|
|
|
Stewardship at Narragansett Bay NERR, RI
|
|
 |
Mission
The Narragansett Bay Reserve’s Stewardship Program focuses on addressing ongoing management of the Reserve’s land and water resources. The primary goals of the program are to: 1. Protect and preserve the diverse estuarine and coastal habitats representative of the region; 2. Restore or manipulate the structure and functional diversity and dynamics of native biotic communities in Reserve lands and waters to emulate the ecological conditions of specific periods in time; and 3. Participate and cooperate with resource protection activities for the Narragansett Bay ecosystem and watershed.
Priority Issues
Water Quality
The Narragansett Bay Research Reserve manages properties on four bay islands. The largest island (Prudence Island), where the Reserve offices and lab are located, is approximately 5.6 square miles with limited development and a predominantly seasonal population. Studies conducted over the past fifteen years suggest that the community wells which service a large percentage of the island population are at or exceeding capacity. There is evidence to suggest that the groundwater levels are dropping at a rate of six inches annually and the potential for saltwater intrusion is an additional concern as community wells are in communication with the coast via bedrock fractures. Continued development pressure and rising sea levels will exacerbate threats to this resource. The Stewardship and Coastal Training programs work with the local community to oversee volunteer groundwater and streamflow monitoring programs and coordinate workshops to alert the community of the potential threat as well as appropriate water conservation measures.
Changes in Biological Communities
Due to the historic agricultural and military use of Reserve properties, much of the Reserve terrestrial habitats have been altered and/or degraded from their natural state. Invasive species, particularly invasive plant species, are a persistent presence on Reserve properties and on adjacent lands and they adversely affect native species and natural communities.
The Reserve’s Stewardship program joined with state and local partners to establish a cooperative weed management area (CWMA) for the entire geographic extent of Prudence Island (55% of which is managed by Narragansett Bay Reserve for the State of Rhode Island). CWMAs are local organizations that provide a mechanism for sharing invasive plant management resources across jurisdictional boundaries in order to achieve widespread invasive plant prevention and control. Since its inception, the Prudence Island CWMA has adopted an island-wide control plan for autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.), organized a series of volunteer Weed Whacker Workdays, hosted an alternative spring break program, promoted an Adopt-a-Spot volunteer effort, and provided educational materials to landowners in a variety of formats (e-alerts, newsletter articles, brochures).
Habitat Alteration
The State of Rhode Island’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan identifies a number of species in decline due to habitat loss and alteration. The Stewardship program is actively restoring terrestrial habitats in an effort to maintain biodiversity.
Atlantic coastal pine barrens are locally and regional rare habitat mosaics that are dependent on regular disturbance, particularly fire, to prevent progressive successional change. Narragansett Bay Reserve is dependent upon its partners and volunteer effort to implement all components of their pine barrens management plan. Recent management activities have successfully created open grassland, enhanced understory growth, promoted the regeneration of pitch pine, and removed acres of non-native European larch.
Nationally and regionally, grassland species populations are in decline as the result of habitat loss, primarily due to changes in land use practices and succession. Recent grassland restoration efforts on Reserve properties have included the mechanical clearing of 18 acres using Reserve staff and contracted labor through RIDEM Division of Fish and Wildlife as well as the removal of scattered trees by volunteers as part of the Reserves' woodcutting stewards program (a mutually beneficial land management and home fuel wood program).
Upland forested areas on Prudence Island are highly degraded as the result of past land use practices and the presence of invasive species, particularly oriental bittersweet. Utilizing a volunteer woodcutting stewards program, the Reserve has begun to prepare an initial site for restoration by selectively cutting non-native tree species. Next steps in this forest restoration program include the mechanical and manual removal of invasive shrubs and vines, targeted herbicide application, and planting of an appropriate mix of native tree and shrub species.
Last Updated on: Friday, October 16, 2009
|
|
