This refuge has a unique history of human use including; Narragansett Indians utilizing it for summer living, European colonists cultivating it for fodder and agricultural crops, and the US Navy training pilots for combat during WWII. Tysh McGrail, a landscape designer with a passion for designing with Rhody Natives, will lead a walk along the Foster Cove Loop looking for plant gems that have repopulated this area since the US Fish & Wildlife Service took over management of this beautiful landscape in 1979.
Bring your favorite ID resource, water, sun protection, and insect repellant.
(We also encourage you to make time for a stop at Kettle Pond Visitors Center (across the Highway from the Refuge) to tour the RI NATIVE plant garden recently developed alongside the Visitors Center. Give yourself a 1/2 hour on either side of our walk to test your ID skills and maybe discover a new RI native plant. Have more time? A short walk from this garden find several viewing platforms with ramps and stairs. Enjoy the view which stretches past the Ninigret Refuge as far as Block Island.)
Meeting place: East Entrance parking lot.
Directions: East Entrance – There are two entrances. This East entrance can only be accessed via Ninigret Park. Please view the directions as the signage to Ninigret Park is under construction. google directions
This walk is a part of our First Thursday Botanizing Walk Series. See our Botanizing Walks home page for important details about these walks. Please note that unlike the other walks, this walk is later in the day (from 3 to 5pm) both to accommodate those who cannot attend morning walks and to avoid the heat of the day.