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News Advisory
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade St., Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
FOR AP AND METRO NEWS DAYBOOKS:
Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2001

Time:

 10:00 a.m.
Location: DEM Headquarters
235 Promenade Street, Providence
Room 425
Event: Presentation of Proclamation Recognizing the Narragansett Electric Company's Work to Support the Recovery of Nesting Ospreys

For Release:

 November 23, 2001
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM TO HONOR NARRAGANSETT ELECTRIC FOR ITS EFFORTS TO ASSIST THE STATE'S OSPREY POPULATION

PROVIDENCE - Department of Environmental Management Director Jan Reitsma will present a gubernatorial proclamation to the Narragansett Electric Company in recognition of its efforts to support the recovery of nesting ospreys in Rhode Island at 10 a.m. Tuesday, November 27.

Since 1982, Narragansett Electric has worked closely with DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife and has built osprey nesting platforms, replaced poles and retrofitted power lines to accommodate osprey nests. Presently there are about 80 osprey nests in Rhode Island. A survey conducted last summer by DEM found that 77 of these nests were active and that 116 young osprey were fledged. Power lines owned by Narragansett Electric are home to one third of the osprey nests in Rhode Island.

In the 1970s, ospreys were almost non-existent in the state because of the cumulative effects of the pesticide DDT. Narragansett Electric's efforts to install new nesting platforms and retrofit existing poles where osprey present an electrical danger has helped the osprey population recover and grow to about 80 pairs.

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