[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
4- 710 \08m cor@ A co) (q ffl@q CQ Ir QK 938 .S27 5 H35 1976 CQ J, t Atlas of Rhode Island Salt Marshes COASTAL ZONE INFORMATION CENTER William L. Halvorson D William E. Gardiner P In Prepared for The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council by The Coastal Resources Center C%< University of Rhode Island Marine Memorandum No. 44 1976 f The preparation of this report was financed in part by a planning grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-583), as amended through the Joint Funding Simplification Act Program administered as part of Federal Regional Council grant FRC-JF-01-09. Forward This inventory was undertaken as one element of changing in response to land drainage patterns, the an extensive effort by the Coastal Resources Center to use of abutting land, storms, and such gradual, catalog and assess the coastal resources of Rhode long-term processes as rising sea level. While these Island. This assessment is the foundation for the maps provide reliable information on the location of development of the Rhode Island coastal manage- salt marsh in 1975 and the shape and size of ment plan. individual marshes, they cann ot be used to infer the The coastal management plan, which is being precise borders of any marsh at a specific site. Where developed incrementally, is administered by the the boundary of a salt marsh must be precisely Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management established, an on-site inspection is always Council (CRMC), which was created in 1971 by the necessary. state legislature and charged to It is our hope that this atlas will assist not only ". . . preserve, protect, develop and where possible the Coastal Resources Management Council, but also restore the coastal resources of the state for this and town officials and private citizens concerned with this succeeding generations. resource and involved in the management of our (46-23-1, G.L.R.I.) shoreline. The CRMC has direct jurisdiction over all Stephen Olsen resources and activities below the mean high water Coordinator, Coastal Resources Center mark and over shoreline features including salt marshes. The CRMC operates through the granting of permits for activities within its jurisdiction. A special effort to map salt marshes was undertaken because their importance has long been recognized, and because they are found at the water's edge along protected shorelines, where human pressures to modify or destroy them are frequently Acknowledgments intense. Although the alteration of Rhode Island's marshes has been taking place since the ' seventeenth Many hours were spent in the field by Buddy century, attempts to learn their precise locations, and Alves, who assisted William Gardiner in the final acreage have begun only recently. Until the release of survey. Preliminary fieldwork was undertaken by this document, a detailed and consistent series of Jane Miner. We also thank Dr. Irene Stuckey and maps that have been thoroughly checked in the field biologists with the Rhode Island Department of has not been available. Natural Resources, who shared with us their It is important to recognize that salt marshes are knowledge of the state's salt marshes and reviewed dynamic features whose borders are constantly the final maps. Introduction The salt marshes shown in this atlas have been precise outline of any newly identified marsh. In this Other species that may be locally dense but are identified according to the definition found in the manner numerous areas of salt marsh that had not usually scattered among the dominant species State of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management appeared in previous surveys were mapped, and include the following: Aster tenuifolius (salt aster), Council Plan; Policies and Regulations: mistakes concerning the presence or size of identified Atriplex spp. (orach), Gerardi maritima (purple "An intertidal salt marsh shall be defined as any land marshes were corrected. For the first time, fringe gerardia), Limonium carolinianurn (sea lavender), Which borders or lies beneath the tidal waters of this marsh, defined as a band of marsh vegetation five Plantago maritima (seaside plantain), Salicornia europaca state and upon which grow one or more of the yards or less in width, was mapped. Fringe marshes, (salt wort), Scirpus maritimus (salt marsh bullrush), following plant species: cordgrass (Spartina however, were noted merely as present or absent. Spergularia marina (sand spurrey), Suaeda maritima (sea alterniflora); salt meadow grass (Spartina The acreage of fringe marsh was calculated assuming blite) and Triglochin maritima (arrow grass). patens); spike grass (Distichlis spicata); black rush an average width of 2.75 yards. In general, the variety and complexity of plant Summary results: A total of 3,668 acres of salt communities are greater in the larger marshes. In (Juncus gerardi); saltworts (Salicornia spp.); marsh was mapped, including 76 miles (76 acres) of some marshes the zonation pattern described above seaside lavender (Limonium carolinianum)." fringe marsh. Tables 1, 2 and 3 list, by town, the is broken into a mosaic pattern; in other - usually Sophisticated techniques, including the use of acreage, the number of marshes by size class, and the smaller - marshes, one or more of the three zones aerial infrared photography, have been successfully length of fringe marsh. may be present. Fringe marsh is frequently composed used to map vegetation. The small size of Rhode The salt marshes are concentrated in the almost exclusively of cordgrass. Island, funding constraints, and the existence of a following areas: the south shore, Barrington and A comparison between the results of this recent series of black-and-white aerial photographs Warren, Portsmouth, Tiverton, and Warwick. Salt inventory and others shows the following: and land use maps persuaded us, however, to rely on marsh is least abundant in upper Narragansett Bay existing data with verification by complete field from Cranston to Pawtucket. checking. Rhode Island's salt marshes generally show clear 1955(l) 2,315 acres Includes only marshes Base maps were prepared from land-use and patterns of zonation: 1959(2) 2,244 acres greater than 40 acres vegetation maps produced by MacConnell (5) from - Along the water's edge, salt marsh cordgrass 1964(3) 2,192 acres black-and-white aerial photographs of the entire state (Spartina alterniflora) dominates. The cordgrass taken in 1970 at a 'Uniform scale of 1:12,000. Also growing closest to the water is often significantly 1962(4) 4,238 acl Includes only marshes g, "" "" r than approxi- noted on the base maps were salt marshes identified taller than the cordgrass behind. 1972(5) 3,243 acr@'els ma tel y five acres in a number of other studies. The base maps were - The second zone is usually dominated by salt then taken into the field, where the entire shoreline of meadow cordgrass (Spartina patens). On the larger salt 1975 (this survey) 3,668 acres All marsh including fringe marsh the state was covered on foot or observed from a marshes this is usually the most extensive plant small boat. Where previously unidentified salt marsh community present. was found, or the base maps deviated from what was - The third zone is made up of two The earlier surveys of larger marshes show a observed, direct measurements and field notes were communities: one dominated by spike grass clear reduction of salt marsh acreage, but the trend in taken. (Distichlis spicata), and the other by the black rush later studies is less clear. The work presented here - Black-and-white aerials taken in 1974 were (Juncus gerardi). Spike grass is frequently provides a baseline from which further changes may examined stereoscopically in the lab to determine the concentrated closer to salt water than is black rush. be accurately monitored. Table 1. Salt marshes in Rhode Island, by town. Table 2. Rhode Island's salt marshes, by size class, by town. Table 3. Acreage of Rhode Island salt marshes by town. Fringe Other Fringe Other Marshes Marshes marshes marshes Total Towns (yds.) (acres) Towns 1 2- 3- 4- 5* Towns (acres) (acres) acreage Westerly 13,745.47 236.69 Westerly 42 40 7 1 0 Westerly 7.80 236.69 244.49 Charlestown 11,502.73 297.09 Charlestown 40 36 14 2 0 Charlestown 6.53 297.09 303.62 South Kingstown 12,623.06 313.79 South Kingstown 63 35 6 3 0 South Kingstown 7.17 313.79 320@96 Narragansett 7,037.83 337.00 Narragansett 27 35 7 5 0 Narragansett 4.00 337.00 341.00 North Kingstown 13,627.52 192.51 North Kingstown 61 49 10 0 0 North Kingstown 7.74 192.51 200.25 Warwick 19,582.19 248.86 Warwick 48 31 13 1 0 Warwick 11.12 248.86 259.98 East Greenwich 367.25 2.30 East Greenwich 1 0 0 0 0 East Greenwich 0.21 2.30 2.51 Cranston 26.23 4.92 Cranston A 1 0 Cranston 0.01 4.82 4.83 Providence 0 3.21 Providence 0 1 0 0 0 Providence 0.00 3.21 3.21 Pawtucket 0 0 Pawtucket 0 0 0 0 0 Pawtucket 0.00 0.00 0.00 East Providence 4,852.92 83.57 East Providence 25 15 3 1 0 East Providence 2.76 83.57 86.33 Barrington 9,955.04 449.11 Barrington 44 27 8 4 1 Barrington 5.65 449.11 454.76 Warren 4,354.51 239.66 Warren 15 13 6 2 0 Warren 2.47 239.66 242.13 Bristol 6,361.26 125.34 Bristol 50 21 3 1 0 Bristol 3.61 125.34 128.95 Tiverton 5,521.84 320.47 Tiverton 24 23 4 0 1 Tiverton 3.14 320.47 323.61 Little Compton 393.48 64.07 Little Compton 4 7 4 0 0 Little Compton 0.22 64.07 64.29 Portsmouth 14,978.47 437.33 Portsmouth 79 17 10 5 0 Portsmouth 8.51 437.33 445.84 Middletown 262.47 13.77 Middletown I 1 0 0 0 Middletown 0.15 13.77 13.92 Newport 1,862.47 35.81 Newport 17 8 2 0 0 Newport 1.06 35.81 36.87 Jamestown 2,715.01 138.88 Jamestown 20 3 3 2 0 Jamestown 1.54 138.88 140.42 New Shoreham 4,000.38 48.20 New Shoreharn 12 13 3 0 0 New Shoreharn 2.27 4820 50.47 133,770.08* 3,592.48** Totals 574 376 '103 27 2 Total 75.96 3,592.48 3,668.44* *133,770.08 yds. 76.01 miles = 122,300.09 meters 1 @2.30 kin *1 fringe marshes *3,668.44 acres 1,485.72 hectares **3,592.48 acres = 1,454.95 hectares 2 0.23-4.9 acres 3 5.0-24.9 acres 4 25.0-99.9 acres 5 100+ acres References Cited How To Use This Atlas: Map Symbols 1. Anom. 1965. A Supplementary Report on the Coastal To find, for example, a salt marsh in the upper Wetlands Inventory of Rhode Island. U.S. Dept. of the Providence River, turn first to the orientation map on Interior. Fish and Wildlife Service, Div. of River Basin Studies, the following page to locate the general are a*. In this Boston, MA, 10 pp. case it would be area E. Next, turn to Map E and Salt marsh 2. Anom., op. cit. select the numbered inventory map or maps that 3. Anom., op. cit. cover the specific area you're interested in. The 4. Kupa, J. J. and W. R. Whitman. 1972. Land Cover Types of inventory maps are numbered consecutively from Rhode Island: an ecological inventory. University of Rhode Freshwater marsh Island, Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 439, 30 PP. west to east; they have been prepared using US 5. MacConnell, W. P. 1974. Remote Sensing Land Use and Geological Survey quadrangle maps as a base. Vegetative Cover in Rhode Island. Bull. 200, URI-Cooperative Extension Service, 93 pp. Salt marsh, less than 5 yards wide (fringe) Map Scale 1:12,000 1 1/2 0 1 mile Orientation Map . . . . . . . . . . . . .... ...... . . ........ . . . ....... ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Area'Maps IN: . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . ............. 37, ..... . .... 18 Is . . . . ...... XV 26 :xx ll:..@-. @ix w;"M MR 133 A@ 138 52 IIK@-Xf M@ Z6 . ...... . ..... 139 ........... ........... .. . . .. .. .. ....... . . ....... . ........ ..... 93 139 141 103 14 .. .... . . . . . . fos 4 Vl@ .. .. ..... .. . RAM POINT RAM POINT Will RHODES POINTA WATCH HILL TCH HILL COVE NAPATREE POINT WATCH HILL POINT 61 RT. IA Ove I N N A P A U G 0 N D Atlanlic AM OD LW cist ntoug Rd C -N Quonoc 0 OW 0 0 +0 I)a Ole' csc, z ci@ 4v CD OS, eQCb 12 14 POTATO POINT A 41 c NM NA'O-Lg-9NI)t 0 46' 0 4, 7- 4f'EADOW C 0 VO 0 4f 0 n 0 Matunuck F? it Moonstone Beach Rd. 18 C\j z C\j tp N4RRAGANSETT SOUTH KINGSTO*N 22 eac Rel 24 It Af- RT. I 4-w- nn I I I BLACK POINT I I N i lb 0 GUNNING I ROCK I I I I 26 -0 CORMORANT POINT 28 fty. iA 41, F7, -TH [email protected] NOR N GANSE*T'T ARRA FORT 32 VARNUM t Shores Rd. 4G4 G 41 A- BONNET POINT 34 GREENE POINT FOX ISL ROME POINT 36- LITTLE TREE POINT c rl p eoch S ROME shad POINT 38 po,d onsiT Point S a A SAUGA POINT 40 AA ALLEN HARBOR CALF PASTURE 4Z POINT VARWICK NO TH KIN G17S z T 0 20 z 00 ,,@AST GREENWICH WARWIC RT. z -04 BUTTONWOODS z 3uttonwoods Ave 00 3AOZ) sob, *0 ,3 RT. 117 ROCKY POINT Ar- 5?j OCCUPASSATUXET COVE G 54 PAWTUXET COVE Norra ansett 13, v d, ;K Ln 0 cl) M oc, 0 QI POND OOSG klo'@o P/ FOX POINT Cl) 04& ZZ7 So q, col z 58 P, 0 0 :3 N CD p wru r Z- cr I- w SWAN POINT STONY POINT 60 KETTLE POINT SABIN POINT 62 Ve. q- A, BULLOC AYAAT N POINT POINT 00, cv z cn z Cl) BARRINGTON WARREN t\o -.L8 OD 49 RIVER New ...... A4 CA 00 ........... z C) 0 ew ecdow Itid. 84 uj C.AVZ,q ct: CO or 114 72 OU 74 POPASQUASH POINT 76 mo BRISTOL POINT 781 Smith St. L ifn) c A co er 0 Narrows RcL 0 ,WAF?REN BRISTd-L 80 ca 82 N m m w I ,I i I A I cr w z z N 0 w C0 0 I GOULD I I I I L@ 84 1 D ISLAND SAPOWET POINT 86 88'. 0 u I T P 0 N D . Puncatest Neck Rd m Q- Rd* FOGLAND POINT A@N CHURCH POINT BROWN POINT 90@ cl SAKONNET POINT 92 SHIP POP COVE WARREN POINT MOUNT HOPE BAY io ir Lu lo- 96 COMMON FENCE 98 POINT 4K- get z :0 i I I . 102. I I N N I 1@ I I I BL p d SANDY P OINT It I N Id 44 ec AV C-3 104,1 107 SACHUEST POINT 1-0 Z CL w w 0 Belivue Ave. OD Q 41\ YA@ A A L M Y P 0 N D Ocean Drive 110 4, 0 RAGGED POINT 12 CODDINGTON POINT GOAT ISLAND LU 114 S p A 4 ,q ly RT. It 4 DYER ISLAND COGGESHALL POINT 118 ARNOLD POINT CONANICUT POINT Cl) 120 - c 4 S T. Eas t Sho,e d, East hore Rd North Rd. North Rd. SAND Seaside Dri POINT N 122 Fast shore Rd.- A North Rd. N E Shore R E,st PASSASC 124 VIE 06 AL lb DUTCH HARBOR SOUTHWFST POINT 126 12 DUTCH ISLAND cl VA 16 C, W Fort GeltY 131 PATIENCE ISLAND BEAVERTAIL POINT 130 .132 COGGESHALL PINE HILL COVE POINT NORTHEAST POINT 134 N i I I N SOUTH POINT i I . I I I E A S T p .A S S A G E 136 HOG ISLAND HOPE ISLAND 138 SANDY N POINT I i m i GOULD ISLAND w I Q7 -X- 0 V IF @l 0 140 0 142 BALLS POINT GREAT SALT POND z 0. w cr C) z r St. eck Rd 4x I 0 / f I i I N N i BLACK ROCK SOUTHWEST POINT i POINT I i i I I F- I I 1 146 -1 - i CORMORANT POINT N ... 11 I I 11 148 L90 6MIL 8 99 s pt