The Taylor Point Plant Atlas:
Introduction and Context

 

Taylor Point is 20 acres of Town-owned beach, woodlands, marsh, cliffs and thickets in Jamestown, Rhode Island. This area has a long history of disturbance related to farming, public works projects and heavy recreational use. It is now overgrown by non-native, invasive species. We formed the Taylor Point Restoration Association (TPRA) to restore this shorefront, as much as possible, to its original native vegetative state and encourage its reversion to a stable, robust and productive ecosystem.

Our restoration process involves the removal of invasive non-native species and the establishment or reestablishment of native species. We fully expect to work on this process a decade or more before we will see discernible progress. Our maintenance efforts will extend well into the future and will require the efforts of scores of volunteers.

Because our field volunteers  have varying levels of knowledge of plant species and management techniques, we offer the Taylor Point Plant Atlas to provide basic information about the plants at Taylor Point. We use the atlas primarily to train and provide guidance to our volunteers in the field. We also use it as a centerpiece for our outreach and public education initiatives, so critical to maintaining community support. Finally, we will use the Atlas to document our experiences, successes, and challenges as we address the specific plant species and conditions in our study area.

Our approach to cataloging the native species and the non-native species at Taylor Point involves developing basic morphological, biological, and ecological plant profiles using readily available information sources and our own observations. Over time, we also will prepare an extensive visual record of the plants at Taylor Point in various seasons, various life-cycle stages, and various ecological associations, essentially creating a photographic record of plant parts growing above and below ground. Thus the Atlas is, and will remain, an evolving document highlighting our specific experience with the plant species at Taylor Point.

 

TPRA wishes to thank the Rhode Island Foundation, Newport County Fund Small Grants Program for providing the requisite assistance to enable us to launch the Plant Atlas project and develop our plan for its continued refinement, maintenance, and expansion.

We would also like to thank our volunteers from the URI Master Gardeners Program and the URI Cooperative Extension for their partnership in and support to this effort.