Browsing Category "Uncategorized"
Eclipse draws thousands to Frosty Drew
By     |    Aug 22, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    No Comments

Eclipse draws thousands to Frosty Drew

  From a distance, Monday’s partial solar eclipse activities at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown looked more like the Newport Folk Festival than a celestial event. Blankets, beach chairs, and kids were everywhere, especially under the trees. Some were playing soccer, some were eating, and some were doing various juggling activities. There was a sense of celebration as visitors snaked their way through lines to an assortment of telescopes set […]

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New England’s Marine Monument under Fire: “Review” threatens preservation status
By     |    Jul 7, 2017
Posted in: Natural Science, Save the Bay, The Nature Conservancy, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, URI Coastal Institute, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

New England’s Marine Monument under Fire: “Review” threatens preservation status

Americans are proud of their land, and not just around the Fourth of July. So proud that, since 1906, they have worked with 16 presidents of both parties to designate 129 places as so important from a historical or scientific standpoint that they should be preserved for future generations. The process began in 1906 under Teddy Roosevelt to “preserve historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic […]

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BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small
By     |    Jun 11, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, BioBlitz, dragonflies, land trust, Moth Mingle, Moths, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, RINHS, snakes, Uncategorized, URI, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW, wasps, Writing     |    No Comments

BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small

Picture this: you’ve been dropped into the middle of 1000 acres of woodlands, fields, and water. Your job is to count everything. Not just the birds flying by. Not just the types of trees in the forest. Nope. Your task is to count every plant, insect, fungus, bat, snake, fish, clam, flower, in fact to count every species of every living thing that calls that region home. And you have […]

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Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom
By     |    Apr 30, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, National Audubon Society, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, The Nature Conservancy, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized     |    2 Comments

Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

Trustom Pond has been scorched. The path that normally leads visitors to a lush meadow now leads them to a scar that blackens a third of the field. The smell of burnt grass and brush can be pungent, and the rectangle is almost offensive in contrast to the rest of the region. Yet the scar is not the result of vandals, nor even of a lightning strike. The burn at […]

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PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers
By     |    Apr 17, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Kettle Pond, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Ninigret, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

How do you help a bird that seems bound and determined to put itself in harm’s way? The Piping Plover, a small bird that frequents South County beaches, has a habit of building its nests right on the sand. The same camouflage that makes its eggs remarkably difficult for predators to see also means they may be accidentally stepped on by beachgoers and their pets. Fortunately, US Fish and Wildlife […]

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Spike in Sea Bass Numbers Sparks Skepticism
By     |    Mar 9, 2017
Posted in: Natural Science, Uncategorized     |    4 Comments

Spike in Sea Bass Numbers Sparks Skepticism

Recreational and commercial fishermen reporting dramatic increases in the number of black sea bass (BSB) had their observations confirmed at a recent Rhode Island Natural History seminar. However, getting people to believe the numbers and forecasts is no easy task. Dr. Gary R. Shepherd, fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Fisheries Science Center, attributes the apparent spike to increasing water temperatures in the northeast. “We’ve seen a sharp northern redistribution of BSB […]

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By     |    Feb 12, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    8 Comments

Thunder Snow

At its most intense, last Thursday’s snow storm was piling on flakes at a rate of two inches an hour. In those whiteout conditions, many people online began to report hearing a strange sound. Some initially thought it was snow plows rumbling through the neighborhood. A few reported flashes of light, and wondered whether those might have been electrical lines blowing. Neither of those occurrences would have been unusual for […]

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By     |    Jan 23, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    No Comments

Carter Preserve and the Railroad: Concern, not Panic

The map tells a disturbing story: a proposed railway change slicing The Nature Conservancy’s Carter Preserve in Richmond in half, effectively eliminating it as a recreation area. The Federal Railway Administration (FRA) has proposed the change as part of a controversial plan to shave time from the Northeast Corridor commuter rail system. As it stands, the proposal will affect conservation areas, Narragansett Tribal land, historical farms and a host of […]

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Self-Improve with Conservation
By     |    Dec 29, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    2 Comments

Self-Improve with Conservation

At holiday time, life is a flurry of activity, followed by a period of hibernation. We busy ourselves now with buying, giving, and celebrating. Then, with the start of the New Year, we resolve to somehow do better. To lose weight, to read more, to self-improve. Perhaps we look ahead to the changes in politics and wonder what that future will hold; a time of change in social, economic, and […]

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Save the Bay Cruises for Wildlife
By     |    Nov 20, 2016
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, BioBlitz, Natural Science, Outdoor writing, Save the Bay, Uncategorized, URI Coastal Institute, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

Save the Bay Cruises for Wildlife

It’s November, and it feels like it. Though it’s sunny and the wind is calm, aboard Save the Bay’s educational vessel Elizabeth Morris, the passengers wisely left their boat shoes and shorts at home and wore winter coats and hats instead. Perched on a rock in the Pawcatuck River is a Harbor seal. The first-year plump, gray animal is happily ignorant of the chilly temperatures, lying on its side with […]

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