CRMC announces funding for 9 habitat restoration projects

January 24, 2007, WAKEFIELD – The RI Coastal Resources Management Council has awarded funding for nine habitat restoration projects, which include a number of salt marsh restorations, restoration of a fish passage, management of invasive species and support for an oyster gardening program, through its RI Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund.

The Council approved the funding at last night’s semi-monthly meeting in Providence, for projects that will restore natural salt marshes at Jacob’s Point in Warren, at Stillhouse Cove in Cranston, at Town Pond in Portsmouth, and at Gooseneck Marsh in Newport. The funding will also be used for dune restoration at Third Beach and the Norman Bird Sanctuary, and for the restoration of a fish passage at Atlantic Mills in Providence. The remainder of the funding will be used for equipment for the R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and for continued support of the RI Oyster Gardening for Recreation and Enhancement (RI-OGRE) which was established last year and is funded in part by the Rhode Island Aquaculture Initiative, sponsored by the CRMC, Roger Williams University, the University of Rhode Island and RI Sea Grant.

“The CRMC is encouraged by the number and quality of restoration projects it received this year,” said CRMC Chairman Michael M. Tikoian. “With the funding the Council has granted toward these salt marsh and fish passage restoration projects, and continued support of the oyster gardening program, Rhode Island’s coastal and estuarine habitats will be greatly improved. We look forward to seeing the results of this work.”

The Town of Portsmouth and DEM were awarded $50,000 toward the restoration of more than 20 acres of a 40-acre salt pond complex, which is owned by the DEM and located between Anthony Road and the south shore of Mount Hope Bay in Portsmouth. The project will restore historic salt pond habitat by regrading 100,000 cubic yards of existing dredge material that was disposed on the site in 1950. The project will also restore fringe wetlands, coastal grassland habitat and public access to the shore and improve spawning habitat for winter flounder and improve habitat for a variety of estuarine plants and animals.

The City of Newport, along with project partners Save The Bay, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requested and received $50,000 for the restoration of Gooseneck Cove Salt Marsh in Newport. The project will restore the salt marsh plants, prevent further marsh degradation and improve water quality by restoring the cove’s tidal flushing, currently impeded by two roads and a dam. The project will also improve public access to the northern portion of the cove.

The Council awarded $48,000 to the Jacob’s Point Salt Marsh restoration project, a 47-acre marsh along the Warren River in Warren. A footpath and two collapsed culverts across the middle of the marsh have greatly restricted tidal flow, and have caused the invasive Phragmites australis to grow in the southern portion. The Warren Land Conservation Trust, with partners NOAA, NRCS, Save The Bay, Audubon Society of Rhode Island and DEM, plan to reintroduce tidal flow to reestablish the naturally-occurring high and low marsh plants, to cut back the Phragmites, reduce the mosquito population and make the marsh a habitat for fish, shellfish and aquatic birds. Public access will also be improved.

The project to restore the fish passage at Atlantic Mills in Providence also received funding from the Trust Fund. The City of Providence and its parks department received $36,750 to restore the passage, which will in turn restore the historic anadromous fish spawning and rearing in the Woonasquatucket River, and enhance depleted spawning populations of river herring and shad.

The Trust Fund also provided $12,500 to the DEM for the purchase of a rubber tracked, low-ground-pressure utility vehicle that will be used to transport soil excavated from salt marsh water management projects to upland disposal sites. It can also be used to spray herbicide in Phragmites control projects.

The Council also approved more than $9,000 toward the Third Beach Dune Restoration in Middletown. The site is owned by the Normal Bird Sanctuary and is located between Third Beach Road and the Sakonnet River. The project will create a protective sand berm along the road to hold and form the dune, limiting access to the beach through a designated footpath, and preserving the dune habitat. Native shrubs will be planted along the berm for added protection.

Roger Williams University and the RI-OCGRE Program received more than $8,000 for the continued support of the program, which aims to successfully reintroduce the American oyster as a viable population in Narragansett Bay and South County ponds, and to improve the habitat quality of the bay bottom with oyster beds. This program is working to reintroduce the populations in Greenwich Bay, Bristol and Prudence Island.

The CRMC also approved $6,505 toward the monitoring and management of rare plant populations. Invasive Plant Atlas of New England, New England Plant Conservation Program, RI Natural Heritage Program, RI Natural History Survey and RI Wild Plant Society are partners. The project includes conducting surveys in Rhode Island’s coastal habitats to update information and assess management needs, and to perform an invasive species removal project as a case study, and to benefit rare plant species.

The Still House Cove Marsh restoration project received $3,250 from the Trust Fund, which will be used to continue the project in its second phase. Work will include removal of fill material from sections of the upper marsh, treatment of Phragmites and seeding of upland edge of the marsh with grasses. The funds will go toward the Phragmites mitigation and plantings.

“I’d like to also thank our new policy analyst Caitlin Chaffee, and welcome her to the CRMC,” Tikoian said. “She has taken on this year’s Trust Fund list, along with the help of other CRMC staff, with zeal.”

Habitat restoration projects are funded through the RI Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund and are selected from recommendations by the RI Habitat Restoration Team, established by CRMC, Save The Bay and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program in 1998. Members of the team serve as a technical advisory committee for the CRMC as required by law. Funds for the program come from the state’s Oil Spill Prevention Administration and Response Act (OSPAR), established by the legislature following the 1996 North Cape oil spill. Each year, the Trust Fund and CRMC receive $225,000 from the OSPAR account to fund habitat restoration projects in the state. To date, the Trust Fund has awarded $975,000 for 34 projects, which have leveraged $7.6 million in matching funds. This year’s funding leveraged $2.3 million, at a leverage ratio of 9:1. The full report will be available at CRMC’s web site, www.crmc.ri.gov.