The Providential Gardener

Rhode Island Floods ~ March 2010

We Rhode Islanders are experiencing the worst flooding in memory this week, with record rainfalls of 8-9 inches in two days and many of our rivers not only at flood stage but at record levels that have broken records set barely two weeks ago. And we're painfully experiencing what "WATERSHED" can mean when too much water has to drain in too little time.

A watershed is essentially a natural, intricate system for draining water from the land. The EPA describes watersheds this way:

"We all live in a watershed -- the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer, or even the ocean -- and our individual actions can directly affect it. Working together using a watershed approach will help protect our nation's water resources."

"John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is:

'that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.'"

Source: EPA Watershed Website

The Providence Journal published a good description of How a river floods: Rainfall just the beginning, (by C. Eugene Emery Jr., Journal Staff Writer on March 30, 2010. I think I'd reword the title, though, to be "How a river floods: An extraordinary rainfall can be the last straw." The article highlights that even though the rainfall has ended, the flooding will still increase for a while before subsiding. But how we work and plan together to manage our local watersheds BEFORE the rainy days can make things better or worse than they might have been.

This rainfall is so extraordinary that no matter how well we had prepared, Rhode Island would be in an emergency. Many Rhode Islanders work hard to manage our watersheds year in and year out, among them The Friends of the Pawtuxet. I'm sure that a lot of folks don't think the Pawtuxet is their friend today as the river's waters flood their homes and streets, destroying their belongings. But our rivers will continue to need all of us to be Friends, to speak up in public meetings and reasonably deal with the issues involved in development and water management.

The worst flooding is along the Pawtuxet River. Here is the Pawtuxet River Watershed Authority description of this watershed comprised of 64 ponds, 93 brooks, 7 tributary rivers, and 18 dams:

"The Pawtuxet River watershed, located in central-western Rhode Island, is the largest watershed in the state. The river flows generally from west to east. Its headwaters are in the hills of western Rhode Island. Its mouth is in historic Pawtuxet Village between the cities of Warwick and Cranston, the state's second and third largest cities. The watershed encompasses all or portions of the following communities: Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Providence, Scituate, Warwick, West Greenwich, and West Warwick. The Pawtuxet River watershed comprises the Scituate Reservoir and its tributaries, the North Branch of the Pawtuxet, the Pocasset River, the Big River and its tributaries, the Flat River Reservoir and its tributaries. the South Branch of the Pawtuxet, and the main stem of the Pawtuxet."

Gene Emery's article in the Projo points out some of the factors involved in the buildup of the rivers' waters. I've elaborated a little more on the March 29 PREFLOOD factors:

• A complex river system with several large tributaries and ponds. The Pawtuxet takes the natural runoff from all the smaller streams and rivers listed above that drain into it.
• Land use practices that prevent water from soaking into the ground.
• Development that does not incorporate systems for preventing runoff from roofs and parking lots, such as green roofs, water barrels, rain gardens, catchment basins. 
• Urban sprawl that increases the paved surfaces on our land, and often along our rivers. 
• Pressure to develop wetlands that would absorb extreme amounts of water. 
• Impervious pavement (water can't go through it, so it runs off from paved surface to paved surface eventually going directly into the storm drains). Parking lots can be paved with materials that let the water through, and perhaps damaged pavements could be replaced with this kind of material.
• Weak dams that we have not repaired, maintained well enough, or removed because of cost-cutting, pressures to fund other projects, the economy.... Ongoing proper management of the dams in Rhode Island is critically important on March 31, 2010, although most days it does not seem so. The care of dams requires ongoing voter support for enough DEM staff (which has been seriously cut in the last few years) and for funds for these projects, among other things.
• Acquisition of development rights to land in flood zones to control flooding when it occurs. Rhode Islanders have been champion supporters of open space acquisition bonds. We must continue to support the funding of floodplain projects also.
• Previously saturated ground from earlier rains. The ground was still coping with the record rains of two weeks ago when this latest storm came through March 29-30, 2010. We weren't sitting ducks, but rather we were floating ducks on March 29.

What can we do now? We just got the Perfect Storm. The rivers are doing what they do ~ drain the land ~ and they will subside eventually. But meanwhile....., and then in the coming months and years, what makes sense to do?

This video is from March 8 (!), WEEKS BEFORE BOTH record-breaking storms we've suffered since mid-March, about buying up development rights to land along the Pocasset and Pawtuxet Rivers to help control flooding.

This video was from March 15, so you can imagine how saturated the land is by March 29:

This video is also from March 15 on Perkins Ave in Cranston. An evacuated homeowner says in it, "...we're going to lose everything again, it's the second time in five years. ... They should just condemn this street and let the river take it. Get rid of all the houses because everyone's in jeopardy."

This is truly an extraordinary situation. We can't do anything about how much rain falls in a day. There will always be flooding now and then. But there are some sensible long-term responses we can make. Anyone can explore YouTube for videos of the latest flood pictures, and local news programs such as the Rhode Show have collections of photos and videos that may raise other issues and give us ideas for future action.

Our watersheds bring Rhode Islanders into a community, and we need to help out our neighbors who have been flooded in the short term. In the long term, we can also learn more about a "watershed approach" and work together to minimize the effects of future floods.

What Grows On in Rhode Island!

What Grows On in Rhode Island

is your personal assistant for environmental news.

See what's "growing on" locally and do your part!

Providential Gardener Environment Guides

At the recent 2010 RI Spring Flower & Garden Show, The Providential Gardener launched a new logo for What Grows On in Rhode Island, and a new series of Environment Guides. The Guides will cover different aspects of Rhode Island's environment and how to be in the Know about local green happenings. The first Guide also features the partners who joined us at the Show.

• Guide No. 1 ~ Our Common Good & Our Ecosystem

The Story of Bottled Water

World Water Day was March 22, but really, every day is Water Day, isn't it?

I love it when people send links to good resources ~ there's so much out there, it's hard to follow all the websites worth watching. This week a friend sent me a link to a video on The Story of Stuff about one of my particular causes ~ decreasing demand for bottled water. The Story of Bottled Water is a well-done presentation on why bottled water is not only unnecessary for the most part, but also extremely wasteful of natural resources and our own hard-earned money.

One point in the video is that many cities are not investing in the public water supply. Fortunately for Rhode Islanders, that's not the case here in the nation's smallest state. And our drinking water is almost the best in the whole USA. 

Providence tap water ranks with the nation’s best
Dec 15, 2009 - Providence tap water ranks with the nation’s best.   By Lynn Arditi Journal Staff Writer. ...

$76 million in drinking-water projects launched in RI
Dec 19, 2009 - $76 million in drinking-water projects launched in RI. 

Nevertheless, there is plenty to do still, and of course for something so essential to life as water, there must be eternal vigilance...

Opportunities to care for our local water supplies abound. Most cities and towns have boards and commissions devoted to maintaining high quality water resources in Rhode Island. See What Grows On in RI for public meetings, many of which concern water. Watershed Watch could use help from 350 Rhode Islanders also:

Volunteers needed for Watershed Watch program
Mar 23, 2010 - ... According to watershed watch director Linda Green, overall water quality in Rhode Island has been fairly good. She and Herron credit ...

We can cooperate with efforts to detect distribution systems water leaks:

March 2010: Providence Water embarks on ambitious leak detection system installation

Federal Stimulus funds are powering the latest Providence Water Supply Board initiative to equip its drinking water distribution system with thousands of leak detection devices. This system, called MLOG, will enable Providence Water to monitor the entire distribution system for water leaks. To accomplish this, leak detection devices will ultimately be installed in approximately 11,000 strategically-selected homes (about 15% of total customer homes throughout the entire Providence Water distribution system). The first phase of the program will see about 8,250 devices, purchased with special incentive bonds as part of the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, with debt service on the bonds being paid from existing water rates...

....Starting the week of March 15, 2010, Providence Water employees will begin the project in
North Providence neighborhoods requesting access to selected homes. Once North Providence installations are complete, Providence Water customers in Providence, Cranston and Johnston will be systematically contacted as the progress of the installation program continues. It is expected to take 2 years to completely install MLOG devices throughout the system...[read more]

[The photo above is of a holding pond outside the offices of the Scituate Reservoir.]

For further background, check out these stories that Peter Lord wrote in the Providence Journal:

RI to utilize stimulus money for water, sewer projects
Sep 03, 2009 -
... By Peter B. Lord Journal Environment ... announced that the state plans to begin
distributing about $135 million in loans for local drinking water and sewer ...

Passage likely for water supply bill
Jun 08, 2009 -
... By Peter B. Lord Journal Environment Writer. PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s drinking
water supplies should become more dependable over time, thanks to a ...

$150 million in stimulus loans to go to sewer, water projects
Mar 24, 2009 -
... By Peter B. Lord Journal Environment Writer. Sen. ... into communities across Rhode Island
for water and sewer ... loans will be available for drinking water and sewer ...

Urban Agriculture ~ Providence Continues to Grow!

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) videos document the travels of 4 young people during 2007-2008 who interviewed people in all 50 states about environmental issues. The Rhode Island video featuring Rich Peterson of City Farm is just the thing to see before the big Spring Kickoff for Plant Providence on Saturday, March 20, at the The Highlander Charter School, 42 Lexington Ave, Providence, RI, from 1 to 4pm. There'll be info on planning gardens, starting seeds, and composting, plus soil testing. Bring seeds for a Seed Swap, sample the ethnic food prepared by Providence's gardeners, and learn to make Nime Chow. 

The Kickoff is the first in a series of about a dozen workshops from now going into the fall on gardening in Providence. See the Plant Providence website for the full listing. And don't forget that you'll find all of these events in a nice neat Calendar format at What Grows On in Rhode Island.

 

This is YERTpod5. The YERT team also visited Watson Farm in Jamestown and interviewed Rhody Fresh dairy farmers and an alpaca farmer (YERTpod6). The YERT website has lots of other interesting and entertaining videos. What are your favorites? I was especially intrigued by the perennial vegetables and grains described in YERTpod30, Perennial Good Food In Kansas.

Children, Outdoor Play, and Learning to See

If you'd like some perspective on children and outdoor play  ~ a big-deal topic these days with its own legislation ("No Child Left Inside," a co-sponsor of which is RI's Senator Reed, and which today gets about 41 million hits on Google), I highly recommend seeing "Fearful Symmetry," a full-length documentary that comes with the Legacy or Collector's Edition of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Fearful Symmetry" is an extraordinary work that gives insight into such a different life from what we live today. Interviews with people who actually grew up with Harper Lee open our eyes to this other world filled with Character. You probably know the story of "To Kill a Mockingbird," which has to do with racial prejudice and injustice in a Southern town in the 1930s. Critics write about the trial in Mockingbird, of "coming of age," learning about evil in the world. But you might not remember how much of the movie shows the children playing in a small-town setting, exploring the world, taking chances, wondering at mysteries, collecting small treasures. Indeed, the whole story is presented through the eyes of a child.

You have to love spunky, feisty, strong-willed Scout! Mary Badham, who plays the 6-year-old tomboy, Scout, was nominated for a supporting Oscar for her wholehearted performance. Philip Alford, who plays her older brother, Jem, is also completely genuine, natural. In "Fearful Symmetry" we find out how the director let them roam and play all over the set. Their freedom to roam and climb and run reminded me of my own long-past childhood, exploring the nearby woods, attempting to redirect the local brook, climbing trees, making up games, sledding through the orchard, flying down hills on a scooter, picking gooseberries. How to incorporate that sense of freedom for children into life today.... ? Certainly the world of Mockingbird was full of danger as it also is today. There's a mad dog and a dangerous, menacing drunk, who might (and does) harm these children. Even so, the children are not limited. Is the parenting in the film wise? Is it foolhardy? Is it possible to parent like Atticus today?

Apparently it's not easy to go back there. In the last few days, I've added all the Audubon Society of Rhode Island events to What Grows On in Rhode Island, as well as several upcoming Norman Bird Sanctuary activities in September and the next hike scheduled by Rhode Island Families in Nature. Really great activities are planned for families and children (See the Children's SubCalendar for details). However, seeing the movie over against these upcoming events made me think, If we just left the kids alone to explore the natural world, would they take to it like Scout? Maybe it's really the parents that are in the way? Or our whole way of life?  Seems that today we need a workshop for parents called "Reclaiming Nature Play." You might want to check that out, but if "No Child Left Inside" really concerns you, also contemplate Scout!

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962);  "Fearful Symmetry" (1998)

Ecological Restoration in the RI Constitution ~ Greg Gerritt ~ Prosperity for RI

See the post, Ecological Restoration in the RI Constitution, Greg Gerritt's blog, Prosperity for RI.

He quotes the RI Constitution, Section 17. Fishery rights -- Shore privileges -- Preservation of natural resources.

What better mission statement for our environment do we need?

Making INFORMATION about Rhode Island's Environment Accessible

I have loads of ideas for making Rhode Island's environmental information more accessible, and if I patiently keep learning and experimenting ~ and I live long enough ~ I'll build out a very useful information resource for everyone who cares about Rhode Island's environment, whatever their interest. But it would go so much faster if there were others who care about this and want to participate.

New Feature for What Grows On in RI ~ RI Environmental Feeds

Today I've published a quick and dirty demo site, Rhode Island Environmental Feeds. Even though it's incomplete, it may be useful to some of you, so I've made it go live. It's up to date today, although it might not update regularly each day hence without my pushing a button I may forget to push, but if you go to the actual blogs that interest you, you'll see the latest posts. I'm working on the glitch that's keeping the feeds from automatically updating on RI Environmental Feeds ~ for now this "is what it is."

There are so many news feeds that have to do with Rhode Island's environment that it's high time to make categorized feeds of these feeds. What is that, you say? Other people have explained this well, and Google and Wikipedia can help you find what others have written about RSS and "feeds" ~ but trust me, RSS is a GOOD THING! You'll usually see a little icon that means a website is RSS enabled.

Lots of groups, such as Blithewold, Projo, Audubon, and Save the Bay publish blogs, or blog-like websites. The URI Master Gardeners just started a blog called Digging Rhode Island, and I'm hearing about so many others ~ I can't keep up with the news myself! Having categorized feeds of the feeds is helpful to me, and I hope you find them useful. Send suggestions for making this service even more useful.

I am working on a new website, and I don''t have time to flesh all of this out right now, but if you know of feeds that should be added to this mashup, let me know and I'll get them in as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, if you have anything to do with any organization that covers Rhode Island's environment, look into enabling RSS on your own website so that others can subscribe and redistribute your info automatically and easily.

Grow Where You Are Planted ~ Using Online Resources to Find Your Place to Thrive

This post will grow as I re-edit it.This is the place I've put notes from a workshop I've developed called Grow Where You Are Planted ~ Using Online Resources to Find Your Place to Thrive.

It's written for Rhode Islanders, but you could extrapolate to your own neck of the woods if you live elsewhere.

If you're not at the workshop, you'll be missing discussion and a lot of useful information. Here's a basic script that I try to follow:

*************

I’ve assumed we’re all like plants for this presentation, maybe somewhere between seaweed and oak trees, (or maybe a potted plant that is often moved, or a transplant) and I’ve assumed we all live in or near Rhode Island. We sometimes talk about ourselves as though we’re plants, putting down roots, being uprooted, and so forth, so let's follow that idea along and think of what we need to grow.

We’ll consider:

1. Who we really are and what we need to grow, the kind of soil, so to speak in which we’ll reach our full potential
2. Where we are ~ Rhode Island's figurative “soil” for us plants
3. Who else cares about Rhode Island’s environment and what they’re doing about it – what figurative Gardeners are tending this place called Rhode Island.

Then we’ll:

1. Explore the informational forests of RI's environment ~ and probably discover we could really use some travel aids
2. Learn to use some online tools such as electronic calendars to continue our explorations and to keep growing

First of all, let’s consider ourselves.

Take a moment to consider the following in relation to our natural environment, because we are living beings. It's not US right here, and the ENVIRONMENT over there. We ARE the so-called Environment, we’re only alive as long as we breathe AIR, our bodies are mostly WATER, and the rest of our physical bodies is minerals – EARTH.

• What are your interests and skills?
• What do you want to learn?
• What do you want to do?
• What are your concerns/needs?

WHAT DO YOU LOVE? WHAT ATTRACTS YOU? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LIVE, TO GROW, TO THRIVE?
It may be a circular process, a gradual unfolding, if things don’t seem clear to you right now. Even more reason to get out and explore, taste, experience the endless variety of nature.

Next, let’s consider where we are currently rooted – in Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US. There are many ways of looking at the state – some maps I show are of state parks, of the main rivers and large bodies of water in the state, of the watersheds, and of the bedrock geologic.

Rhode Island’s size is the stuff of legends – well, at least it’s remarkable, and almost a standard of measurement, as a linear foot is. Its total area is 1545 square miles, which is about 3 times the size of either New York City (469 sq miles) or the City of Los Angeles (498 sq miles). It’s a bit more than one and a half times the size of Cook County, Illinois (945 sq miles). Its about 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, and about one-third salt water (Narragansett Bay). This means no resident of the state is more than a thirty-minute drive from the water’s edge. And it also means each of us mortals can attend a meeting anywhere in the state --- even an all-day conference or an evening meeting --- and still go home for the night. You can't do that if you live in Long Island and the meeting's in Albany ~ unless you have a private plane.

We do have a lot of towns and cities (39) for our size, but four of us could count them on our fingers. It would take more than 35 people to count Massachusetts’ cities and towns (351) on their fingers, and 48 people to count those of California. You can really get your hands around this place.

And although Rhode Island is the second most densely populated state (after New Jersey) with about one million people, we do have lots of beautiful nature preserves. Compare RI’s population to the crowd at President Obama’s inauguration (maybe about 1.8 million). We could all show up at the National Mall simultaneously and have lots of room to spare.

What this means is that it’s relatively easy for us to have a shared sense of place and to know each other. Twenty-one of the 39 cities and towns have harbor commissions and almost everyone else is connected to the Bay through the watersheds. We  have our own dictionary and even a dialect.

It’s a no-brainer to dream up a comprehensive environmental calendar for this place and to think of it as a whole, as more than the sum of its parts. The systemic nature of nature is manifest here.

With a sense of what we’d personally like to do and learn, and a sense of where we are in the natural world, let’s now consider who else does what about Rhode Island’s environment. Who tends this place and cares about it? In the actual workshop, we talk about our own environmental interests and concerns, and then about what interests us about Rhode Island – why we live here and not in some other natural environment, what attracts US to this PLACE. At this point, we go on an exploration of Rhode Island’s environmental information terrain. We make a list of the organizations and programs and events that the attendees care about. I display a Selected RI Environmental Organizations, an incomplete, alphabetized list, and we skim though it while talking about what we know about some of these groups and what they say about Rhode Island’s environment. We also explore a set of List of Online Environmental Resources.

By then, we’re probably overwhelmed with too much information. It’s time to figure out how to make sense of all this.

We ask and answers such questions as, What do we know about using online Calendars and RSS feeds?

Take a look at What Grows On in Rhode Island. There are at least four ways of sorting the information in that calendar so you can find what you most want to see easily. The SubCalendars are based on EVENT TYPE. You can also sort on CATEGORIES, and on AUDIENCE, as well as LOCATION (our 39 cities and towns).

We also discuss some of the things to do with the Calendar. Look at the Event Actions list, which includes adding events to your own online calendar (we demo this), subscribing to a calendar, and setting up an RSS Feed. People can ask questions and try using the Calendar themselves (we always hope there’s a good internet connection wherever this workshop is given!)

 Ideally the workshop is interactive and the examples are tailored to the interests and knowledge of the attendees.

To Sum it All Up in Some Three-Sums:

You / Me  ~  RI  ~  Others
We  =  Air  +  Water  +  Earth  =  RI
Sort Event Information:  Event Type  ~  Category  ~  Location
Online Info Actions:  Send Emails  ~  Subscribe  ~  RSS Feed

Pace yourself ~ “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Emerson

Have Fun Exploring Rhode Island!