Walk in the Woods with US Fish and Wildlife
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On Monday, 12 February, Kimberly Hayes of the US Fish and Wildlife Service will be onsite to discuss REWHC collaboration and view the site. This is an open event to all employees and REWHC team-members who are able to rearrange their work schedules. We'll be meeting in the lobby of building 1 "Nimitz" at 1PM and the walk will follow a brief introduction. Duration is planned for 2 hours.

Summary of walk with Kimberly Hayes 12 February
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We got off to a late start down the trails but with a bonus, a Newport Daily News reporter and photographer joined us. The eight of us struck out in the arctic-like conditions. Harry took the lead and introduced us to the "Emerging Forest", the theme of our interpretive trail. As we walked down this beautifully sculpted trail, we stopped at various signs depicting trees, their history and use. I chimed in with a few historical tidbits on the stockwell and the town farm site. Pointing out the deer tracks in the now-frozen ground, Harry described the wealth of tracks on the trail seen after the last snowstorm. Skunk, fox, rabbit and deer tracks crisscrossed the snow. The reason for all these tracks is the amount of food for wildlife packed into our tidy acres. "Our forest is a supermarket for the animals" Harry summarized as we traversed the trail. We found the jawbone of some small carnivore just off the trail complete with several molars. Maybe a fox? Very educational. We discussed with Kimberly collaborating on Earthday festivities. and bid farewell to both her and our news reporter.

Don't know when article will appear. If anyone subscribes to the Newport Daily News, please keep a lookout, save a copy for me, and I'll scan the article onto our site. Pictures coming soon!

The following article appeared in the 2/14/01 edition of N&MIS News, published by N&MIS Human Resources and Communications.

U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE REP PAYS A VISIT TO REWHC! On Monday, February
12, the Raytheon Employees Wildlife Habitat Committee (REWHC) led Kimberly
Hayes, Volunteer Coordinator of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, on an
interpretive hike down the Woodland Wander Trail on the Portsmouth campus.
Along the way, trail guide (and N&MIS engineer!) Harry Mutter pointed out
various trees, animal tracks, and seedbeds. Bill Saslow, Web master of the
REWHC Web site (and also a N&MIS engineer!) pointed out various historical
tidbits about the site and its previous inhabitants. Kimberly's response to her
tour -- utter amazement that a group of volunteers was able to do so much in
just a little over a year's time! For a closer look at REWHC's accomplishments,
visit its Web site at http://www.rewhc.org. REWHC is currently operating only
on the N&MIS Portsmouth campus, but there is great potential for chapters in
other N&MIS locations as well! For information on starting a REWHC chapter,
contact Beth Ripa at 401.842.2350.

Lauren Parmelee and Colleen McGrath visit Raytheon
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Lauren Parmelee, education director at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, and Colleen McGrath, board member of Ballard Park, visited Raytheon today with the mission of examining our trails and signs for ideas for Ballard park in Newport. Ballard Park is 13 acres in size, formed from a turn of the century quarry, and is across from Rogers High School in Newport. The weather was sunny and cool, as I explained our trail concept and how lucky we were to have the volunteer efforts of Trail Steward, Harry Mutter. I attempted to explain the features of the trail which funnel water from the trails and the signage and specimens which make the trail so much fun. Colleen has a real challenge, being close to a High School, with vandalism and making trail markers sustainable and not part of occasional bonfires the park experiences. They were especially impressed with the specimen jars, attached to the signs, as a way of engaging visitors. While they probably wouldn't be able to leave jars on the trails, they may consider creating a "goody-bag" of specimens to bring with them and share during guided walks. I explained the three guided walks we share with employees and outside groups: Stone walls, Emerging Forest, and Portsmouth Asylum. After walking the Woodland Wander and discussing theme and signage, we continued onto the Poor Farm Ramble. I explained the interpretive theme in progress for the new trail and explained how trails were plotted based on geological and historic features for interpretive storytelling. We continued through the meadow fields, discussing our wildlife surveys and wildlife management plan tenets. We discussed having our groups collaborate for joint walks in the near future.

Join The Girl Scouts on a Trailwalk
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The scouts will be joining us as we sow wildflowers in the meadow and take to the trails this afternoon (4/29) from 3:45 to 4:45 or so. We will be leaving from the Nimitz Lobby at 3:45 sharp. Outside team-mates welcome as well, but I I need to know your intentions by 3PM to arrange security. I can be reached at 842-3461. Sorry for the late notice.

Bill

WRNI (National Public Radio in Rhode Island)
Visits Portsmouth Campus For Upcoming Show!
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Over the holiday break, I received an e-mail from Jim Moses, producer of "Focus Rhode Island" for WRNI (National Public Radio in RI). He expressed interested in producing a segment about our project on the Portsmouth Asylum. He had found our website while searching the internet for Poor Farms.

After consulting Carolyn Beaudry, our corporate communications point of contact, I contacted Mr. Moses and set up an interview and trailwalk which was held on 1/7/04. Deborah Becker, the show's host asked a series of questions which were answered by Brenda Bibb and I. Audio was recorded on a mini-disk player over the hour and a half including a visit to the Poor Farm Site down the Poor Farm Ramble trail. Kevin Petit was on-hand to take photos.

Over the next couple of days the audio will be edited to approximately 10 minutes and will air on AM 1290 with the following schedule:
Friday, 9 January: Between 3PM and 4PM
Saturday, 10 January: Between 6PM and 7PM
Sunday, 11 January: Between 8PM and 9PM

They will also be placing the audio on their website: http://www.wrni.org/ along with a link to our website. It'll be interesting to see how many hits the show will attract. Their listenership varies from 25,000 to 50,000.

Current page counters are:
9387 Visitors - REWHC Welcome Page,
2266 Visitors - Portsmouth Asylum Page.

We will be receiving a CD with the show's audio and a copy of the Real Audio file for our website.
Stay Tuned!

REWHC at the Portsmouth Historical Society!
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Mark your calendars for November 8th at the Portsmouth Historical Society. Commencing at 7:30PM, Bill Saslow will be presenting "Poor Intentions: Work and Punishment at the Portsmouth Asylum".

The Portsmouth Asylum was a working farm, where inmates were chained, flogged, and left in a dungeon for days and weeks at a time. A Poor House for the Town of Portsmouth during the 19th century, the Portsmouth Asylum was a catlyst for social welfare legislation in Rhode Island.

Bill's presentation is an evolving one, with more details added as they are found. Members of the Portsmouth Historic Society have been given homework to consult their memories and records for additional information in advance of the meeting. There is likely to be a lively Q&A session at its conclusion.

His presentation was well-received at the Raytheon Naval Integration Center in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and at the Portsmouth Free Library.

Refreshments will be served at the event's conclusion.

Action - the Key to Employee Involvement
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Mark your calendars for 10 November, East Bay conference room, Providence building, noon.

In preparation for the Wildlife Habitat Council's Symposium in mid-November, Brenda and I would like to share our presentation with fellow employees and the REWHC team.

At the symposium, we will be participating in a session called "Human Dimensions: Employee Morale".

The abstract follows:
Competing interests, in the workplace, provide challenges to a wildlife group in keeping a stable volunteer base and exacting change. Interaction with employees, both at planned activities and through the internet, is very important to keep employees engaged with our wildlife management efforts and provide a source of new wildlife team members for sustainment.

Our wildlife group is all volunteers. We are a hard-core group of eight or ten members, and a larger group that is involved in specific projects. About 100 are on our website’s electronic bulletin board, staying engaged with group activities. Our site population varies considerably, and we are always looking for ideas to get people involved and keep them engaged. For us, the key seems to be activity. Some of our activities reflect habitat projects such as our nest-box monitoring and our plantings for wildlife. Other projects reflect the needs of our community partners and fellow employees such as volunteering at a local Harvest Fair and trail walks for employees, their families, and scouting groups. Indoor activities include lunch-time talks, videos, and similar events. Special events such as Earth Day have led to Saturday family events and collaborations with community partners on cleanups.

This presentation will describe the types of activities and communications which were successful for us and how our website has kept the group cohesive.

Interested in doing a little spring planting while fulfilling a community service? The opportunity, planting shrubs and small trees at Save The Bay's new building at Field's Point in Providence, is exciting because they, with the help of volunteers, are going to turn a former Brownfield into an urban Greenfield. They're hoping that their site will become a model for what the urban waterfront environment can be.

Friday, May 6
Saturday, May 7
Saturday, May 14
Sunday, May 15

Shifts: 9am to noon
1pm to 4pm
…or stop by after work for a few hours!

Join Save The Bay this spring on an exciting planting project at their new Save The Bay headquarters. We will be planting native shrubs (such as bayberry, inkberry, highbush blueberry) and trees (pussy willow, cedar) to act as a buffer between the upland and coastal area.

Please bring:
hat and sunscreen
work gloves
work clothes
sturdy, closed toe shoes
trowel (optional)
watering can (optional)

FOOD AND DRINKS PROVIDED!
For more information or to sign up:
Call Diane Little at Save The Bay
272-3540 (ext. 130)

Portsmouth Historical Society Visit
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On Saturday, 30 April, the Portsmouth Historical Society braved the clouds and drizzle for a historical trailwalk on the Naval Integration Center Campus. After a brief introduction, discussing the poor farm and its 1850 produce, the group left the Nimitz Building lobby and headed down the Poor Farm Ramble trail. We discussed the history of the Poor Farm, also known as the Portsmouth Asylum, and preliminary mapping performed to date. At the well, we discussed where building foundations had been found and the unique place the Portsmouth Asylum earned in Rhode Island social welfare history. We then headed to the poor farm cemetery, just outside the security fence, the subject of a number of cleanup activities this past week. The group was visibly impressed with what we had accomplished at the cemetery and the dedication of our group in making the trails and history available to the community. Feel free to check out some of the pictures from the walk:
http://rewhc.org/cgi-bin/imagefolio/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Zone7_Indoors&image=zone7_076.jpg&img=&tt=

http://rewhc.org/cgi-bin/imagefolio/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Zone4_Lawton_Valley&image=zone4_172.jpg&img=&tt=

http://rewhc.org/cgi-bin/imagefolio/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Zone5_Western_Woodland&image=zone5_191.jpg&img=&tt=

The REWHC Message Board has Been Updated!
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New, more efficient code with an updated look and feel. Take a test drive at:
http://www.rewhc.org/discus/

Let me know what you think at webmaster@rewhc.org

Wind Power Survey Workshop 4/23/06
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This Sunday! 9AM-3PM. Looking for one other Raytheon volunteer to help facilitate Roger Williams University in Wind Power Survey development. We'll break up into multiple teams, and help finalize a survey to be deployed late May. Focus is on Portsmouth and Bristol.

If interested, please call me in Portsmouth, x3461.

Thanks,
Bill

Earth Day 2006 at the Maritime Mission Center (MMC)

A great turnout of MMC employees participated in an energy-intensive Earth Day here at MMC, beginning on Tuesday, April 18 in Nimitz, continuing Wednesday in Providence and Thursday in Constitution. The focus in 2006 was on “Reducing Your Environmental Footprint”. MMC Facilities focused on reducing energy use at home and here at work, using energy efficient lighting and appliances to reduce our environmental footprint.

Bill Saslow presented a wonderful demonstration on wind energy -- how it can contribute in the long run to reducing Raytheon’s energy costs and minimize regional air pollution as well as health impacts – which attracted a great deal of interest.

Several outside vendors such as Yard Spice, Home Depot and Harvey participated in the event and prepared displays on energy conservation for the home as well as many ideas for environmentally friendly yards. Many had prizes to give away and motivated employees to ask questions and participate in the event. REWHC's (Raytheon Employees Wildlife Habitat Committee's) community partner, Aquidneck Land Trust presented a display of its conservation efforts for Aquidneck Island and other interesting events.

REWHC and MMC EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) contributed to the enthusiasm providing seeds, Douglas fir seedlings and lots of door prizes. A continuous loop of photos of Lawton Valley inspired many to sign up for a walk through the valley; signup sheets for nest box monitoring and trail cleanup were also available. Others investigated how they could lower their own energy bills as well as assist Raytheon in using energy wisely.