The 2023 cleanup season at Salter Grove got off to a strong start on March 18, thanks to a big turnout of volunteers, including many first-timers.
Cold, grey, and windy conditions didn’t diminish the enthusiasm of families and individuals who had signed up for some outdoor activity in anticipation of Spring.
Nearly 30 people worked together to collect 302 pounds of trash and other debris blown in by winter storms.
Organized by Save the Bay, large volunteer groups contribute to the regular efforts of nearby residents to keep up Salter Grove and its surrounding shorelines for the public to enjoy.
Teams come out at least monthly from March to November.
One sign of spring at Salter Grove is the flocking of volunteers to clean up the park and help make it more enjoyable for visitors and safer for wildlife.
For many consecutive years, Save the Bay in Providence has organized groups for two-hour shoreline cleanups on evenings and weekends.
On April 2, 28 enthusiastic volunteers braved a sunny but cold and windy day for the first cleanup of 2022. They gave the season a great start by hauling out 376 pounds of refuse. Items ranged from small plastics, such as water bottle tops and cigar tips, to large foam pieces of boating equipment that weighed more than 20 pounds.
The first cleanup of the year is typically a large haul because so many items accumulate during the winter months. Anything that wind and waves can move end up trapped in vegetation of the park or mired in the mud of the shoreline.
A second group came out on May 23, an event that was part of the Earth Day and Earth Week initiatives planned by Save the Bay at many locations around the state. On a chilly morning, 25 volunteers removed about 110 pounds of trash. The teams did painstaking work in the northwest corner of the park between Narragansett Parkway and the waterline. This area of the park was recently cleared of brush by a separate group of FoSG volunteers. This project revealed years’ worth of accumulation of small plastics — not heavy, but great in number.
This year, a number of new cleanup leaders are training at Salter Grove, a good sign that the efforts will be sustainable for years to come. Salter Grove is an important site for cleanups, both because of its rich ecological diversity and the number of anglers it attracts each year.
The next spring cleanup will take place on Sunday, May 22, at 9 a.m. Interested volunteers should register at volunteer.savebay.org before attending.
Save the Bay hosted a corporate cleanup event at Salter Grove in 2019
Salter Grove plays an important role in the struggle for the health of the oceans as one of the settings of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) organized by the Ocean Conservancy and Save the Bay.
Each year, volunteers around the world join together in both cleaning beaches and documenting the waste and pollution that they find. The Ocean Conservancy launched this project over 30 years ago.
Salter Grove is the site of three of the 30 ICC events this year planned by Save the Bay as the Rhode Island State Coordinator. The first took place on September 11, which also coincided with the National Day of Service and Remembrance commemorating the 2001 terrorism attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Another public volunteer cleanup is scheduled for September 25, and a corporate group will do a cleanup in October.
This year’s total is one event shy of the 2019 record, when Salter Grove hosted four ICC cleanups and over 70 volunteers.
Additional ICC events are happening around the state. Last year, even with the partial shutdown of activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 600 volunteers joined in the ICC, collecting more than 4,000 pounds of trash from Rhode Island Shores.
Top three trash items collected in 2020 RI International Coastal Cleanups: 11,662 cigarette butts 5,250 plastic pieces (under 2.5 centimeters) 2,623 plastic bottle caps Source: 2020 International Coastal Cleanup / Rhode Island Report & Call To Action.
The efforts of individual volunteers and Save the Bay groups have improved the trash control situation at Salter Grove, but more needs to be done. Food and beverage packaging left behind by recreational visitors and washed in by the waves still pollutes the area and poses risks to wildlife.
Volunteer efforts are gradually bouncing back with the reopening of normal activity in the state. The number of volunteers per cleanup has returned to a little more than 60% of the 2019 average.
Mayor Frank Picozzi demonstrates how to access the online guide via the QR code on the orientation plaque just south of the parking lot.
On Saturday, May 15th, the nature trail system, complete with plant labels, observation stations, and smartphone-accessible guide saltergrove.org was officially launched.
Addressing the gathering, Mayor Picozzi revealed that he has been most impressed by how the people of Warwick come together to make great things happen.
Parks and Recreation Director Beverly Wiley urged visitors to respect and enjoy Salter Grove in ways that don’t impair others’ enjoyment.
On Saturday, May 15th, this orientation plaque will be installed south of the parking lot during a ceremony to launch the nature trails and their online guide.
From 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., Mayor Frank Picozzi, Parks and Recreation Director Beverly Wiley, and FoSG’s Education Coordinator Marina Wong will address attendees.
This ongoing project is a collaboration of Friends of Salter Grove, the City of Warwick, and the RI Department of Environmental Management to create an outdoor classroom at Salter Grove for people of all ages to enjoy its natural history. It was funded by a generous grant from the Vivian J. Palmieri Charitable Trust.
Community volunteers organized by Save The Bay and informal volunteers committed to keeping Salter Grove clean joined forces on September 1st.
Two more cleanups are scheduled for 2020: Saturday, October 3 from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturday, November 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. Please sign up here and come enjoy the wonderful views while helping! No walk-ins please—due to Covid regulations, only signed up volunteers will be accepted.
Community volunteers organized by 
Friends of Salter Grove 