Rhode Island Resource Protection Project

Goals, Benefits and Results

Resource Protection Project Goals

• Identify areas in Rhode Island that encompass important natural resources and are in good ecological health.
  
• Facilitate the protection of critical natural resources in the identified Resource Protection Areas by working with all appropriate parties.
  
• Provide information and input to the New England region-wide Resource Protection Project.
  
  

Protection of healthy resources, rather than restoration of impaired ecosystems, was the primary focus of the resource protection targeting process because prevention is often less costly than restoration and usually results in a higher quality environment. This does not mean that areas that require restoration activities have not been considered, however emphasis has been placed on determining places where effective pollution prevention and resource protection strategies can be implemented.

Resource Protection Project Benefits

• Find areas and partners for cooperative efforts and pilot projects
• Provide a communication forum to promote a variety of concerns and viewpoints
• Expand horizons of current agency/organization activities
• Utilize GIS maps for project review
• Support education and outreach on natural resource issues
• Provide information for agency/organization internal planning and targeting
• Assist with the coordination and targeting of existing regulatory and non-regulatory programs.
  

Resource Protection Project Results

The Rhode Island Resource Protection Project developed a set of maps that depict statewide natural resources using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. These maps are composed of existing data from the Rhode Island Geographic Information System (RIGIS), information collected by the project, and computer analyses of the data. Some of these images are quite large and take a few minutes to load on your browser. They are somewhat large in dimension and this will require that you pan around with your scroll bars.

Habitat Resources

Water Supply Resources

Rhode Island Watersheds

Rhode Island Wetlands and Floodplains

Agricultural and Forestry Resources

Open Space, Recreation and Cultural Resources

Environmental Threats

Reviewing the resource maps, the workgroup utilized four criteria to identify Resource Protection Areas:

1. Resources that Co-occur. Areas with a variety of high value natural resources.

2. Scarcity of Resource. Areas that contain one or more resources that are very rare in the state -- including areas of high biodiversity.

3. Resource of State Significance. Areas that provide the best example of a particular resource in the state.

4. Proximity of Resource to Threats.

• An area's natural resources are not in imminent danger, thus there is a better chance of protection because the area has a healthy ecosystem (more emphasis on prevention rather than restoration); or
• A natural resource is threatened, thus there is a need to focus protection measures in the area to address the immediate risks.
  

The workgroup came to a consensus on nine Resource Protection Areas. To see a map of the areas, click here. A full written description of the Resource Protection Areas can be seen by clicking here.

Written descriptions of each area can be seen by clicking on the region you are interested in:

Eastern Blackstone

Moosup River/Western Blackstone

Western Pawtuxet

Hunt/Potowomut

Wood/Pawcatuck

South Coastal

Narragansett Bay

Eastern Sakonnet

Block Island

For additional information on the Rhode Island Resource Protection Project, contact:

New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission

255 Ballardvale Street

Wilmington, MA 01887

Tel: (508) 658-0500

e-mail: mail@neiwpcc.org

website: www.neiwpcc.org