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NAFSE Field Trip – Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, Charlestown, Rhode Island

  • Writer: NAFSE
    NAFSE
  • Mar 20, 2019
  • 1 min read

“Established in 1970, Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge consists of 858 acres of diverse upland and wetland habitats including grasslands, shrub lands, wooded swamps and freshwater ponds.” - Ninigret Website


DAVE WALKER, FIRE MANAGAMENT OFFICER, MONITORS THE BURN. TAKEN ON MARCH 31, 2012 AT NINIGRET NWR. PHOTO CREDIT: JUANCARLOS GIESE, USFWS


Working Agenda, Wednesday Mrch 20, 2019


8:30 Optional group breakfast. Hungry Haven Restaurant (pay as you go) 9:30 Registration, meet & greet, check out exhibits 10:00 Welcome, introductions 10:10 Presentations

  • Overview of Refuge system

  • USFWS Forest Inventory program

  • Regional perspective on science-based fire management for Region 5

  • Fire history in Rhode Island

  • State lands management

  • Overview of pitch pine forest & shrubland management at Ninigret

  • Site overview - field trip stops

  • Q&A, discussion

11:45 Bag lunch time (BYO, or optional pizza order) 12:30 Head to field 12:45 Lewis Tract - pitch pine forest

  • Stop 1: Unmanaged site (no treatment)

  • Stop 2: WUI/neighbors

  • Stop 3: Spring 2018 burn - 19 ac (thin & burn)

  • Stop 4: Managed site (thinning)

2:15 Trip to Salt Pond Unit via Kettle Pond Visitor Center for vehicle pickup 2:30 Salt Pond Unit

  • Walk to junction of Grassy Point & Cross Refuge Trail

  • Rare plant site, 0.5 ac burned every 3 yrs.

  • Shrubland habitat burned to promote regeneration

  • Invasive controls

3:45 Wrap-up (in-field) 4:00 End, or optional visit to New England cottontail Pen -> 4:45

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