Fish and Wildlife Director Highlights Importance of Rhode Island’s Coastal Refuges

The state’s coastal ponds and wildlife refuges don’t get top billing,
but they are fundamentally important to the health of the local ecosystem

October 18, 2024

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams visited the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge in South Kingstown.

Martha Williams, the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was in Rhode Island in mid-October to mark the annual National Wildlife Refuge Week.

Williams met up with The Public’s Radio reporter for a morning of birding at the Trustom Pond refuge in South Kingstown, and to talk about the importance of Rhode Island’s coastal ponds and efforts to protect them.

The Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge is more than 780 acres of protected land, nearly half of that donated in the mid-1970s. Williams was there to highlight the agency’s work on salt marsh restoration.

This interview was conducted by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.

Alex Nunes Alex is the interim Managing Editor for The Public’s Radio. Alex was previously the co-host and co-executive producer of The Public’s Radio podcast, Mosaic. The show explored the history of immigration in Southern New England through the stories of individual immigrants and their descendants and received an Edward R. Murrow Award for best podcast in the New England region. Alex previously worked as an editor at The Westerly Sun and The New London Day.

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Fish and Wildlife Director Highlights Importance of Rhode Island’s Coastal Refuges

The state’s coastal ponds and wildlife refuges don’t get top billing, but they are fundamentally important to the health of the local ecosystem

The state’s coastal ponds and wildlife refuges don’t get top billing,
but they are fundamentally important to the health of the local ecosystem