Tagged with " USFW"
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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Art, Science, and Open House at RINHS
By     |    Feb 3, 2019
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    2 Comments

Art, Science, and Open House at RINHS

When the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) held its annual open house at URI’s East Farm last week, there was the usual chatter: how the latest scientific paper was coming along, what new discoveries had been made in the natural world. But what drew the most attention from the crowd wasn’t the skulls or the turtle shells on display in a glass case. It was the art. At first, […]

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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 […]

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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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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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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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Stepping Stones of Engagement: Fish and Wildlife brings nature into the city
By     |    May 22, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    No Comments

Stepping Stones of Engagement: Fish and Wildlife brings nature into the city

  The sight of a US Fish and Wildlife (USFW) car passing through Olneyville in Providence might seem a bit incongruous. The hilly streets are lined with tenement apartments, some with boards on their windows. The line of homes is occasionally broken up by bodegas with names like El Canto and Tortilleria. Just off the main drag, kids from the William D’Abate Elementary School are about to be dismissed for […]

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Wintertime Woody Plant I.D. with Rhode Island Natural History Survey
By     |    Jan 30, 2014
Posted in: BioBlitz, Kettle Pond, Natural Science, RINHS, URI, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    2 Comments

Wintertime Woody Plant I.D. with Rhode Island Natural History Survey

                Who goes tramping through the woods in winter? It’s a time for relaxing by a fire, curling up with a hot beverage, reading. Outdoor events in the toughest month of the year? Surely no one would be foolish enough to even think of attending. Unless, of course, you are part of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS). Then fifty of you show up.          The program, held […]

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