Coastal Wetland Trends in the Narraganstt Bay Estuary During the 20th Century

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's Narragansett Bay Estuary Program's (NBEP) goal is to protect and preserve Narragansett Bay through conserving and restoring natural resources and enhancing water quality. NBEP accomplishes this through a variety of projects, including interagency partnerships and community involvement. To manage these valuable resources, NBEP wanted baseline information on coastal wetlands and their buffers. With the aid of the University of Massachusett (UMass), University of Rhode Island (URI), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), NBEP obtained an inventory of current coastal wetlands, the 500-foot buffer zone, and potential wetland restoration sites for the estuary. While knowing the current state of these resources is vital to managing the resource, an analysis of trends in these resources would help identify threats and put the presentday resources in a historic context.