NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND CONSERVATION DISTRICT

ANNUAL REPORT July 2012—June 2013

A Letter from the Chair “Small.” As a native Rhode Islander this is a term I have heard about our state for years. We have been used as a unit of measurement; “The disaster was the size of Rhode Island”. As a forester, I was always kidded about who was watching my tree when I was out of state, and I would just tell them, we just grow Bonsai trees! Rhode Islanders have always embraced their size and uniqueness. This year was no different, we addressed a couple of tough problems. The major one was an outreach to forested landowners whom seem to fall through the cracks in terms of the programs and assistance we and our partners offer. They are small acreage forestland owners that own less than 10 acres and more than one acre. This group could constitute almost 70% of forestland owners, which is a number in excess of 24,000 forestland owners. The US Forest Service says that the average forestland owner in RI owns 9.9 acres. With 74% of the forestland in the state in the hands of private landowners, every owner’s property becomes critical. We developed a program to reach out to this population with the assistance of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, it is called Small Scale Forestry and through a series of 4 indoor workshops on a variety of topics ranging from forest history to forest health, we were able to reach over 120 persons. Because we found that a lot of the participants were landowners we and our partners have had no contact with, this program was a great success and we will continue it in this upcoming year. The theme for this years watershed poster contest was “Where does your Water Shed?” Hundreds of school children were encouraged to learn that thru individual action that they can change the quality of their water and the drinking water that goes to 60% of the state. Other small significant programs include our dining placemat outreach, (which were distributed to restaurants in the Scituate Reservoir Watershed area) informing the public of watershed protection one meal at a time. Installing a rain garden on the front lawn of the Scituate Town Hall with the help of Scituate High School Students was one of our high profile projects. As always, we continue outreach into all 3rd grades in the Scituate Reservoir Watershed and our work on outdoor classrooms and the “Get Wet” program with Scituate High School. We continue maintaining other rain gardens and sediment control measures that we have installed. Our Neighbor to Neighbor program still reaches out to new property owners in the watershed. Individual small steps add up, it’s like a penny here and a penny there and before you know it we are talking serious change. So small is good, and I’m reminded of this as I drive our of North Scituate Village in the late spring and see the billboard with a student’s artwork from our watershed program stating how your actions will affect your water.

Paul Dolan

Northern Rhode Island Conservation Dis-trict

Board of Directors

Paul Dolan, Chair, Scituate Eugene Pepper, Vice-Chair, Glocester

Jean Lynch, Johnston Louis Vinagro, III, Foster

Richard Went, Foster

Associate Directors Edward Baker, Glocester

Amanda Clarke, Providence Norman Hammond, Treasurer, Foster

Marc Tremblay, Burrillville

Staff Gina DeMarco, District Manager

Becca Buckler, Education & Outreach Specialist Kate Sayles, Agricultural & Forestry Technician

USDA, Natural Resources Conservation

Service District Conservationist

Justin Tuthill

The Northern Rhode Island Conservation District serves the cities and towns of Providence County. If your community is not represented on our board of di-rectors, please consider joining our team. We meet the first Wednesday of every month, at the District Office, 2283 Hartford Ave, Johnston. To receive a copy of our agenda and minutes, please call 934-0840 or email nricd@nricd.org.

Mission Statement of NRICD

The Northern Rhode Island Conservation District fosters a community-based approach to the

stewardship of northern Rhode Island’s natural resources through education and outreach into the communities, technical assistance and partnerships

with other agencies.

Community Programs

The Scituate Reservoir Watershed Education Program (SRWEP) is a partnership between Providence Water and NRICD. SRWEP has aided in the protection of drinking water for twenty years and continues to inform the public about the relationship between land use and the quality of our water resources. The fundamental goal of SRWEP is to reduce non-point source pollution by educating the watershed community in order to preserve high quality drinking water. Some featured highlights of the program are shown on the following pages.

Well-Water Workshops

SRWEP partnered with Alyson McCann of URI’s Cooperative Extension Home *A*Syst program again this year to host 2 workshops on well water. The workshops were designed to help watershed residents learn how to protect their private drinking water wells, by protecting the groundwater resources that feed the Scituate Reservoir. During the presentation, members of the community are able to visually see the connection between ground and surface water. The demonstration further shows how contaminants can be dispersed by the movement of groundwater, contaminating private wells and the local reservoir. Literature was available for attendees to take home and representatives from professional testing labs were on hand to answer questions.

The first workshop was held at the North Scituate Community House. Eleven people attended, Premier Lab co-hosted, and New England Testing kits were available. The second workshop was held at Scituate High School. BAL lab was represented and 15 people attended.

In preparation for the larger North Scituate Village stormwater abatement project coming up in 2014, NRICD partnered with Ms.Donovan’s Environmental Science class and the Town of Scituate to build a rain garden in the front lawn of the Scituate Town Hall. Town Engineer, David Provinsil, designed the garden, and NRICD staff worked together with students and volunteers to excavate, build a berm, plant native species and mulch. Scituate Public works then assisted in connecting downspouts from the Town Hall gutter system to an underground pipe, leading water into the garden. This work was completed in a downpour, and the garden began its important job of filtering stormwater runoff immediately!

Scituate Town Hall Rain Garden

The Rain garden in the parking lot of the Village Tavern (formerly Bentley’s) and Famous Pizza continued to flourish this year. Improve-ments include newly crushed stone around the garden, and a new, weather-proof pamphlet holder moved from the back of the garden to the front gate. Pamphlets even had to be restocked, showing that visi-tors are interested in the project.

In 2009 NRICD coordinated with Scituate High School teachers and students to "Adopt-a-Spot" on Rockland Road in North Scituate. The spot they chose, at the request of Providence Water, is a place where a small stream crosses under the road. Previously, stormwater had run unimpeded off the pavement into the stream, carrying with it sediment and pollutants. This particular stream is a tributary that leads directly into the Scituate Reservoir. The students worked with an engineer from Providence Water to install two sediment forebays, one on each side of the road. These forebays act as settling basins, slowing down the flow of stormwater enough so that its sediment load settles to the bottom before the water continues into the tributary. By 2013, the forebays had filtered an enormous amount of stormwater,

and were completely full of sediment. This shows that they are

functioning well, but in order to continue to do so they require periodic

maintenance. The RI Department of Transportation responded to

NRICD’s call for maintenance on March 27, and sent a crew with dump

trucks and excavator to clear

accumulated sediment and debris

from the basins, allowing them to

continue to function.

Village Tavern Rain Garden

Rockland Road Sediment Forebays

NRICD staff partnered with Ms. Shannon Donovan’s NEED Club (National Energy Education Development) once again to repair damage to the Outdoor Classroom at Scituate High School. Middle School students also participated, assisting High School students building a boardwalk through a low lying section of the path leading to the classroom. The Scituate Reservoir Watershed Education Program was able to provide lumber for the project. While a great deal was accomplished, there is still more to be done to

repair storm damage to both the trail and the classroom itself. Future

plans include repairing and replacing some of the benches, and

replacing damaged signage. Some woodlot management activities are

also planned, such as thinning and fencing a 1-acre deer exclusion

area to demonstrate ecological succession where hardwoods have

more of a chance to get established. This has the potential to become

a great learning opportunity over time, helping to illustrate the need

for deer population control in the watershed.

Ms. Donovan received an award at the Statehouse this year on behalf

of the Scituate High School NEED Club. She attributes much of the

success of the club to the ongoing partnership and support of the

Scituate Reservoir Education Program.

Outdoor Classroom

Looking for new ways to reach out to residents and visitors to the Scituate Reservoir Watershed, NRICD developed an activity placemat and asked local restaurants to participate in spreading the word about the watershed by providing them to diners. The placemat includes a range of activities and information designed to engage both children and adults. Activities include a Scituate Reservoir Watershed connect-the-dots, watershed crossword puzzle and household nonpoint source pollution coloring sheet. Over 4,000 placemats were printed and distributed to twelve businesses in the watershed. Some restaurants requested laminated copies which will be used for months to come and can be colored on with dry-erase markers. The placemats were personalized for each business with their own logo in the upper left hand corner.

Twelve restaurants participated: Cindy’s Diner China Garden Knight Farm April’s On The Pike Harmony Corner Store Expresso’s Pizza Granite Farm The Village Bean Bishop Hill Tavern Couzzo’s Pizza Shady Acres Chesters’ Restaurant

Watershed Dining

Neighbor to Neighbor

The Neighbor to Neighbor Program provides new residents of the watershed towns with information on well head protection, septic system operation and maintenance, and methods that can be used to reduce ground and surface water contamination of the Scituate Reservoir Watershed. Residents learn what a watershed is and why the Scituate Reservoir Watershed is so important to protect for the well being of RI residents. Residents personally benefit by protecting their own wells and, at the same time, their stewardship of the land helps protect the public water supply.

New residents in the Towns of Johnston, Foster, Glocester and Scituate that fall inside the Scituate Reservoir Watershed received a Neighbor to Neighbor packets including information on the Scituate Reservoir and the and the responsibilities that go along with living near it. Packets included information on NRICD programs , business reply cards and information on the Farm, Forest and Open Space Act. The total distributed was 283.

Poster Contest

Elementary Program

The elementary school poster contest continued for its 19th year in 2013, with full participants from all of the elementary schools within the Scituate Reservoir Watershed—including Brown Avenue School in Johnston, which had not participated in recent years. SRWEP adopted the National Association of Conservation Districts’ theme for 2013, “Where Does Your Water Shed?”. Focusing on stormwater and nonpoint source pollution. Teachers received packets with information about how watersheds work and the science behind stormwater pollution, with specifics about the Scituate Reservoir Watershed. SRWEP educators visited each class of either 3rd or 4th graders at each school, presenting a lesson on watershed with the interactive EnviroScape Watershed Model and several other activities. The Watershed Model continued to be a crowd favorite, engaging students with the concepts of how a watershed works, reinforcing the idea of nonpoint source pollution, and visually demonstrating the harmful effects of stormwater runoff.

Each student received a Scituate Watershed connect the dots homework assignment, a map of the greater Pawtuxet River Watershed, and an activity book from the National Association of Conservation Districts with an array of puzzles, quizzes and coloring sheets about watersheds, as well as more detailed information to bring home to their families. Between the teacher resource packets, in-class presentation, homework assignments and activity book students were well prepared to participate in the annual Poster Contest.

Billboard Campaign

A poster created by Isabella Luchka a student at North Scituate School was chosen to appear on a bill board in July of 2013. The billboard is located on Route 6 in Scituate. Her poster shows how your actions affect your water, highlighting the affect of toxic chemicals has on the water supply,

The 2013 Annual Water Festival was held on May 7, returning to Camp Aldersgate in Glocester. Over 260 3rd and 4th graders from every elementary school in the Scituate Reservoir Watershed were in attendance. Students rotated through three activity stations, learning more about the history of the Scituate Reservoir, playing watershed games and watching a play about the life of a water drop, created especially for the event.

The history of the watershed was explored by Ray Wolf, author of the Lost Villages of Scituate and Christopher Reily, Providence Water Forester. Ray and Christopher showed students pictures of the building of the reservoir and even shared a poem written by a woman who lived in one of the villages that was demolished in the process. The Swamp Meadow Community Theatre of Foster created a new play for this year’s SRWEP theme– “Where Does Your Water Shed?”, which had students laughing and participating by contributing nonpoint source pollution top a family of water drops on their journey all the way from a cloud to the reservoir, flowing over impervious surfaces and picking up pollutants along the way. The third activity station was hosted by Scituate High School’s NEED club, lead by teacher Shannon Donovan and student teacher Louis Cirello.

Water Festival

Boyce Spinelli, General Manager of Providence Water awarded the winners of the poster contest. Paul Dolan, Northern District Chair of the Board, spoke to the students about the importance of their work. All students received pencils, erasers and rulers with the SRWEP logo on them to remind them of their watershed in the future.

High School Programs

The successful GET WET! Well water testing program continued in 2013 with participation by both of the high schools in the Scituate Reservoir Watershed. Ms. Denise Collins, Ms. Shannon Donovan, and Mr. Brian Wentworth’s classes participated at Scituate High School and three of Mr. Dave Moscarelli’s classes participated at Ponaganset High School. Each class was visited 3 times. SRWEP educators gave students an introduction to watershed science and a lesson on well water basics, and gave each student a folder of information to bring home to their families as well as a sampling bottle. They then tested their home well water for five parameters: nitrates, iron, hardness, chloride, pH and conductivity. NRICD staff were joined by Richard Blodgett and Christopher Reily from Providence Water as well as Paul Dolan of RI Resource Conservation & Development, who helped to facilitate each testing station. Students also mapped the location of their samples, enabling them to recognize potential trends at the third classroom visit. These results we graphed, mapped and shared with the students for analysis. Several samples were found to have elevated levels of nitrates, and since nitrates can pose a serious health risk, these students were advised to seek additional well water testing. In total, 167 students tested their well water through the GETWET! Program.

GET WET!

2013 marked the second year that the NRICD worked cooperatively with USDA-NRCS on the Agricultural Technician agreement. The Northern District Ag Tech worked with both the District Conservationist and planners for Providence County to maximize the application of NRCS program funding and technical assistance to address Northern Rhode Island’s resource concerns. Through this agreement, NRICD was able to provide both technical and administrative assistance to NRCS planners, farmers and forestland owners. The Ag Tech responded to all inquiries about NRCS programs, assisted landowners with questions and the application process and follow up to provide technical assistance in the field. The Ag Tech also worked as a planner, providing contract management and implementation assistance to both NRCS and landowners. Over the course of fiscal year 2013, over 255 inquiries were responded to regarding NRCS technical and financial assistance. Fifty six landowners have been assisted with the application process and/or a resource concern evaluation in the field. The Ag Tech also provided weekly assistance to Providence County planners with contract management, mapping, contract reviews ad contract implementation and checkout. NRICD is looking forward to expanding this agreement into the 2014 fiscal year!

Agricultural Technician Agreement

The purpose of this program was to promote USDA Farm Bill programs and accelerate the technical support for forestry, wildlife habitat, and water quality for small-scale (5-10 acres) forest landowners in RI. The goal was to maximize the application of NRCS program funding to address resource concerns on forestlands. Outreach and one-on-one technical assistance was provided to targeted groups of small forestland owners in the communities of Foster, Glocester, Scituate and Burrillville Rhode Island.

A steering committee provided advice and consultation for workshops, key materials, and workshop design. Agencies and organizations include NRICD, NRCS, Providence Water, RI RC&D, RIFCO, RI DEM- Division of Forest Environment, URI, and Tree Farm.

Through a partnership between URI, NRCS and NRICD, guidance documents (management plan templates, etc.) to assist producers with program eligibility requirements were created to assist producers with program eligibility requirements for NRCS programs. These documents were based on the existing templates for Technical Service Providers, the Tree Farm guidance sheets, the “Today’s Forest, Tomorrow’s Legacy,” checklist, and the guidance documents for Farm, Forest and Open Space. Four workshops were held (one in each of the target towns) with the

goal of finding potential interested parties/applicants for NRCS

programming. Workshops covered topics that were identified in the,

“Today’s Forest, Tomorrow’s Legacy,” packet, which was used as the

guidance material and handout for the series. The workshops had

speakers identified from both the forestry community and steering

committee. Participants filled out a workshop evaluation that provided

coordinators with valuable feedback on successes and shortcomings of

the workshop series.

Number of individuals that attended at least one workshop: 104 Number of individuals that attended more than one workshop: 14 Number of individuals that attended all four workshops: 9 Number of individuals that had property with small acreages

(between 5-10 ac): 15 Number of site visits specific to project: 9 Number of applications submitted for NRCS programs: 5

Small Forestry

Conservation Farm of the Year

NRICD was pleased to honor Bally Duff Farm, owned and oper-ated by Robin and Jeff Meek as the 2013 Farm of the Year. This 16 acre farm located in Harmony, specializes in Black Lincoln sheep and has recently added vegetables and eggs as well. Robin has worked with NCRS to install a prescribed grazing system in-cluding fencing, livestock watering facilities and pipelines. They have managed for invasives in the pastures and followed nutrient management recommendations through soil testing. In 2011, Robin installed a high tunnel to extend the growing season for crops that are sold locally. Additionally Robin and Jeff have man-aged their 80+ acres of forest land in accordance with a forest management plan and they have participated in CSP.

The recipient of the Chairman’s Award for 2013 is Zephyr Farm, a 5 acre farm run by Michele Kozloski at Urban Edge. They specialize in vegetables and free-range eggs. Michele has worked with NRCS to install a high tunnel, rotational fencing, micro irrigation system, cover crop and has also managed for invasives.

Chairman’s Award

2011-2012 Financial Statement

EXPENSES:

Salaries - District Personnel $146,669.42 Health Insurance $5,527.14 Ancillary Expenses $158.97 Annual Dinner $290.37 Computer Expense $932.37 Contributions $500.00 Directors’ Stipends $600.00 Flyers/promos/outreach $521.70 Grant Expenses $28,803.20 Insurance $2,716.62 Meetings/Workshops Held $419.47 Meetings/Conferences Attended $3,615.10 Mileage $228.43 Misc. $1,000.69 Postage & Delivery $102.29 Shared Overhead Expense $1,980.00 State Committee Expense $12,031.96 Stationary/Supplies $758.34 TOTAL EXPENSES $ 206,856.07

INCOME:

Town Contributions $ 3,500.00 State Contribution $12,024.00 Contribution to Offset Bldg Exp $5,691.74 Interest $21.28 Printing Income $1,603.00 Seedling, topo sales, membership $1,728.36 Grants $183,484.02 Affiliated—SCC/CD’s/RIACD $268.40

TOTAL INCOME $208,299.52

The Conservation Districts have a unique relationship with the Natural Resource Conservation Service. While the programs are established by Congress through the Farm Bill, local land owners meet monthly to identify the needs for each local county in the United States. Here in Providence County, our Board of Directors represents the community through elected and appointed positions. Justin Tuthill, Northern District Conservationist from NRCS, attends our monthly meetings and together with the Board of Directors, determines priorities that will best serve this district. We assist in the areas of Outreach and Education, Conservation Technical Assistance, Fish and Wildlife Habitat, Wetland Restoration, Grassland and Forest Ecosystems, Soil Quality, Water Management, Water Quality, Energy Conservation Forest/Farmland Conservation. The summary table below lists the towns we currently have contracts in, the financial value of the projects and the number of properties being addressed in each town.

TOWN # CONTRACTS ASSISTANCE PRO-

VIDED

BURRILLVILLE 24 $689,611.91

CRANSTON 13 $269,134.45

CUMBERLAND 5 $150,167.50

FOSTER 48 $098,122.94

GLOCESTER 19 $552,337.63

JOHNSTON 7 $413,187.41

N.SMITHFIELD 10 $175,632.29

PAWTUCKET 3 $2,754,572.00

PROVIDENCE 8 $519,376.16

SCITUATE 39 $612,838.16

SMITHFIELD 13 $226,908.29

WOONSOCKET 1 $651.00

TOTAL 190 $7,362,539.74

Our Partnership with USDA-NRCS

Current USDA-NRCS Projects in NRCID

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