Save the Bay, DEM Start Work on Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area

TIVERTON, RI — The work has started to bring back Tiverton's Sapowet Marsh Willdlife Management Area. According to the state Department of Environmental Management, the marsh is home to coastal birds, herons, egrets, waterfowl and other wildlife.

But it's been battered by erosion.

"The coastal portion of Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area has experienced more than 90 feet of shoreline erosion in the last 75 years," the DEM said. "As part of the improvement project, the access from Seapowet Avenue will be redesigned; four acres of beach, dune and coastal shrub land will be revegetated; and nine acres of coastal grassland will be restored."

Also, the public will benefit from better parking and signs, as well as "enhanced scenic vistas and beachfront."

The overall goal is to "restore this degraded coastal habitat and strengthen the state's resilience against climate change," the DEM said.

"Save The Bay is excited to partner with DEM on the Sapowet coastal adaptation project which will restore the condition of the beach and salt marsh while creating a coastal buffer that will provide an area for these coastal habitats to migrate inland as sea level rises," said Wenley Ferguson, Save The Bay director of habitat restoration. "The public's access to the beach will be enhanced since the parking will be moved off the beach and closer to the road, creating more area for people to recreate. Save The Bay looks forward to working with DEM and the Tiverton Conservation Commission on planting native plants along the beach to re-establish a small dune."