersheds. Nearly 80% of them were developed without
effective stormwater practices. The key to restoring these watersheds lies in
the practice of stormwater retrofitting,
which involves subwatershed detective work, storm drain forensics and
imaginative design.
This manual outlines the basics of retrofits, describes the 13 unique locations where they can be found, and presents rapid methods to find, design and deliver retrofits to meet a wide range of subwatershed objectives.
The concepts of retrofitting are illustrated in more than 75
figures, 150 photos, 60 tables and nine appendices. The manual contains
updated costs for retrofit practices,
updated pollutant removal data for stormwater treatment options,
a design point method to estimate individual retrofit removal rates, and
practical tips to support the design, permitting and construction of retrofit projects.
In short, the manual provides all the resources needed to develop an effective local retrofit
program. This 400+ page guidance is
available as a free download on the Center website. A hard copy of this manual will soon be
made available.
There are so many events coming up as part of Coastweeks 2007—A Celebration of the Coast, from September 15 through October 13, that I must give you fair warning!
Take out your calendar and check out their calendar on the Rhode Island Sea Grant website and make your plan. Here is some of what's growing on along the shore during those weeks:
Historic Lighthouse Tours
Boat tours of the Blackstone River Valley
Hikes, walks through salt marshes, preserves, and along the shore,
Kayak trips
Lectures on aquaculture, oyster gardening, Bay water quality
Coastal cleanups
Shoreline Biathlon
Book discussions
Garden tours
Commercial Fishing Trawl
FOOD!
Several birding events
Fairs, Harvest Festivals
Prudence Island Bicycle Tour
Waterscape/Streetscape Symposium in Newport
Wow! I will put some of this into the Providential Gardener Calendar, but scan through the Coastweeks events list and enjoy our great little state's 400 miles of coastline this fall.
Some news from the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council:
Woonasquatucket River Rangers Need Volunteers! The
Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council is currently running its River
Rangers summer program, which employs a small team of Providence youth
to be stewards for the parks and public spaces along the
Woonasquatucket River. Volunteers are needed to do gardening,
landscaping, carpentry, painting, etc. Get involved in making your
community a better place by helping the Woonasquatucket River Rangers!
For more information, contact Lisa at lisa@woonasquatucket.org or (401) 861-9046.
You can find articles on the environment everywhere, including in most issues of the Providence Business Journal. Recently Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office in Boston, wrote a guest column, "Honoring a legacy by protecting valuable wetlands." The legacy is Rachel Carson's ~ she would have been 100 in May ~ and the wetlands would be the "Borderlands....the largest ecologically intact forested system between Boston and Washington, D.C.," located on the Connecticut and Rhode Island border in South County.
The Borderlands project is described in a 2003 RI DEM report, "South County Greenspace Protection Strategy." It takes a while to open because it's 69 pages long. The Borderlands wetlands help ensure clean drinking water and reduce the impact of storm floods, and in particular, it protects the underlying aquifer which is an important source of drinking water.
For a small state, that's a long list! Each of the links above gives a description, history, water quality (including pathogens, nutrients, and metals), management, organizations, links and contact information.
The Providential Gardener Condensed Events list watershed organization meetings when I know about them. Today I had an email about the annual meeting of Friends of the Moshassuck on March 3, in Providence. Call or email Greg Gerritt if you are interested in attending (401-331-0529).
The last posting must have been too long, because it wouldn't take this info: Save the Bay's Eelgrass Restoration projects need volunteers. Here are the upcoming dates for planting eelgrass, and by the way, kayakers and experienced scuba divers are welcome. You can have fun and get some good work done at the same time. What could be better? Some work is done on shore, but most of this work involves getting into the water, which sure sounds like a good idea today and tomorrow, when the temperature is going into the upper 90s or (gasp) over 100.
Thursday, August 17: HARVEST at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography Friday, August 18: TRANSPLANT at Coggeshall Point (meet at the Bay Center at 8:30 am) Saturday, August 19: TRANSPLANT at Prudence Island (meet at the Bay Center at 8:30 am) Monday, September 4: HARVEST at Fort Getty, Jamestown Tuesday, September 5: HARVEST at Fort Getty, Jamestown Wednesday, September 6: TRANSPLANT at Prudence Island (meet at the Bay Center at 8:30 am) Thursday, September 7: TRANSPLANT at Coggeshall Point (meet at the Bay Center at 8:30 am)
Where are the boundaries between watersheds in Rhode Island? A search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" WATERSHEDS<< turns up a lot of resources, but I almost drowned in the flood of information I found. Excellent maps are easily located, however: The RI Critical Resources Atlas has very informative maps of each watershed. I count 12 watersheds at this site.
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