TPRA is pleased to announce that the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has awarded us a $4800 grant through the Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund. Under this project TPRA will conduct three tasks:
Task 1. Create a rehabilitation plan for the badly-eroded footpath from the upper parking area to the Taylor Point Cliffs. Under this task we will design a drainage strategy to prevent future erosion of the path, and create a plan to establish low-maintenance trailside meadows of native grasses and forbs. We will do this planning and design work between February and October 2018.
Task 2. Design a restoration plan for the Phragmites Marsh, the Wooded Swamp, and the Back Beach subsections of Potter Cove Beach. We will conduct this design work between April and December 2018.
Task 3. Purchase native Rhode Island plants to plant in areas that we have cleared of invasive vegetation in the Black Cherry Woodland, Taylor Point Cliffs, and in specified areas on Potter Cove Beach. We plan to use fencing to protect the new plants from damage by deer and people. We will plant these native species in the spring and fall of 2018.
Our approach is entirely consistent with the State Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration Strategy for coastal buffers. This strategy encourages efforts to recreate or approximate the biological, geological and physical conditions that existed prior to human disturbance and can involve controlling non-native invasive plants and/or re-vegetating areas with native species. We are grateful for the guidance and support of the CRMC in this aspect of our ten-year program to Restore Taylor Point.
