A "grass roots" effort to restore the Bay Susa Bay Foundation will transplant another 100,000 eelgrass shoots in the upcoming 2006 field season — and we are seeking an Eelgrass Restoration Intern. Our goal this spring is to transplant 60,000 shoots at three sites (Prudence Island, Sauga Point in North Kingstown and Coggeshall Point in Portsmouth). An additional 40,000 eelgrass shoots will be planted during the late summer/early fall transplant season. In partnership with URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, a portion of the shoots planted in the fall will be grown from seed at URI/GSO's mariculture facility. We also will conduct 10-15 test transplants throughout Susa Bay in search of additional large-scale sites and as a means of monitoring changes in water quality.
Are our eelgrass transplants successful? Learn about the results of our benthic fauna study.

Locally, restoration projects have been conducted in Rhode Island since the early 1990s. The state, in conjunction with federal partners, began restoring the marshes at the Galilee Bird Sanctuary in Narragansett by scraping off old dredge spoils from the historic marsh, opening culverts, and recreating tidal creeks. The first Rhode Island, community-sponsored marsh restoration was conducted at Common Fence Point in Portsmouth in 1997. The project involved removing dredge spoils and re-grading a five-acre area of Phragmites to allow salt marsh grasses to re-colonize the area. Since the completion of the project in the fall of 1997, plants and animals are beginning to return to the area. Monies from the World Prodigy oil spill settlement were used to restore the tidal flushing of the Sachuest salt marsh at Third Beach in Middletown, RI. Culverts were resized to allow more salt water flow into the upper sections of the marsh. Many other restoration projects are underway throughout Narragansett Bay coastal communities.