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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 23, 2004
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM AND WOONASQUATUCKET WATERSHED COUNCIL TO HOST FINAL REGIONAL GREENSPACE WORKSHOP ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9th
Public Invited to Participate

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and the Woonasquatucket Watershed Council will host the last of three regional workshops for residents and town officials on greenspace planning and priorities for the six communities in the Woonasquatucket River watershed: North Smithfield, Smithfield, Glocester, Johnston, North Providence and Providence. The 5:30 p.m. meeting will be held on Thursday, December 9, at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, 12 Sanderson Rd. in Smithfield (just south of intersection of Routes 5 and 44).

The Woonasquatucket Watershed Greenspace Project is a regional planning project sponsored by DEM and funded by the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to help communities identify and map their most important resources. The project brings residents together to discuss what it is about their community that they would like to protect. There is a particular emphasis on the need to protect vegetated buffer from rivers and streams in order to meet the goal of attaining fishable and swimmable waters for the Woonasquatucket River.

Using aerial photographs, maps, and current geographic information, volunteers have been working with the consultant team, Dodson Associates of Massachusetts, to inventory each community's important natural, cultural, and recreational resources. At the upcoming workshop, Dodson will present the plan's recommendations and lead a discussion on regional initiatives that have been identified, and "next steps" for creating a Greenspace Action Plan for the Woonasquatucket.

"Now that the information is mapped, people can begin to make links between special places in their community and across the watershed," said Scott Millar, Chief of DEM's Sustainable Watersheds Office. "Communities can now make more informed decisions relative to new growth and the potential impacts to the watershed and their community character."

Residents who have questions about the meeting can contact Jenny Pereira at the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council at 861-9046 or via e-mail at jpereira@woonasquatucket.org. For questions about the scope of the project, contact Scott Millar, Chief DEM's Sustainable Watersheds Office at 222-3434 ext. 4419.

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