Rhode Island

Award-Winning Training Prepares Rhode Island for Rising Hazards

The Takeaway: A course and outreach events, aided by the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve, help coastal officials consider resilience planning and check off state-mandated adaptation training.

Dredging and Seeds Help Restore Marsh Ecology

The Takeaway: Restoration project uses dredged sand to deepen channel and build up marsh banks being lost to sea level rise.

Environmental Educators Tailor Lessons to Diverse Student Needs

The Takeaway: Students of the coast love to learn when educators reach them where they are—whether that’s online, in the field, or through the wisdom of their own culture and stewardship traditions.

First-Ever National Marsh Assessment Tool

The Takeaway: Research reserves determine methodology for calculating sea level rise impact on the marsh and test it in 16 locations. Methodology standardizes the effort and creates a national approach.

Groundbreaking Study Uses Reserves to Evaluate Restoration Success

The Takeaway: Newly standardized performance measures make it easier and more economical to evaluate wetland restoration projects.

Learning about Estuarine Ecosystems in American Sign Language

The Takeaway: Three New England research reserves, the Center for Research and Training at The Learning Center for the Deaf, and Boston University created an immersive instructional experience for educators of the Deaf. The benefits keep adding up.

NOAA Cheers Citizen Scientists

The Takeaway: These coastal volunteers walk the talk of science and stewardship by gathering data to help ecosystems remain vibrant and communities grow more resilient.

NOAA Expands Coastal Opportunities for People with Disabilities

The Takeaway: Creating sign language for “estuary” and other coastal terms, and trails that accommodate wheelchairs and the needs of the visually impaired—these are just two of the contributions from research reserves and coastal zone management programs.

Native Americans Play Critical Roles in Many NOAA Projects

The Takeaway: We take a look at the great things that can happen when NOAA and Indigenous communities work together on coastal issues.

New Hampshire “Green Credits” Process Okayed by Two Regulators

The Takeaway: “Credit for Going Green” provides a strategy for earning regulatory credits by installing natural buffers, plus a way to calculate buffer pollution-removal rates, with support from four national estuarine research reserves and NOAA’s Science Collaborative program.

Parasite-Host Findings Aid Knowledge of Temperature Impacts

The Takeaway: Research reserve data from seven states contributed to one of the first U.S. studies to quantify how temperature-parasite interactions affect the survival of both parasites and their hosts.

Smart Planning Leads to America’s First Offshore Wind Farm

The Takeaway: CZM program co-led the development of a comprehensive, science-based ocean planning approach that minimizes use conflicts and protects natural resources. The public is reaping big benefits.

Study Teases Out What Makes a Tidal Marsh “Happy” or “Unhappy”

The Takeaway: Research reserve scientists and others explain marsh persistence with a twist on novelist Leo Tolstoy’s famous “happy families” opening line.

Study of 15 Research Reserves Finds Crabs Pose No Large-Scale Salt Marsh Threat

The Takeaway: While specific crab species can cause local damage, rising seas appear to be a bigger threat to salt marshes nationwide.