What Grows On in Rhode Island News

Green Drinks Newport ~ Networking in RI ~ March 3, 2011

This month, Green Drinks Newport is at Active Sole, 16 Bowen's Wharf Newport, RI.

Stephen Coyne will be hosting the March gathering of Green Drinks at his store from 5:00pm-7:30pm. Food and beverages will be provided by Diego's.

Special guest: Captain Joseph Voboril, Commanding Officer, Naval Station, who will speak about the Environmental Assessment for the development of wind energy facilities at Naval Station Newport.

RI Spring Flower & Garden Show ~ February 24-27, 2011

The gardens are ready and the doors to the Flower Show are opening at 10am Thursday. Ah, the smell of soil, mulch, evergreens, and flowers! The RI Wild Plant Society has a fantastic beaver habitat set up (no live beavers, though), and Ecotope has an attractive vegetable garden, plus a live chicken and some bunny rabbits.

More than most recent shows, this one will give us usable ideas for our own gardens that are beginning to be visible again as the snow slowly melts. See some photos taken Wednesday as the garden builders finished their handiwork.

What Grows On in RI has all the seminars and demonstrations mixed in with everything else that's happening this busy weekend. We've even made a special page for the Flower Show! We have a booth at the end of Aisle 500 ~ please drop by and see us!

Wild & Scenic Film Festival ~ February 24-27, 2011

Better Bones & Gardens headlines the lineup of 10 independent films that will comprise Rhode Island’s third annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival to benefit Save The Bay. The Festival will be held in Stonington, Newport, and Providence on February 24-27.

Wild & Scenic is North America’s largest environmental film festival.  Participants are selected for their filmmaking, cinematography, and ability to inform, inspire and ignite solutions and possibilities to restore the earth while creating a positive future for the next generation. Festival-goers can expect to see Award-winning films about nature, community activism, adventure, conservation, water, energy and climate change, wildlife, environmental justice, agriculture, Native American and indigenous cultures. Three years ago, Save The Bay hosted the Wild & Scenic Film Festival tour for one night in Westerly.  Since that time, the event has expanded to three locations (Stonington, Providence and Newport) over three days. 

This year the Wild & Scenic Festival will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on:

• Thursday, February 24  at the La Grua Center, 2 Water Street, Stonington, CT, Phone: (860) 535-2400
• Friday, February 25 at the Jane Pickens Theater & Event Center ,49 Touro Street, Newport, Phone: (401) 846-5252
• Saturday, February 26 at the Save The Bay Center, 100 Save The Bay Drive, Providence, Phone: (401) 272-3540

Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased in advance (limited seating available) at savebay.org/wild. For the first year, a new children’s program has been added.  That event will take place on Sunday, February 27 at the Save The Bay Center in Providence from 1 to 2 p.m.  Tickets for the children’s program are $10 for children (ages 6-12) and $5 for adults.

  This year’s headline film will be Better Bones and Gardens.  In the film, Dan Phillips and Kipp Nash remake the common house and garden in wildly imaginative ways.   They use cattle bones, wine corks, DVDs and bottle caps as building materials, and lawns are transformed into lush, nutritious gardens.  This 25-minute movie shows how with a little strife and change in attitude can lead us all to better homes and gardens.

Other films that will be featured include:

• Animals Save The Planet – Energy Efficient Penguin
• The Story of Electronics
• Evolution & Extinction
• Animals Save The Planet – Hippo-Elephant Shower
• Trout on the Wind: The Hemlock Dam Removal Story
• The Majestic Plastic Bag
• A Mongolian Couch
• Animals Save The Planet – Polar Bear Insulation Overheat
• Go Green or Go Home

For more information about the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, go to savebay.org/wild.

About Save The Bay

Founded in 1970, Save The Bay is a non-profit organization working to protect, restore and explore Narragansett Bay and its watershed. Save The Bay believes the Bay’s future depends on tomorrow’s leaders understanding how important the Bay is to our economy, environment and quality of life. The organization offers education programs to schools, community groups and the general public; protects Narragansett Bay by advocating for Bay-friendly legislation, reviewing permits and raising public awareness; and restores the Bay to full health through its extensive habitat restoration program.

About SYRCL

SYRCL is a watershed advocacy group that was started in 1983 by a small group of concerned citizens who banded together to fight against several proposed dams. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of achieving Wild & Scenic status in 1999 for 39 miles of the South Yuba River. The Wild and Scenic Environmental festival celebrates its annual event each January in Nevada City, CA, and features over 125 award-winning films, plus speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement. SYRCL’s Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is a call to action. At Wild & Scenic, filmgoers are transformed into a congregation of committed activists, dedicated to saving our increasingly threatened planet.  We show environmental and adventure films that illustrate the Earth’s beauty, the challenges facing our planet, and the work communities are doing to protect the environment. Through these films, Wild & Scenic both informs people about the state of the world and inspires them to take action.

RI Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Fair ~ March 2, 2011

What is "community supported agriculture" (CSA)? Find out on Wednesday, March 2 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Wintertime Farmers Market @ Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St, Pawtucket, RI

Learn all you need to know about Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions in Rhode Island. With 15 different CSA farms in attendance, come and get your questions answered about pick-up locations and times, produce available during the upcoming season, and the various farms.
Visit www.farmfreshri.org/csa for more info.

Farms that will be attending the CSA Fair:

• Baby Greens - North Kingstown
• Farmacy Herbs - Providence
• Four Friends - Cranston
• Healey Farm - North Kingstown
• Hickory Hill Farm - Burrillville
• Local Catch - Community Supported Fishery - Narragansett
• Luckyfoot Ranch - East Greenwich
• Mello's Farm Stand - Portsmouth
• Moonstone Gardens - Charlestown
• Oakdale Farm - Rehoboth, MA
• Pat's Pastured - Jamestown
• Red Planet Vegetables - Johnston
• Rosasharn Farm - Rehoboth, MA
• Scratch Farm - Cranston
• Simmons Farm - Middletown
• Wishing Stone Farm - Little Compton

Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture ~ February 25, 2011

Exhibit Hosted by Southside Community Land Trust

in Honor of its 30th Anniversary
 

Who:            Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT)
What:          Official Opening of Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture
When:          Friday, February 25th, 5:00-7:30 p.m.
 
Where: The American Institute of Architects Gallery at 158 Washington St. in downtown Providence (located at the corner of Washington and Snow)
 
Why: Inspire urban design that promotes community food security
 
Southside Community Land Trust invites the public to attend the official opening of Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture, a traveling exhibit showcasing innovative architectural and horticultural projects that enable the production of food in urban areas across the U.S. and Canada, at 5:00 p.m. this Friday. The event is free and is the first in a lineup of events planned for 2011 to celebrate Southside Community Land Trust’s 30th year of helping people grow food in Providence.
 
Last shown at Parsons/The New School for Design, the Providence installation of Carrot City will incorporate local projects, such as the fruit and nut orchard planted in Providence’s Locust Grove Cemetery and various urban agriculture installations planned by the New Urban Farmers in Pawtucket/Central Falls. At 6:00 p.m., two of the exhibit’s curators—faculty members in Architectural Science and Food Security at Ryerson University in Toronto—will give a talk on strategies for city planning, building design, and landscaping that can nourish local food systems.
 
In addition to the opening ceremony, the exhibit will run through March 10th and be open for viewing at the following times:

• Tuesday, Mar. 1       11:00-2:00
• Thursday, Mar. 3      11:00-2:00
• Saturday, Mar. 5       10:00-1:00
• Tuesday, Mar. 8        11:00-2:00
• Thursday, Mar. 10     11:00-1:00

Find out more about Carrot City on their website.

Southside Community Land Trust is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) provides access to land, education and other resources so people in Greater Providence can grow food in environmentally sustainable ways and create community food systems where locally produced, affordable, and healthy food is available to all. For more information, please visit www.southsideclt.org.

Volunteer Training for Piping Plover Season ~ March 19, 2011

THE 2011 PIPING PLOVER SEASON IS ABOUT START… and we are looking for volunteers!
 
Our new Piping Plover Coordinator, Erin King, will be holding a volunteer training Saturday March 19th at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Rd, Charlestown (401-364-9124) from 10:00-11:30. If you are interested in volunteering please join us!

Urban Agriculture Spring Gardening Kick-Off ~ February 26, 2011

Join us Saturday for the Urban Agriculture Spring Kick-Off at the Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park! We're hosting a full afternoon of gardening workshops, cooking demos, a seed swap, silent auction & local music. The popcorn machine will be cranking! Come trade extra seeds for seeds you need! There will even be a Kids Corner for young green thumbs!

Urban Agriculture Spring Kick-Off
Saturday, February 26th, 1-4 pm
The Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park
1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence
Free for Community Gardeners and Kids. $5 for General Public.

Workshops at the Kick-Off will be taught by community experts from around the state. Topics include Seed Starting, Vegetable Garden Planning, City Chickens, Collecting Rainwater, Alternatives to Miracle Gro, How to Tap Maple Trees, Home Composting and more! Plus, you can pick up a free 2011 Plant Providence Calendar, your guide to this year's events related to growing food in the city.
 
If you're one of the 250 gardeners who joined us last year, we look forward to kicking off another season with you. If this is your first Kick-Off, don't miss it. Questions? Call Erika, at 401-273-9419 ext: 30.

[Press Release]

River Restoration and Dam Removal

The Spring rains of 2010 was a statewide historic event that brought record high water to many places in the state. With this high water event the Old Forge Road dam on the boarder of North Kingstown and Warwick was severely damaged. The North Kingstown Department of Public Works has hired an engineering firm to assess the damage and to estimate the cost of Repairing, Rebuilding or Removing the dam.

This presentation by SAVE THE BAY February 22, 2011 7pm at Cold Spring Community Center, 30 Beach Street, North Kingstown, RI, is designed to educate the public on the issues of river restoration and dam removal. Become and informed public by attending this meeting sponsored by the Friends of the Hunt River Watershed. All are welcome.

URI Green Industry Conference & Expo ~ February 25, 2011

Highlighting career and marketplace opportunities

Media Contact: Jhodi Redlich, 401-874-2116

[Press Release]

KINGSTON, R.I. The Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Rhode Island's College of Environmental and Life Sciences (CELS) will host a Green Industry Conference & Expo on Friday, Feb. 25 at the Thomas M. Ryan Center on the Kingston Campus.

Free and open to the public, the event will open at 9:45 a.m. with conference founder Sean Bishop, URI '95, president of Ground Effects landscaping in Marshfield, Mass., and remarks by CELS Associate Dean Richard Rhodes. Led by URI Vice President Robert Weygand, a panel discussion will follow with experts on green professions and employment opportunities.

Panel members include: Abe Monahan, Bartlett Tree Experts; Karen Daubmann, New York Botanical Gardens; Richard Miranda, Aquidneck Landworks; Jack Algiere, Stone Barns Center; Nicholas Castrataro, Nursery Production; David Wallace, Turfgrass Specialist); and Lisa Esterrich, Carol R. Johnson Associates.

Opening at noon, the Expo floor will feature displays by more than 25 companies including R.P. Marzilli & Company, Bartlett Tree Experts, All Island Landscape, Pavestone, Sudbury Design Group, and many more!

There will also be three afternoon speakers including: Jack Algiere of Stone Barn Center from 12:15-12:45 p.m., the RI Green Business Council, 1-1:30 p.m., and Department of Landscape Architecture Professor Will Green, 1:45-2:15 p.m.

"An important part of any college education is to explore careers available to you. Here in Rhode Island we have some excellent green sector employment opportunities, and through this conference we strive to bring these choices to the students and the alumni," said URI senior Jared Sell, president of the URI Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architecture, and general manager of this year's conference. "Our goal is to present the State's best, and through the expo allow our students and alumni to meet and talk with these green industry leaders."

For more information contact Jared Sell at [email protected] or 508-662-2918. Though not required for attendees, registration is available online.

Ecology Contributed Papers Deadline ~ February 28, 2011

The Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) is seeking contributed papers for its 15th annual Ecology of Rhode Island conference:
 
The Ecology of Rhode Island: Science and Management of Salt Ponds and Coastal Lagoons
 
To be held:
Thursday, April 28, 2011
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Quonset O Club, North Kingstown, RI
 
This year, RINHS's annual ecology conference focuses on southern New England's salt ponds and coastal lagoons. These special landscapes help characterize coastal Rhode Island and other parts of southern New England. They form a complex boundary between sea and land and are loci of dynamic natural processes, diverse habitats, and intense pressure from human activity.
 
In southern New England, salt ponds and coastal lagoons serve valuable and unique functions for a variety of stakeholders in tourism and recreation, environmental sustainability, and resource-extractive industries such as fisheries. Yet many elements of these systems are undergoing historic changes due to climate and sea-level change, land conversion, surface water and groundwater contamination, invasive species, restoration projects, and new aquaculture practices. The difference between good and bad management could have a dramatic effect on the future viability of salt ponds and coastal lagoons, therefore the need for sound scientific understanding of the processes and functions of these valuable yet fragile ecosystems has never been greater.
 
Researchers and managers working on any aspect of salt pond/coastal lagoon systems relevant to southern New England are encouraged to present at this conference. Papers are sought that address questions such as "What landscape scale issues are of greatest importance to people thinking about management of salt ponds and coastal lagoons?" "What does the latest science tell us about impacts, management techniques, and regional variability?" "What are the emerging issues, including research needs?" Student submissions are encouraged.
 
Abstracts should be < 200 words, text only (no tables/graphs), left justified, arranged as follows:
 
Author(s), Affiliation(s), address, e-mail, phone number (Skip a line) Body of abstract
 
Submit abstracts electronically, as a Word file attached to an email
to: [email protected], with preference for an “oral presentation” or “poster presentation” indicated in the subject field. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed by the RINHS Program Committee. If more oral presentations are requested than the schedule allows, the committee may ask presenters to consider poster presentations instead. All presenters must register for the conference.
 
The submission deadline is 5 p.m., Monday, February 28, 2011.
 
The program will include a keynote speaker, topical sessions, a panel discussion, the presentation of annual RINHS awards, followed by a social hour. The conference is sponsored by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Rhode Island Refuge Complex. Display space and additional sponsorship opportunities are available, contact RINHS for more information.
 
RINHS conferences are widely regarded for convening a broad spectrum of people sharing a curiosity about southern New England’s animals, plants, geology, and ecosystems. They are excellent venues for researchers and organizations to showcase what they do in a collegial environment. For more information on RINHS conferences, visit www.rinhs.org/what-we-do/conference.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kira Stillwell
Program Administrator
Rhode Island Natural History Survey
PO Box 1858
Kingston, RI  02881
401.874.5800 - office
401.874.5868 - fax
[email protected]
www.rinhs.org