Author: nrpa@narrowriver.org

Salt Marsh Restoration Project Update – January 2017

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Work has been ongoing since December 1, 2016 along the Narrow River as part of the salt marsh restoration and elevation pilot project, intended to combat drowning and increase the lifespan and resilience of the marsh to future sea level rise and other stressors. Contractor Patriot Marine has been dredging near Sedge Island under the supervision of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Coastal Resources Management Council.

Crews are using a restoration method called thin layer deposition to place dredged material on the surface of the marsh to raise the elevation so that plants can thrive. Material is dredged from select locations to create depths where eelgrass can grow, creating an important habitat. The dredged materials are then dispersed on the adjacent marsh surface to slightly increase the marsh’s elevation, primarily in areas where the vegetation has died off or become stressed from prolonged flooding. These areas will be replanted with marsh grasses.

From Narrow River Kayaks south to Sedge Island, the dredge footprint creates an approximately 65-foot wide channel in the river. Sand from the river is being used to elevate the marshes on the eastern side and on Sedge Island.

This photograph (taken December 13, 2016) showing an astronomically high tide, gives a good sense of what the project is trying to accomplish. The entire marsh is under water with the exception of the mound of material being pumped onto the marsh. While the marsh should be underwater during “spring” (new and full moon) tides, the majority of the marsh is being flooded too frequently. The mound of material will be graded with low ground pressure equipment to raise the marsh plain. Increasing marsh elevation will also benefit the Saltmarsh Sparrow, a species of concern, which nests in the marsh grass.

NRPA is organizing volunteers to plant salt marsh grass plugs early in the spring under the supervision of the US Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the restoration efforts.

This aerial video by East Greenwich Resident Ray Stachelek clearly shows the phases of the dredging and salt marsh restoration project that took place in November and December 2016. New phases of work will continue through 2017.

2016 Scholarships Honor Three Enthusiastic Friends of the Environment

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Congratulations to our 2016 NRPA Lesa Meng College Scholarship winners:

Hayley Hebert, South Kingstown High School

Hayley has been a very active Girl Scout for 11 years, during which she participated in many environmental activities. She was also a volunteer at the Norman Bird Sanctuary where she assisted with the local Harvest Fair.

Hayley will be attending the University of Rhode Island in the fall and plans to major in Medical Laboratory Science with a minor in (you guessed it) Environmental Science.

Tyler Kumes, The Prout School

Tyler, shown here sporting a 2016 Narrow River Road Race T-shirt, has spent many volunteers hours with Save The Bay and NOAA caring for the New England Coast, but is now headed for the Left Coast to study ecology and environmental science at UC Santa Cruz.

Tyler was a member of the Recycling Club at Prout since his freshman year, where he started the school’s composting program. Tyler was a four-year member of the Cross Country team and the Captain of the Varsity Sailing Team.

Tracy Kurdziel, North Kingstown High School

As with her fellow honorees, Tracy has demonstrated a commitment to caring for the environment. For her senior project she worked with Rhode Island Resource Recovery to improve the recycling program at North Kingstown High School. She also volunteered for several Clean Ocean Access Beach clean-ups and attended meetings for the N.K. Conservation Committee. Tracy was also a member of the Girls Track and Field Team.

This fall she will attend Lafayette College and plans to major in Electrical Engineering with the hopes of exploring alternative energy sources when she graduates.

Jon Boothroyd

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Jon C. Boothroyd, Ph.D.
1938-2015
Scientist, Teacher, Friend of the River

Follow Jon on a Geology Walk on Block Island during the 2010 BioBlitz in a film by Curt Milton.

View a story map with “samples of field notes, and assorted pictures and images highlighting Jon’s research and professional career” assembled by his 44th Grad Student, Scott Rasmussen.

We have lost a great friend. Jon Boothroyd, shown above answering questions about coastal storm hazards on a walking tour of Narragansett Beach in 2012, died at his home in South Kingstown on Thursday, October 15. Jon served for more than 20 years on the Narrow River Preservation Association Board of Directors and he always sported his tattered NRPA ball cap in case you had any doubt about his allegiance. He was NRPA’s Vice President-Science, a trusted colleague, and what made him proud, the recipient of the 2000 W.E.R. La Farge Friend of the River Award.

Fellow Board member Veronica Berounsky wrote this remembrance of Jon:

Jon Boothroyd was Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Rhode Island’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, the Rhode Island State Geologist, and a Narrow River Preservation Association Board member for over 20 years. Having returned to a normal active life after slipping on Super Storm Sandy wet leaves and falling and breaking his hip, we thought that nothing could stop Jon, so his death comes as a surprise, despite his 77 plus years.

Jon received his Ph.D. in 1974, University of South Carolina in Columbia (Geology) and had lots of stories to tell about coastal South Carolina, including the Outer Banks. Two years earlier he earned his M.S. at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (Geology). But he was particularly happy to let you know that he received his undergraduate degree in 1962 from his home state university, the University of New Hampshire in Durham (Economics). He certainly enjoyed living in the state of Rhode Island and he loved all its coastal environments, but he always made time to get back to his hometown in the middle of New Hampshire and enjoyed skiing there until he broke his hip.

Jon considered himself a field geologist and he specialized in coastal and also glacial environments. His scientific research work was extensive and thorough. His courses were legendary for the depth of knowledge gained and the awesome field trips. Jon was a born teacher, and made geology interesting whether it was in the classroom or on a public field trip to look at coastal geologic hazards or in discussion over a beer at the Willows. In 1996 he was appointed the Rhode Island State Geologist and kept that position until his death, and he also established the Rhode Island State Geologic Survey. He seemed to have infinite patience and despite having to explain geologic processes to non-geologists for years, he never tired of talking about the 100-year storm, explaining the role of tide gauges and taking people out on coastal walks. One of my personal highlights was being on a field trip lead by Jon to the Mohegan Bluffs on Block Island. And that was after he was an invited speaker at a New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) symposium on climate change held out on Block Island.

As the NRPA Vice President for Science, he sloughed through lots of files and permit applications in order to make an informed decision and report on the issue for the next Board meeting. He was always the voice of reason and he knew when to fight and when not to fight a permit application. And he was forever willing to answer a question and did so in a way anyone could understand. Jon was a great advocate for using science for good management and his work in that area is just part of his legacy and we are all better for it.

And Jon could be forceful in a discussion, but he, I know this sounds like a cliché, he always ended with smile. He loved his work and all the ways he could use his work for good. But more than that, he was a good person. He is irreplaceable and he is already being missed!

Veronica Berounsky, October 15, 2015

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2015 NRPA Lesa Meng College Scholarships

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Congratulations to this year’s NRPA Lesa Meng College Scholarship recipients:

Jacob Baretta, a graduate of South Kingstown High School, will be attending the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He plans to study Oceanography/Marine Biology. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Italian Honor Society. Jacob has been a volunteer for Save the Bay, a varsity baseball player on the SKHS team, and a volunteer and mentor for the South Kingstown Little League.

Dean Kareemo graduated from North Kingstown High School where he was a National Honor Society member, a member of the NKHS Symphonic Band and a guitar player for his own blues band. Dean will attend the University of Rhode Island and major in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Molecular Biology. Dean is a volunteer for Clean Ocean Access, participating in many beach clean-ups.

Jack Hall, a graduate of Narragansett High School, will study journalism at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. For the past three years, Jack has been a river monitor at Middlebridge for the NRPA River Watch program. He has also been an active participant in the Narragansett Chapter of the Future Farmers of America.

Erin Chille, a graduate of North Kingstown High School, will study Wildlife Conservation and Biology at the University of Rhode Island. Erin was a member of the R.I. Envirothon Team and President of the NKHS Science and Math Investigative Learning Experience (SMILE) team. She is a Girl Scout lifetime member and a Gold Award recipient.

On Pettaquamscutt Series Wraps up with Talk on Marsh Adaptation

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March 2015

For the third and final presentation of the 2015 On Pettaquamscutt winter speaker series, Wenley Ferguson of Save the Bay and Nick Ernst of USFWS explained the various strategies for marsh adaptation being used in Narrow River and throughout the Narragansett Bay Estuary.

Some of the tools in the Narrow River strategy include:

  • Dredging in selected locations to improve channel flow and promote eel grass growth
  • Marsh edge protection using coir logs and bagged oyster shells (a method also being evaluated near Middlebridge)
  • Digging runnels and repairing existing ones to improve surface drainage.

Pilot Program at Middlebridge Tests Methods for Enhancing Marsh Resiliency

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On March 23, the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service began a marsh restoration pilot study on the marsh just south of Middlebridge. The pilot is comparing two methods of “thin-layer deposition” in which a layer of sand is used to raise the elevation of the marsh surface and thus enable the marsh to keep up with sea level rise.

The pilot will compare the results of two 50 by 100 foot plots where roughly four inches (100 cubic yards) of sand were added.

With the hydraulic method used for the first plot, water, air and sand were combined in a tank and pumped onto the marsh.

In the second plot, the layer of sand was spread using a Bobcat loader.

USFWS scientists will be measuring sediment levels, vegetation response and peat compression (soil bulk density) throughout the year to help inform suggested methods for larger scale thin-layer deposition of material dredged from Narrow River later this year.

The work is part of a multi-prong USFWS effort to restore estuarine conditions in the John H. Chafee National Wildlife Refuge in the Narrow River to enhance resiliency against sea level rise, climate change and future storm events.