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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: November 21, 2003
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM AND WOONASQUATUCKET WATERSHED COUNCIL TO HOST PUBLIC GREENSPACE PROJECT MEETING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25TH IN JOHNSTON
Watershed-wide Workshop Scheduled for December 10

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council will host the final community meeting in Johnston for the Woonasquatucket Watershed Greenspace Project on Tuesday, November 25th at 7 p.m. at the Johnston Historical Society museum at 101 Putnam Pike.

At the meeting, Dodson Associates, consultants for the project, will present the final inventory of natural, cultural and recreational assets in Johnston, as identified by local residents in three previous meetings, together with overlays showing recommended priorities for each of the three themes. Natural resources priorities will highlight the core ecosystems and water quality resources in Johnston. Cultural priorities will indicate opportunities for conservation, as well as for celebration and interpretation of Johnston's history and cultural life. Recreational priorities will focus on potential trail networks that might someday unite the town's neighborhoods and connect to a system of trails throughout the region. How these separate priorities can be overlaid to identify areas of the town with multiple resource values, deserving of special attention, will also be demonstrated.

The project, sponsored by DEM, is a regional planning project including all of the communities in the Woonasquatucket River Watershed: Glocester, Johnston, North Providence, North Smithfield, Providence, and Smithfield. Funded by the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to help communities protect their watersheds, rivers, and streams, the project brings residents from all of these communities together to discuss what it is about their community that they would like to protect. "Greenspaces" are places or areas that people think deserve special attention either by acquiring and preserving them or through more creative land development techniques.

Two workshops will be held as part of this project to look at a regional composite of all six municipal Greenspace plans, which are essentially completed, and to discuss shared priorities and opportunities for cross-border conservation efforts and recreational development. The results will be used to develop an action strategy for regional projects, further planning, and coordination of funding efforts. The first of these workshops will be held December 10th at 7 p.m. at The Audubon Society of Rhode Island at12 Sanderson Road in Smithfield.

Residents who have questions about the meetings can contact Jenny Pereira at the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council at 861-9046 or via e-mail at jpereira@woonasquatucket.org.

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rev. 3/2/07