Clear River Preserve

Rarely in Rhode Island is the diversity of life so great as in these twenty and a half acres known as the Clear River Preserve. Uplands contain species common to New England forests. Pine, witch hazel, mountain laurel, yellow birch and oaks dominate the nearly mile long access right-of-way into the preserve. In the lowlands, you enter a hummocky topography of mounds and depressions. A forest of predominantly mature Eastern Hemlock that forms a forested swamp where seasonal flooding occurs in areas adjacent to the river. In the stands of hemlock the canopy is closed, limiting light into the understory so that portions of the ground are sparsely vegetated except for Sphagnum and other mosses. In these dark woods, Henry David Thoreau would have enjoyed writing. His style of employing metaphor with observation mixed with reflection upon reflection always using the natural world to make a point and to keep us reading more.  These are the woods that Robert Frost would wax poetic on the sound of trees and water or just stopping by the woods and listening.

Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century industry effects the Clear River’s water quality today. Copper, lead, aluminum, zinc and iron are bound up, just sitting there, in the river’s sediment - the benthic part of the river. As water becomes more acidic from increased greenhouse gases and a warmer climate, these elements and minerals are released into the water column. For now, the canopy provides enough shade to keep the Clear River cool - a designated cold water fishery. Underneath the canopy damselflies and dragonflies sputter along the vernal and autumnal pools mixing with spring peepers at certain times of the year. Beavers have returned along with Black Bears, bobcats and Flying Squirrels. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bristly Clubmoss, mushrooms and Skunk Cabbage make their presence known during their season. It is said that where there is water, there is life. That is the rule. The Clear River Preserve is no exception.