Art that does not sell at our Online Art Auction (bidding open through Saturday, October 22 at 7pm!) will be offered at our Studio Sale for purchase.
The Studio Sale will be at Studio Blue, 218 S Ferry Rd, Coastal Resource Center, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI.
The public is welcome. We will accept cash, checks and credit cards.
Many thanks to all who joined us on the Juneteenth Holiday to celebrate the emancipation of African captives in America, and as we honor all those enslaved in this region and on Casey Farm. Learn more about the lives of enslaved people here.
We gathered on Sunday, June 19 from noon – 4pm at Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road, Saunderstown, R.I. Admission was free, with food for sale.
At this family-friendly day, guests explored the farm on foot and by hayride. All enjoyed music by the Nettukkusqk Singers, the URI African Drummers and Dancers, and Sidy Maiga & Afrimanding.
Lorén Spears of Tomaquag Museum, Casey Farm’s historians, and R.I. Black Storytellers spoke about Indigenous and African American culture. Narrow River Preservation Association provided information about the region.
The highlight of the day was the unveiling of a R.I. Slave History Medallion on the front lawn. The medallion includes a QR code linking to the RISHM website where visitors are invited to learn more about enslaved people in this area.
Sarcastic Sweets sold cupcakes, cookies, brownies, cake bites, gluten-free and vegan desserts.
Incred-a-bowl food truck, a multicultural food company that serves delicious and healthy food with bowled (bold) flavors, such as Cuban chili mango bowl, Spicy kimchi noodles, Liberian bowls, and Korean BBQ beef, was a huge hit with our guests!
Historic records indicate that Southern RI is the site of the largest African slave holdings in New England. For many years, the ‘Narragansett Plantations’ were home to African and Indigenous captives on appropriated land. Learn more about the history of slavery in the area at the event and at RISHM.org.
Thanks to all who joined us on Friday July 29, for a guided sunset paddle hosted by Narrow River Kayaks in support of Narrow River Preservation Association.
Where: Narrow River Kayaks, 94 Middlebridge Road, Narragansett, RI 02882
When: Friday, July 29 @ 5 pm (Rain date Friday, August 5)
What: Guided Sunset Paddle
Cost: $25 per person
Space is limited and RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED.
Walk-ins cannot be guaranteed a spot.
Limit of 4 participants per reservation.
Your registration fee of $25 per person includes your choice of solo or tandem kayak and all related equipment including pfd (personal flotation device) and paddle. Participants will also receive a souvenir commemorating the 15th year of the Pettaquamscutt Paddle. 100% of the proceeds go directly to NRPA!
All participants must complete and sign our waiver form.
Laminated maps with paddle routes and basic paddle and safety instruction will be provided with each launch.
Narrow River Kayaks Staff, Guides and NRPA Board Members will join us on the river to answer your questions and inform participants on various topics concerning the watershed, including wildlife and marine life that inhabit the estuary, environmental projects in the wildlife refuge, geology, ecology, history and more.
We will have exhibits highlighting Narrow River, Narrow River Preservation Association, live footage of NRPA’s Osprey cam and more!
Participants will also have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for NRPA’s Annual Kayak Raffle (drawing in October).
Each year in late September or early October, NRPA plans our river and watershed cleanups in sync or on as close a date as possible, with both the International Coastal Cleanup and World Rivers Day movements.
We are happy to share that on Saturday September 24, 2022, NRPA will once again partner with Narrow River Kayaks and the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Society club for an extensive river and watershed cleanup by paddlecraft and by land!
Upwards of 30 Coastal Society members will be picking up trash and wayward debris along the Narrow River 🙌 This is another shining example of local interest groups collaborating with NRPA to give back to an incredible watershed we receive many benefits from.
NRPA is encouraging all other folks who are also interested in cleaning up that same day, to coordinate smaller cleanup groups, and to choose a public access site or land trust trail that is in the Narrow River watershed and distant from the Middlebridge Road region of the river and watershed, as there will be many folks from URI’s Coastal Society on paddle and on foot, in that region.
We ask that you select your own publicly accessible cleanup site and we recommend public parking lots at trail heads and popular fishing areas. The trails to and from the parking lots and water frontage will generally have trash available for pick up 😉
Also please Bring Your Own (BYO) gloves, trash bags, and collection containers and have a plan for safe disposal of sharp objects as well as the bagged rubbish you collect.
We’d love to receive photos of you and your cleanup friends picking up trash in the Narrow River Watershed and share your cleanup successes through our website and media outlets! Send any questions to nrpa@narrowriver.org.
Thanks to everyone who helped us clean up in and around Narrow (Pettaquamscutt) River in 2021!! May you enjoy this photo gallery (below) showing highlights from our Spring and Fall 2021 River Cleanup groups.
Cleanup details for volunteers:
NRPA is committed to the safety and health of our volunteers. To minimize the risk of COVID transmission, we are inviting small groups (of family and/or friends) to clean up areas along the river. We ask that you bring a mask to wear when appropriate.
Before the cleanup, NRPA will provide you with a kit including gloves, trash bags and containers for sharp items.
Each small group will have its own location, so it will be easy to maintain social distance. We welcome you to clean up your own neighborhood or to clean the marshes by boat. Just indicate your preference on our form!
We’re flexible! Although we have set a date for our cleanup, please choose the time and day that is most convenient for your small group.
Please send us photos of your group cleaning up! People love to see what trash is no longer in our river.
NRPA will supply everything you need for the cleanup including trash bags, containers for sharp items and gloves. Please supply your own masks and drinking water.
Cleanup locations will not have restrooms, so please plan accordingly.
We are also planning a cleanup for the Fall of 2021. The date has not yet been set.
Please email us with any questions: nrpa@narrowriver.org
Donate
We welcome your donations! Special thanks if you are donating as part of Giving Tuesday!
Click the button above to donate or send a check to NRPA, P.O. Box 8, Saunderstown RI 02874.
Click here to Donate in Honor of Richard Grant
Narrow River Preservation Association (NRPA) has created to an endowment in honor of Richard Barker Grant, long time NRPA President and Friend of Narrow River. The permanent endowment is managed by The Rhode Island Foundation and provide yearly grants for the benefit of the Narrow River Watershed.
The Richard Barker Grant Endowment was created in honor of Grant’s decades of serving on the board of directors of NRPA, including serving as President since the 1990s.
We welcome additional donations to this endowment fund. Checks made out to “NRPA” may be sent to Narrow River Preservation Association, PO Box 8, Saunderstown, RI 02874. Please indicate ‘Richard Grant endowment’ in the not eon your check. Online donations are welcome by clicking here.
More information about Richard Grant’s excellent and sustained service to NRPA is available here.
For more information about starting an endowment for NRPA (initial donation minimum $10,000) please email us at nrpa@narrowriver.org.
ABOUT US:
Narrow River Preservation Association is a 501 (c) 3 certified non-profit organization based in Saunderstown, RI. NRPA was founded in 1970.
Many thanks to NRPA’s 2021 Sponsors! We are so grateful for your support!
Click the image below to see a PDF of the poster with clickable links to each company!
NRPA is proud to announce that our entry into the 2022 Rhode Island Nature Video Festival won Honorable Mention!
NRPA’s contribution was ‘2021 Osprey Nest Battle’ a compilation of footage from NRPA’s live, 24 hour webcam on an osprey nest along the Narrow (Pettaquamscutt) River. The 6 1/2 minute video shows the battle between a new female who made the nest her home a few days before the prior year’s female returned to claim her nest. The new female wanted to keep her new position, while the prior year’s female, bonded to the nest site for life, fought to return.
Watch NRPA’s video here.
The Festival was held online on Sunday, February 13 at 3pm. This free, fun, entertaining, and informative nature showcase featured 70 minutes of video footage recorded in Rhode Island.
Watch the entire festival (~ 70 minutes) here.
Sponsored by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey and the Environment Council of Rhode Island.
On Friday, September 3, 2021, Lori Pugh, Mary Phelan and Veronica Berounsky swam the 6 mile length of Narrow River for the second year in a row! More great photos are included below!
Check out this essay by swimmer and Narrow River enthusiast Veronica Berounsky about this swim!
Veronica Berounsky swam to raise awareness for the improving water quality conditions in the Narrow River, celebrating the enjoyable place it is for swimming. She also swam to support “Donate Life” which encourages people to sign up to be an organ donor, because she donated a kidney 6 years ago and knows firsthand how that decision to donate saves lives. Even with one kidney, Veronica is physically fit to swim the length of Narrow River!
Lori Pugh is an internationally recognized artist from North Kingstown, and Mary Phelan is a realtor with the Narragansett office for Residential Properties. Veronica Berounsky is a coastal ecologist staff member at the University of Rhode Island, Vice President of Narrow River Preservation Association, and Chair of the RI Rivers Council.
More information about Donate Life here: https://www.donatelife.net/
THANK YOU TO ALL who made the 2020 Source to Sea Swim a huge success!!
On Monday, September 14, 2020, Lori Pugh, Keith Ballard and Veronica Berounsky swam the 6 mile length of Narrow River! This “Source to Sea – the Narrow River Long Swim” was a great success.
The swimmers raised over $2,000 funds for Narrow River Preservation Association (NRPA) during its 50th year, highlighting the river as a wonderful place to swim.
Veronica Berounsky also swam to raise awareness for “Donate Life” which encourages people to sign up to be an organ donor, because she donated a kidney 5 years ago and she knows how that can save lives. And even with one kidney, Veronica is physically fit to swim the length of Narrow River.
Lori Pugh is an internationally recognized artist from North Kingstown, and Keith Ballard is the owner of Wakefield Running Company. Veronica Berounsky is a coastal ecologist, Vice President of Narrow River Preservation Association, and Chair of the RI Rivers Council.
Photos of the event can be seen at narrowriver.org/sourcetosea and on the NRPA Facebook page, which also includes videos.
More information about Donate Life here: https://www.donatelife.net/
Narrow River Preservation Association is seeking a graphic designer to layout our newsletter Narrow River Notes three times each year.
Examples of previous issues can be seen here.
The newsletter template is currently in Adobe InDesign, but any program is acceptable as long as the product is similar.
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, we are seeking a cost effective way to produce our 8 page newsletter 3 times each year. Issues are sent to members in April, August, and December annually.
If interested, please email justmealison@gmail.com with an example of your work, two references, and your fee to produce our upcoming August issue (timing is to create the newsletter in July to send to printer by July 20.)
Many thanks to all who participated in the 2021 Winter Speaker Series “On Pettaquamscutt: Presentations on the Environment and the History of the Narrow River Watershed”
The Friends of Canonchet Farm, Narrow River Preservation Association, South County Museum and the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library along with generous support from Trio Restaurant, collaborated for the tenth year to sponsor the Winter Speaker Series.
Thank you to all who made the tenth season of On Pettaquamscutt a huge success!
Thanks especially to Rosemary and David Smith, founders and organizers of the speaker series.
Originally presented March 28, 2021 at the On Pettaquamscutt Winter Speaker Series, Craig Wood, Ecologist and Board Member of Narrow River Preservation Association and Narrow River Land Trust, explores the natural history, adaptations, migration and identification of osprey. He also shares the history of NRPA’s osprey education program and shows the behind-the scenes of the osprey webcam.
Importantly, Craig also notes the near-disappearance of osprey in Rhode Island in the 1970s, largely due to the pesticide DDT, and the remarkable recovery of the species since DDT was banned.
On January 31, David Smith presented: Narragansett Coastal Defenses. Sponsored by Friends of Canonchet Farm
From the earth works of a Revolutionary fort to the concrete bunkers of World War II, military installations have been an important part of Narragansett history. CLICK HERE to see a recording of this presentation.
Sunday, February 28, Heather Kisilywicz presented: Stories of the South County Fisherman. Sponsored by South County Museum
Heather Pouliot Kisilywicz, new Executive Director of the South County Museum, discussed her research into the genealogy of South County’s first fishing families in Stories of the South County Fishermen.
Click here to see a recording of that presentation.
These events are free and open to the public. Participants must register at OnPettaquamscutt.org or at the calendar page of the library website (http://www.narlib.org/) to receive a Zoom invite. For more information, call 401-783-5344.
Additional information about On Pettaquamscutt is available at www.onpettaquamscutt.org
