FEBRUARY 2022 - Walking in Beauty Pt.2
INFO ALERT - Walking in beauty - Part 2
Following spring in coastal southeastern New England.
Today is still winter and the weather forecast is for a mix of snow and rain over the next couple of days. Despite the inclement weather outside, right now as you are reading this, Boreas is planning his departure back to the north. And, as Boreas is packing his bags to leave, Persephone is cautiously approaching, coming back to our neck of the woods at first slowly and then, when she has distanced herself far enough from Hades, with rapidly accelerating speed.
Persephone's cautious approach means that native skunk cabbage is flowering right now, in late February, in freshwater swamps and spring seeps. On higher ground, this last week in February, snowdrops and crocuses, originally from Europe and adjacent southeast Asia, often escape gardens and go feral invading open woodlands. These spring beauties usually make their appearance in late February and continue through March.
Last month we were exploring open space properties along the southeastern edge of Rhode Island in the communities of Tiverton and Little Compton. Both towns contain some excellent examples of protected interior forest as well as areas of coastal shrubland, meadows, freshwater swamps, wetlands, brooks and vernal pools, salt marshes, salt ponds and beaches. Again, kudos to those conservation minded town officials, public environmental agencies, land trusts and savvy citizens that have saved these open space properties and allow access for hiking and other forms of passive exploration and nature study.
Hopefully the agencies, groups and individuals responsible for these open space acquisitions are working cooperatively on connecting their parcels together, as connections become available, to create a green belt running down the middle, the rocky spine of both towns, protecting the natural environment, cultural history and biodiversity in this southeastern corner of their state.
Small unconnected parcels of natural land surrounded by suburbia soon lose their native wildlife when species become trapped and isolated and genetic dispersal cannot occur. Connections only have to be 50 to 100 feet wide to be valuable for species preservation.
Last month we walked open space parcels on the east side of Main Road. This month we're checking out the wonderful coastal sanctuaries and preserves between Main Road and the Sakonnet Passage as Persephone brings spring once again.
Emilie Ruecker Wildlife Refuge is a property of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island. The refuge is too small in size, but way big in geological features and coastal habitat consisting of forest, thicket, saltmarsh, freshwater wetland, tidal cove, rocky beach and salt creek.
Emilie Ruecker's coastal forest of cedar, oak and holly.
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) sign at their Sapowet Wildlife Management Area.
Rhode Island requires everyone, no matter their activity, to be wearing a fluorescent orange hat and vest from September through February and April through May. The Sapowet Marsh is a fantastic birding area and often attracts unusual species of waterfowl, wading birds and shorebirds to this area as well as the occasional visiting short eared owl, clapper rail, sora rail and sandhill crane.
The Sapowet beach fronting on the Sakonnet, at low tide, with a few Canada geese and Atlantic brant.
Looking east up Sapowet Creek and the extensive salt marsh.
Looking north up Nonquit Pond.
Nonquit is part of the Newport water supply system as is Watson (Patchet Brook) Reservoir just about a mile southeast in Little Compton. Almy Brook flows south from Nonquit Pond and meets the Sakonnet at The Nature Conservancy's Fogland Marsh Preserve. Hopefully one day a long range trail can connect reservoir lands to the existing protected open space parcels that now exist in both Tiverton and Little Compton.
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OTHER STUFF - A different time a different forest
Many of us have walked by this historic location out in the Watuppa Reservation. Notice the forest has returned? Have you been here? Wouldn't have been good to be here in July, 1675.
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