Plant Survey |
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Plants Group Vision and Objectives The REWHC Plants Group goals include identifying, interpreting and planning for the preservation and enhancement of the plant materials available to us here, with attention both to the pleasure they give to those of us who work here and to the contribution they make to this small ecosystem. 1. Identification The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society (RIWPS) surveyed the Lawton Valley portion of our property in August 1997. This data will be added to the online database developed from our own explorations and checklist responses. We have asked RIWPS to assist us in a complete survey of the property this summer. 2. Interpretation and Education We plan to develop single sheet brochures aiding walkers in the identification of smaller scale plant materials, whether wild or domestic, herb, flower or weed, native or invasive. These would augment the existing checklists for trees and plants. 3. Planning and Maintenance We need to identify those plants which are invasive, an issue which RIWPS actively promotes, and consider recommending that some of these be culled. We could develop a master plan for recommendation to Raytheon for additions to be made where invasives or lawn are removed. Ideally, these would be native species which contribute to the ecosystem or to our other goals. For instance, lawn might be removed from the paths connecting the buildings and replaced with hardy native species in an herbaceous border. The border might contain bulbs or other low-maintenance ornamentals as well. Similarly, the goose problem might be approached by replacing a section of lawn well away from the paths between buildings with taller grasses which are attractive to geese. Not that the geese mind people, but the people are not pleased to walk where geese have been. In the woodland areas, invasive plants could be replaced with native plants that support the wildlife of the region. Survey Objectives Provide periodic survey of plant species in various locations of the Raytheon, Portmouth, Rhode Island site for purposes of wildlife management. We are interested in knowing the diversity of life on our site and the trends of such life and diversity under our management. Survey Methods Making use of employees, their families, and local community groups, identify plants onsite. A checklist has been prepared and is available for download (as prototype) or may be obtained from several centralized nature trail kiosks (future). Check out the Info-Files below to jump-start your knowledge of Plants and the use of field guides is suggested. As a group, fill out a checklist per visit and follow directions in entering the resulting data onto our website. We will periodically compile reports based on the collected data and make them available online. Info-Files Check out the plant info-file to find out more about these species before you begin. Database Entry The database used for Plants is of flatfile type with data entry similar in format to the checklist. An account is needed to enter information in the database. Only a survey chairperson has the ability to modify or delete all forms once they've been added. For an account, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and access the database here. The database is currently ready for use. The database uses the same username/password set in the bulletin board program. Passwords are synchronized daily, so a delay may be present between changing your bulletin board password and that password proliferating for access to the database. Database Reporting Reports provide up-to-the-minute information used for wildlife management planning and verification. Two classes of reporting are provided:
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 Plant Info-File  Click To Download |
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