Integrating the Effort:
The Rhode Island Bays, Rivers, and Watersheds Coordination team

The massive fish kill of 2003 had a cataclysmic impact on the state’s approach to management of Narragansett Bay. The Rhode Island General Assembly had taken initial steps to better integrate its work in the Bay, and now Gov. Donald Carcieri also stepped in, forming a commission to look at what could be done. The Governor’s Narragansett Bay Planning Commission and subsequent key pieces of legislation in the General Assembly led to the formation of the Rhode Island Bays, Rivers, and Watersheds Coordination Team. The team brings together the seven key agencies that deal with the Narragansett Bay watershed. It also has as one of its subgroups the R.I. Environmental Monitoring Collaborative (RIEMC), which includes many members of the Bay Window program.

The 2004 legislative session created the coordination team to develop a systems-level plan that ensures the environmental protection of Narragansett Bay yet promotes the economic vitality of its marine resources. In addition to the chair, the team consists of a representative from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, R.I. Department of Administration, Rhode Island Water Resources Board, Rhode Island Rivers Council, Economic Development Corporation, R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, and the Narragansett Bay Commission. The team will work with federal, state, and local agencies as well as other groups in preparing an overall plan for Narragansett Bay. It will also serve as the lead coordinator in implementing the plan.

“This is a real window of opportunity for the state,” said Peter August, a Bay Window steering committee member who chairs the RIEMC in his role as director of the University of Rhode Island (URI) Coastal Institute. “We have the support of Gov. Carcieri and the General Assembly to improve the health of Narragansett Bay,” August added. “The coordination team will be effective in transforming this support into real action.”

The legislation also creates four groups that bring together experts in a variety of fields to provide input and advice to the team. Rhode Island Sea Grant and URI Coastal Institute personnel are active in several of these groups. In addition to the RIEMC, there is the Economic Monitoring Collaborative, chaired by Kip Bergstrom, executive director of the state Economic Policy Council; the Science Advisory Committee, chaired by Donald Pryor, Brown University visiting lecturer in environmental studies; and the Public Advisory Committee, chaired by Chip Young of the URI Coastal Institute, who is also involved in the Bay Window initiative.

The RIEMC has worked in concert with Bay Window researchers to upgrade and expand the state’s overall monitoring and assessment programs. The Bay Window fixed-station monitoring project, Mariner Shuttle, and fish trawl and seine surveys have all had a major influence on the accountability and adaptive management that comes from a truly comprehensive effort.

More information about the Rhode Island Bays, Rivers, and Watersheds Coordination Team, its membership, activities, and additional resources for information can be found on the team’s website at: www.ci.uri.edu/ribayteam.