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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
For Release: September 20, 2002
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM'S DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE OFFERING TOURS OF GREAT SWAMP ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife will host a "Tour the Great Swamp Day" as part of DEM's 25th anniversary celebration in October. The event is designed to teach the public the many benefits of the Great Swamp, and how Division biologists care for it.

Both the general public and school groups are welcome to attend. Tours, guided by the Division's principal wildlife biologist Brian Tefft, will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, rain or shine. Each individual tour should take approximately one hour. Participants are invited to bring a bag lunch and enjoy the Great Swamp. Tours will begin at the Great Swamp Field headquarters on Great Neck Road in West Kingston. Teachers who are interested in having their classes attend this program should RSVP no later than October 2. The general public should come at the top of the hours to be included in school tours or with a special group for adults.

The Great Swamp is a DEM wildlife management area in South Kingstown that was acquired by the state in 1950 under the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration program to develop, enhance and restore wildlife habitats and provide a place for hunters to participate in their sport. The area is now managed for wildlife diversity by maintaining forest fields and wetlands, including a 140-acre impoundment used by birds such as the osprey and many migratory waterfowl. The site is also historically important as the site of the Colonial era war skirmish that occurred in 1675 with the Narragansett Indians, known as the Great Swamp fight or massacre.

To make reservations or ask questions about tours, contact Tefft at 789-0281.

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