Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photos Property of Wayne G. Barber " Titled" The Hampton's
Rarest Roses in New England. Over 1,500 Roses, Dahlias, Japanese Garden and Observatory Open today for Succulents and Orchid photo-op too with admission. A gentleman with his blue pick-up from Texas gave us the last parking spot.!
by Wayne G. Barber and Photo's Property of Wayne G. Barber
Posted by Wayne G. Barber
It's a rare thing for someone to occupy a Cabinet-level position in state government under three different governors. But Janet Coit was able to do it, steering the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for a decade, the longest tenure of any director in the 44-year history of the agency.
Now, she’s set to take a set of traits — diligence, diplomacy, likeability — that she used to great effect as Rhode Island’s top environmental official to what will surely be a more challenging position on the national stage. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Coit's former boss in the Rhode Island State House, announced the selection of Coit to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries office.
Raimondo described Coit as a source of trusted counsel while she was governor and said she will bring a wealth of experience to what's also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Posted by Wayne G. Barber
DEM TO OFFER OVERVIEW OF WYOMING DAM REPAIR PROJECT
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will offer an overview of the Wyoming dam repair project at the Hopkinton Town Council meeting Monday, June 21, at 7 PM.
The Wyoming Upper Reservoir Dam is about to receive much-needed repairs. The state-owned, 300-year-old dam impounds the Wood River to form the 35-acre Wyoming Reservoir in the towns of Hopkinton and Richmond. It’s a popular site for both fishing and boating and DEM stocks the reservoir with trout.
The dam is a high-hazard structure in poor condition, rated with an “Unsafe” status in the most recent DEM annual Dam Safety Report. The dam upgrades will include a new low-level outlet and sluiceway gates, repaired embankment walls and spillway, and the removal of vegetation with root systems that pose a threat to the structural integrity of the dam. Construction will entail the installation of a cofferdam, which is a temporary wall positioned along the dam that holds the water back allowing access to the dam for repairs.
DEM is making every effort to minimize the impacts to the public during this project. The drawdown of the dam will be slow and controlled (no more than 3 inches per day) and can be stopped if necessary. Work is expected to continue through spring 2022 at which point the site will reopen for fishing, boating, and paddling activities.
Construction work is expected to include closure of the parking lot and limited access to the boat launch starting on or around June 25, 2021. The Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association is aware of the upcoming work and will keep their website updated with information/closures. Signage will be posted at portage locations upstream along the Wood River to alert paddlers of the changes.
Funding for the $2.9 million project is supported by 2018 Green Economy Bond.
Posted By Wayne G. Barber
Jim Kern, Hiking Trails of America
Kern’s interest in hiking grew. In 1966, he founded the Florida Trail and the Florida Trail Association. In 1976, he co-founded the American Hiking Society with Bill Kemsley, founding editor and publisher of Backpacker Magazine, and Paul Pritchard, then president of the Appalachian Trail Conference. In 1990, he founded Big City Mountaineers. He was the president of the Florida Trail Association for its first 12 years, president of the American Hiking Society for its first nine years and president and board chairman of Big City Mountaineers for its first six years.
His quests for wildlife have also taken him to Ujung Kulon in Java; Baffin Island, Canada; Kenya and Rwanda; the Parks of India; Luzon in the Philippines; Kalimantan in Indonesia; the Ryukyu Islands in Japan and many other places closer to home. Kern also solo-sailed Wanderoo II, a 31’ Pacific Seacraft, to Bermuda. See Sail magazine, October 2007. His pictures have appeared in major magazines and books. He has written for Audubon, Backpacker, National Geographic and others. He has lectured on wildlife and conservation subjects throughout Florida since the late ’60s. As a naturalist, he published a scientific paper in Zoologica: “Observations on the Habits of the Proboscis Monkey, Nasalis larvatus (wurmb), Made in the Brunei Bay Area, Borneo.” The year 2008 was his 50th anniversary as a wildlife photographer and he celebrated the event by publishing a coffee table book entitled The Wildlife Art & Adventures of Jim Kern Photographer.
Kern was the executive producer of the documentary Saving Face, completed in 2008. The film was awarded world premier status at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival in October 2008. It’s the story of Kern’s wayward son Matt, who got into serious trouble with the law and spent 12 years in prison by the time he was 27. In 2003 Matt wrote and his father published FACE, the story of Matt’s life up to and including his clemency, granted by Governor Lawton Chiles. Currently he is in talks with a film production company about doing a feature film about Matt.
