Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Planning • Environment • Real Estate
When planted shrubs, saplings, and grass seed failed to survive wet conditions on a restored freshwater swamp off of Route 7 near Smithfield, Rhode Island, biologists from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation let "nature" solve the problem. After observing that sedges, rushes, steeplebush, wool grass, Joe Pye weed, and other wet-meadow species were emerging from the native soil (soil that had been buried under fill) and beginning to colonize the site, the biologists left the native vegetation undisturbed. The resulting habitats were more diverse than what had been planned, attracting white-tailed deer, small mammals, and birds such as robins, killdeer, yellow warblers, and red-tailed hawks.
--Apr 25, 2003
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| Photo by Emilie Holland, Rhode Island Department of Transportatio |
| Route 7 Wetlands Mitigation Area |
