Browsing Category "Rhode Island DEM"
Ospreys Return
By     |    Mar 27, 2020
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, 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, RINHS, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    2 Comments

Ospreys Return

Note: This story appeared in the Providence Journal 3/27/20, and in hard copy 3/29/20. All photos by Gary Carlson: ifishinri@aol.com. Used with permission. The human world is in turmoil, but spring is arriving unconcerned. Skunk cabbage is popping its pungent leaves through the marsh. Forsythia is only days away from its sunlight yellow show of flowers. And in the skies, the Ospreys are returning. The males come first, making a […]

Read more
Building Resilience: 41 North Fall 2019
By     |    Dec 21, 2019
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RINHS     |    No Comments

Building Resilience: 41 North Fall 2019

Read the latest issue of 41° North here and find out how Rhode Islanders are responding to climate change. Included in this issue are two stories of mine. Enjoy!

Read more
If you build it, will they come? R.I.’s first artificial reef
By     |    Nov 17, 2019
Posted in: Blue Crab, Rhode Island DEM, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RIDEM, RINHS, Save the Bay, The Nature Conservancy, Uncategorized, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, US Fish and Wildlife     |    No Comments

If you build it, will they come? R.I.’s first artificial reef

It’s been done using decommissioned ships, oil rigs, and even subway cars. Now it’s being done for the first time in Rhode Island. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and RI DEM have teamed up to create the state’s first artificial reef, situated off Sabin Point in Providence. TNC’s communications manager Tim Mooney says the hope is that adding complex structure to the floor of Narragansett Bay will improve recreational fishing and […]

Read more
DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup
By     |    Jul 2, 2019
Posted in: ASRI, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, RINHS, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

  It’s a warm June morning as a flotilla of five kayakers makes its way to a pond in Tiverton. They fan out across the diameter and quietly approach a small island. As they approach, a flock of Canada geese break off from their breakfast of sea grass and nervously begin to stir. The guardians stretch their long necks up, trying to assess the situation, making low sounds to each […]

Read more
20 Years of Sorting Life with Rhode Island Natural History Survey
By     |    Jun 6, 2019
Posted in: bees, BioBlitz, Moth Mingle, Narragansett Bay Coyote Study, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, Uncategorized, URI     |    3 Comments

20 Years of Sorting Life with Rhode Island Natural History Survey

NOTE: This story originally appeared in RI Central Newspapers 6/6/19. David Gregg, executive director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) sits under a canopy at a long table sorting ants. There are perhaps a dozen or so that he has recently collected contained in a tiny bottle. He separates them before handing them off to an ant expert who will do the job of telling the difference between […]

Read more
Restoring and Recycling at the John H. Chafee Wildlife Refuge
By     |    Dec 19, 2018
Posted in: National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, URI, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

Restoring and Recycling at the John H. Chafee Wildlife Refuge

The temperature along the bank of Narrow River is in the 30’s, and gusts of wind have a way of sneaking under coats, like someone is pouring ice water down the neck. The area seems devoid of life, save for a congregation of gulls gathered around a long black tube that resembles nothing so much as a fire hose. The hose wends its way to a floating craft on the […]

Read more
Never Underestimate a Seaweed
By     |    Feb 11, 2018
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, BioBlitz, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RIDEM, RINHS, URI, URI Coastal Institute, URI Graduate School of Oceanography     |    No Comments

Never Underestimate a Seaweed

Breathe in deeply. Hold it. Aaannd release. Feel better? Thank a seaweed. Yes, a seaweed, because about half of all our oxygen comes from that green or red stuff that so often annoys beach goers in the summertime. Dr. Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis of URI’s Department of Natural Resources sung the praises of the ignominious seaweed in a recent lecture at the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS). It turns out that […]

Read more
The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)
By     |    Aug 28, 2017
Posted in: apiculture, bee keeping, bees, Eastern Apicultural Society, Natural Science, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, RINHS, Uncategorized, URI, USFW, Writing     |    No Comments

The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)

Childhood obsessions are pretty common. Some children love a particular line of dolls, trading cards, or teddy bears. As they grow, the obsessions are set aside, sometimes to literally gather dust. In other cases, though, the obsessions simply morph into something new. “When I was little, it was a unicorn obsession, and as I grew older it went from unicorns to something legitimate like bees.” At 26, Azure Giroux’s childhood […]

Read more
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 […]

Read more
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 […]

Read more
123»