We’re counting down the days to March 31st and 401Gives.
NRPA needs your help to make our campaign a success!
From 6:00 a.m. on March 31 to 6:00 p.m. on April 1 you will have the chance to give where your heart is!
CLICK HERE to support our campaign.
The 2026 Narrow River cleanup is planned for Saturday, May 2, 2026.
ORCA is partnering with the Narrow River Preservation Association to clean up the Narrow River (Pettaquamscutt Estuary) Watershed. We’ll meet at 9am at the Sprague Bridge parking lot, then fan out to pick up litter along the roads, parks, and parking lots of the Narrow River watershed.
Please email events@narrowriver.org with any questions.
Overturn in Upper Pond November 16, 2024
**Scroll below for many photos, videos and explanations of the science behind overturns!**
An unusual (but not abnormal) event happened in Upper Pond on Narrow River on Saturday, November 16, 2024. It was an overturn (also called a ventilation) of the bottom waters. This drone video by Steve Carey shows the effect.
If you were near or overlooking Upper Pond, you saw the milky colored water and smelled hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg smell). The bottom waters in the deep ponds of Narrow River are naturally anoxic, meaning without oxygen.
Overturns occur in the deep ponds of Narrow River when there are certain weather conditions: a dry fall, cooler temperatures, and blustery winds. This occurred Saturday because the dry fall meant less freshwater entered from Gilbert Stuart Stream and the King Tides brought more seawater from Rhode Island Sound flowing into Upper Pond. Seawater is colder and saltier, which is also denser, so when it flows into Upper Pond it sinks to the bottom and pushes the bottom water up towards the surface. The winds help mix the water. So the anoxic bottom waters come to the surface and when they come in contact with air, the sulfur is exposed and makes the water look milky and smell like rotten eggs. These conditions may last for hours to weeks. NRPA is sampling and we’ll keep you posted on what we find out.
Email us your questions, comments and photos.
Thank you to Laura Reed and her husband Howard who saw the overturn early Saturday and contacted Veronica Berounsky, NRPA President. She was able to go profile the same day (thank you MERL for the YSI!) and confirm the low oxygen (0.70-0.45 mg O2/L) and high salinity (22-24o/oo) throughout the water column of Upper Pond. There were normal oxygen values in Lower Pond, though salinity was also high there (24-27o/oo).
Click here to read the article about the 2024 Narrow River Overturn in The Providence Journal.
Video of the overturn by Steve Carey 3 days after it started:
Narrow River is actually not a river, but a tidal estuary. Salt water from Rhode Island sound flows into the estuary and reaches Gilbert Stuart stream at high tide.
Most of Narrow River is a typical two-layered estuary, with fresh water on the top and denser salt water on the bottom. These layers normally mix where they meet.
Upper and Lower ponds of Narrow River are very deep. Upper Pond has a maximum depth of 42 feet (12.8 meters) and the deepest point in Lower Pond is 60.4 feet (18.4 meters) below the surface. These deep basins are home to a third layer of water, which is a nearly permanent anoxic (oxygen-free) zone. This is a natural condition and NOT indicative of any problems. This condition is very unusual on planet Earth and contains organisms that are adapted to the oxygen free and sulphur rich environment. The presence of these rare anoxic basins is one of the reasons that scientists come from all over the world to study Narrow River.
From time to time in such an estuary, an ‘overturn’ occurs. It takes a dry fall, cooler temperatures and blustery winds. Put simply. the anoxic layer rises to the surface. In Narrow River, this occurs about every 10 to 15 years.
An overturn is easy to identify by the milky color of the water (created by the sulfur from the bottom layer reacting with the air), the presence of a ‘rotten egg’ smell (hydrogen sulfide) and the presence of dead fish and observation of crabs escaping to shore to avoid the hydrogen sulfide. As you might think, an overturn is disruptive to the animals, phytoplankton (microscopic plants) and microbes living in the Ponds!
More details about the science of an overturn can be seen by clicking here.
The most recent overturns occurred in December 2020 (see details and photos below), November 2012 (partial overturn), November 2010 (partial overturn) and October 2007 (widespread and persistent overturn). The October 2007 overturn persisted for about seven weeks.
The Providence Journal featured an article about the November 2024 overturn written by Alex Kuffner.
Many thanks to Steve Carey who has filmed and shared this 360º view of the Narrow River Overturn:
On the morning of October 10, 2020, Chris Gouveia, a volunteer water monitor with NRPA’s River Watch Program, noticed a milky color in the water in Upper Pond of Narrow River.
This is indicative of an overturn! An overturn is a unique, natural phenomenon that occurs in Narrow River every few years.
This overturn only affected about half of the Upper Pond and the milky water appears to have dissipated by October 11, so this is considered a partial overturn. A second partial overturn was observed on October 15 in the lower part of Upper Pond, through Casey’s Sill and into the northern most part of Lower Pond.
MANY MORE DETAILS BELOW!
Please email your photos of the overturn to us at nrpa@narrowriver.org. Please indicate if we may post your photos to our website, newsletter and social media and how you, as the photographer, would like to be credited.
Some unusual things happened on Narrow River in the fall of 2007. It all began on Friday, October 12. The URI Women’s Crew Team noticed a strange milky color and an unpleasant smell in the Narrow River by their dock. The next day Dick Lee noticed big changes in the river while boating in the Upper Pond. What was happening to the usually quiet Narrow River?
Click the link below for an explanation of why the river “overturned,” or ventilated in October 2007, plus updates on the partial overturns since then:
What’s that Smell? Narrow River Overturn of October 2007 (including updates through 2012)
Many people are inspired by the osprey featured on our osprey webcam.
Local artist Betsey MacDonald has generously shared some of her artwork with us!
If you have osprey artwork you would like to share, please email us at osprey@narrowriver.org.
BIO: Betsey MacDonald lives in Clayville, RI with her husband, 3 rescue dogs, 3 horses and 2 barn cats. She has a BFA in Fine Arts and an MA in Studio Art. She also completed a pre-med program. Betsey taught high school chemistry and biology for 25 years and art for 10 years. She introduced and taught both AP Chemistry and AP Art at her high school. As an art teacher, Betsey was always inspired by the creativity of her students and strove to use and understand a variety of mediums to improve her teaching skills.
Betsey works in oil, watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, collage, and printmaking. She has illustrated 3 children’s books, including “Fishhawk”, a story about the Osprey. Betsey has designed posters for the United Nations, the Westport Harvest Festival and the Ocean State Marathon. She has had more than 25 solo exhibitions and has sold more than 500 paintings. . All of her paintings are inspired by nature and animals. She is a juried member of the American Academy of Equine Art and the Wickford Art Association, where she teaches drawing and painting. Her classes in Wickford and the Rhode Island Water Color Society always focus on the observation and depiction of nature. Her work has been included in many juried exhibits in which her paintings have won numerous awards. Recently a large osprey piece was chosen for a public exhibit in Wilson Park to illustrate conservation. Betsey is currently in the thinking stage about a book project illustrating the activity in the Narrow River Osprey nest for a chronological year.
STATEMENT: Being with animals makes me happy. I love spending time with my own dogs and horses and I love being in nature, hopefully seeing wild animals in their own habitats. One of my greatest teachers told me to paint what I love. So, that’s what I do. I paint animals and nature to better see and understand their complexities. Most recently, I’ve been painting animals in water to see how the motion of water changes the image into an abstract form and I’ve been painting portraits of people with the animals they love. These two new challenges have opened up a whole new world of painting and seeing. I’m excited to say that theThe Narrow River Osprey Cam has inspired my latest idea of a watercolor illustrated picture book depicting the Osprey activity for a whole year.
Thanks to all who participated in the 2024 Pier Plunge on New Years Day at Noon at the North Pavilion of Narragansett Town Beach.
We are proud to announce that the Narragansett Lions Club has chose to donate all 2024 Pier Plunge proceeds to NRPA. The Pier Plunge is an annual event hosted by the Narragansett Lions Club since 2007. Some years have seen over 2000 participants!
A guiding global cause of the Lions Club International is “to sustainably protect and restore our environment to improve the well-being of all communities”. By choosing NRPA as the recipient of the proceeds from the 2024 Pier Plunge, they are recognizing NRPA for our 53 years of dedication to our mission” “to preserve, protect and restore the environment and the quality of life for all communities within the Narrow River (Pettaquamscutt Estuary) and Watershed“.
Photos from the 2024 Pier Plunge!
Photos from the Pier Plunge in previous years.
* For information about the proposed dredging at the mouth of Narrow River, see this page. *
Many thanks to Steve Carey for this fascinating video of the sands at the mouth of the river at low tide in late May 2025. NRPA is sharing this video for informational purposes only. Under no circumstances will NRPA be liable to any person for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use of this information.
Steve Carey, retired University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor, has very generously shared this incredible drone video of the mouth of Narrow River.
This video show the before (January 13, 2024) and after (March 11, 2025) of the house that formerly sat at the mouth of Narrow River.
(For best viewing, we recommend adjusting the settings on the videos to 1080 HD resolution.)
This second video by Steve shows the area after the house has been completely demolished.
Enjoy this drone video from October 2024 generously shared by Sam Morrissey.
Steve Carey, retired University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor, has very generously shared this incredible drone video of the mouth of Narrow River. Filmed April 8, 2024, it shows the new shape of the area.
(For best viewing, we recommend adjusting the settings on the videos to 1080 HD resolution.)
On Thursday, January 11, Steve Carey, retired University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor, filmed the mouth of the river. There had been a significant storm the day before. Many thanks to Steve for sharing his videos.
(For best viewing, we recommend adjusting the settings on the videos to 1080 HD resolution.)
Steve shot this footage on Saturday, January 13 at about 1:30 pm, well past the morning high tide. The house at the mouth of the river had suffered even more damage from the previous night’s storm.
The videos below, as well as this photo from February 2021 show the same area.
Similar to what occurred February 1-2, 2021, the sand spit at the mouth of Narrow River was overwashed by waves during a strong Nor’easter on January 17, 2022. Once again, a significant amount of sediment from the beach face was transported into the river. In fact the overwash from this storm essentially plugged the channel which typically carries the majority of the flow during an outgoing tide, forcing water to exit the river along the north side of the large sand bar just inside the mouth (the “flood tide delta”).
The channel and sand spit are perpetually evolving in response to coastal storm events, waves, tides and currents, and sediment moving along Narragansett Town Beach. These are natural coastal processes. The tidal exchanges between the bay and the river continue and the spit may return to a similar (pre-storm) configuration over time, although it is possible that the northern channel could widen and become dominant. Time will tell.
Below are photos of the mouth of the river over time. Many thanks to our contributing photographers!
Narrow River Mouth 1-18-21 from Dale Denelle on Vimeo.
Nick Ernst, Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Ben Gaspar, Restoration Ecologist at Save the Bay, will update us on the sediment placement projects in Narrow River and other refuge locations to stave off the threats from sea level rise to salt marshes – and to the salt marsh sparrow.
On Pettaquamscutt is a collaboration between the Friends of Canonchet Farm, Narrow River Preservation Association, South County Museum, and the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library.
All talks are free and open to the public. Participants can register at OnPettaquamscutt.org or at the calendar page of the library website to reserve a seat. Registration will open at the beginning of the month for each presentation. For more information or to see presentations from the first ten seasons, visit OnPettaquamscutt.org.
Back by popular demand! Mark your 2024 calendar for the eleventh season of On Pettaquamscutt, Presentations on the Environment and History of the Narrow River Watershed and join us for three great Sunday afternoon talks (all starting at 1:00) at the brand new Narragansett Library:
Other presentations in this series:
Peter Stetson, President of Education Mapping Service, will show us interactive GIS mapping centered on the South County Museum and the Narrow River Watershed, and their history through aerial photography.
As part of the Middlebridge Conservation Land Management Plan, the Town of Narragansett intends to remove the entire asphalt parking lot located in front of the marina and relocate it to a higher elevation to the eastern side of the former café (yellow building).
In doing so, the town will restore a salt marsh at the top of bank and a coastal buffer in the former parking area and create a more resilient shoreline that is tolerant to coastal flooding. By removing the asphalt along the edge of the river, the amount of untreated stormwater runoff flowing directly into Narrow River will be reduced.
Public access will be provided to the shoreline and interpretive signage will educate the public about the Town’s coastal adaptation efforts.
The parking facility in the rear should handle most of the displaced parking although a small parking area adjacent to the cottages may be added to offset their lost spaces.
Construction will be completed this year (2023) although some landscaping and signage may carry over to next season.
YOU can help keep Narrow River Clean!
Follow these simple tips to do your part.
This excellent guide provides specific information on ways to be sure your activities are safe and healthy for your nearby waterway! Click the image to download the free guide.
NRPA recognizes those who have gone above and beyond to support, improve and celebrate the Narrow (Pettaquamscutt) River and its watershed.
The 2025 Youth Environmental Achievement Award was presented to Chloe Wild, who volunteered at many NRPA events in 2025, including What Lives in the River and Art at the River. From carrying equipment to getting deep in the water to catch critters, Chloe has been a tremendous help to NRPA and is a joy to be around.
The 2025 Environmental Achievement Award was presented to Walter Berry, Ph.D. Walter is knowledgeable and consistent in his efforts with NRPA. This award recognizes his willingness over many seasons to share his scientific expertise at What Lives in the River and his ability to convey wonder and awe about the inhabitants of Narrow River.
Narrow River Preservation Association presented the 2023 Student Volunteer for the River Award to Jake Pietrzak in recognition of his cheerful and capable assistance over the years with numerous events.
At our 2023 Annual Meeting NRPA honored Bob Facey with a 2023 NRPA Environmental Appreciation Award in recognition of his years of dedicated volunteer service to the osprey webcam hosted by NRPA and Narrow River Land Trust.
Since its installation in March 2020, the webcam featuring the osprey family at a nest at Garrison House Acres overlooking the Narrow (Pettaquamscutt) River has captured the attention of thousands of viewers worldwide. The webcam is a critical component of our Osprey Education program for local fourth grade students.
Since its inception, the sophisticated and complicated technology needed to record and broadcast the video has required maintenance, troubleshooting, correction and adjustment.
Bob has braved cold, wet weather, wind, and literally hundreds of ticks to set up, troubleshoot and make fixes at the nest platform.
This year, when the internet connection through the former Narrow River Kayaks office building was discontinued, Bob led us through the process of transitioning to a direct cell connection at the nest platform. He procured and set up the necessary parts for the new setup, integrated them into the existing technology and even identified an internet provider with a special discounted rate for non-profit use.
Simply put, the webcam would not be operation but for Bob’s continued support and expertise.
We offer our thanks to Bob on behalf of all who enjoy and learn from the osprey webcam along Narrow River.
NRPA recognizes that each year for 15 years, Jeremy has volunteered for the Narrow River Turnaround Swim, providing buoys and ground tackle, setting up the swim course, participating in the swim, and taking down the course after the event. This is a huge effort and he consistently participates and always with a smile.
NRPA recognizes that over the past 15 years, Jason has volunteered for the Narrow River Turnaround Swim. He has been critical to the swim safety team, providing safety briefings, managing lifeguards, being a kayak spotter, and ensuring that all participants have a safe and fun experience. NRPA is lucky to count Jason as a dedicated volunteer.
NRPA honors Dick White or his ongoing pickup of litter along Middlebridge Road and the Narrow River (Pettaquamscutt Estuary) in Wakefield. When Dick saw the results of a 2007 Earth Day cleanup along Middlebridge Road in South Kingstown, he decided to keep the road litter-free and has picked up trash along the road almost every day for the last 15 years. NRPA recognizes that as a watershed resident, long-time NRPA member, and tireless steward, Dick is an integral stakeholder in the health of the Narrow River!
