nature

Uthful Service

/ Jason Major / Leave a comment

Salter Grove recently hosted high school students who fulfilled their community service hours towards their graduation requirements. The experience proved to be mutually beneficial. 

Alexandra Dickinson maintaining the trail through the Knotweed Jungle and excavating a hole for a trail marker. 

Two equally effective approaches were taken. Starting in late May, Alexandra Dickinson, a senior from Lincoln School in Providence dedicated 40 hours over a two-week period to assist with maintaining the vegetation and signage along the nature trails.

Using both field observations and the Guide to Salter Grove, she learned to identify many of the common birds and plants that occur in the park. 

Alexandra examining wild asparagus along the Marsh Trail. 
MET HS students, their blue-tied teacher, and their mascot The Rock. 

In early June, Cole Robinson and his class of 14 sophomores from the MET High School devoted two hours to: 1) install signage along the Upland Trail, 2) clear vegetation to provide access to a patch of heavily fruiting blackberry, and 3) remove Japanese knotweed throughout the park to deter further invasion. 

Installing a trail marker. 
Clearing vegetation for access to blackberry patch. 
Removing Japanese knotweed from pond area. 

All of the students were first introduced to the impenetrable patch of Japanese knotweed on Audubon Field. Witnessing the aggressive growth of this introduced species helped them realize how their respective tasks contribute to the overall care of the park. 

See more photos from the MET students’ work at Salter Grove below:

(MET visit photographs by FoSG member Jason Major)

To Everything There is a Season

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Early on the morning of May 6th, a group of five explorers began an observational journey through the trails of Salter Grove. 

Billy McGovern confers with Anonymous, Stella, Wesley, Gwen, and Michael (L to R, Michael not pictured) about their park exploration. 

The youngsters met at a cozy picnic table along Upland trail. They were shown a series of pictures of the same location at different times of the year. The explorers noted how the features of the pictures changed seasonally.

With the pictures in mind, the explorers next set out to find an interesting location in Salter Grove. Having chosen an appropriate spot, they began the process of documenting the area. Armed with pencils, crayons, and markers they drew their chosen location with great detail.

Back at the picnic table, the explorers displayed great enthusiasm while describing the features in their pictures that they found most interesting.

Gwen
Michael
Stella
Wesley

The explorers will keep their pictures in a safe location for a future adventure. During the summer, they will draw another picture of the same location to see how it has changed over time.

This was the second outing of a program being developed by the Friends of Salter Grove. This program aims to show that outdoor recreation and education with minimum technology is fun.

Like Scandinavian forest schools, the program aims to instill a sense of respect for the environment and the importance of having minimal impact while demonstrating how to use a shared space without impairing others’ enjoyment.

Turn! Turn! Turn! 

Natural Learning

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Billy in the lead, followed by Benjamin McGovern, Gwen St Laurent, Eva McGovern, and Gwen’s father, Kevin. 

Early on a brisk Saturday morning Billy McGovern led a small group of students through the winding trails of Salter Grove. Their mission was to identify and describe the major parts of a plant. 

During their walk Billy would stop periodically to play “Simon Says” with the students, challenging them to touch a specific part of a nearby plant. By the end, the students were able to identify many parts of the plant and describe their role in the plant’s life. 

This was the inaugural outing of a program being developed by the Friends of Salter Grove. This program aims to show that outdoor recreation and education with minimum technology is fun.

Like Scandinavian forest schools, the program aims to instill a sense of respect for the environment and the importance of having minimal impact while demonstrating how to use a shared space without impairing others’ enjoyment. 

Photos by Jason Major

A Summer of Surprises

/ Jason Major / 1 Comment

There has been a number of surprising sightings at Salter Grove this summer!

Birds

Bald Eagle by Ian Ohara

Immature Bald Eagles have been sighted now and then during the winter months over the park. However, in early August, a few visitors got to see a mature adult perched in the black oak southeast of the entrance to the causeway. It was photographed as it flew off by Ian Ohara, a graduate student in the Environmental Studies Department of the University of Rhode Island. 

Friends of Salter Grove member Jason Major was on scene as well and captured cell phone video of the eagle perched in a tree just east of the causeway path entrance:

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Potential Pre-Colonial Tree Relicts

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Measuring potential champion black oak after some banter about where the tape should go 

We learned about Matthew “Twig” Largess and Nathan Cornell in the Warwick Beacon where they were featured as seekers of old-growth forests. The woodland at Salter Grove is relatively young, but there are some unexpectedly large trees in the park so we invited this arboreal dynamic duo to assess them on Saturday, March 27.

They were joined by FoSG coordinator Peter Becker and nature trail volunteers, Carolyn Hardie, Nick Pasterino, Billy McGovern, Nancy Sumrall, and Marina Wong. Twig and Nathan examined and measure the suspected old-growth trees and provided a great deal of information in two short hours. 

We may have a champion black oak north of the parking lot. Our visitors were quite impressed by the very large black gums surrounded by numerous smaller individuals along the pond trail. 

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Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

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Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk with freshly-captured squirrel 

While working on the nature trails on Tuesday, November 17th, a hawk flew right toward us, struggling to keep hold of a squirrel in its talons. It graciously posed for some photos, and then flew to a limb tangle where it was better able to pin the squirrel down for a feast. It must have been very hungry because it even stripped the fur off the squirrel’s tail, presumably to access the tidbits there.

An hour later, a large raccoon was spotted sleeping 35 feet up on a black oak bough, not far from the hawk’s feeding perch.

Then an immature bald eagle soared by over South Cove.

Finally, the same hawk was seen close up, feeding on another bird, but unfortunately the camera battery had died.

Salter Grove—who needs a documentary when you can see it live?