In July with the help of a large number of volunteers led by Nick Cokonis, we planted Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’) and Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’) grasses on the top of the banks.
Both grasses are prairie grasses that are recognized in the category of “warm season grasses” known for their long roots to control erosion and their drought tolerance. These were chosen to protect the embankment from erosion and for their color in the fall to add more interest to the park.
Save The Bay generously donated over 400 plugs of Switchgrass to our planting effort to help patch in spotty growth in existing Switchgrass stands and to control erosion. They are all native plants used where the soil is dry and nutrient deficient.
If you love Stillhouse Cove as much we do, please join us to preserve it.
EWPA is an all volunteer organization and working together with board members and volunteers we protect and improve Stillhouse Cove!
The EWPA organizes cleanups, plantings, and removing invasive plants among other volunteer work. There are also organizational tasks including communications and other office duties.
Come join us making a difference in an important environmental and recreational gem!
How can you help? Here are the committees that need YOU!
Communications Committee Help EWPA develop and implement marketing, communications, and public relations strategies to advance the organization’s mission and enhance its public profile. This committee would be a great place for marketing professionals, communications specialists, public relations experts, and anyone passionate about storytelling and digital engagement.
Finance Committee Provides financial oversight and guidance to ensure the organization’s fiscal health, including developing the annual budget for EWPA. This committee is perfect for individuals with backgrounds in financial management, budgeting, investments, accounting, or financial planning.
Fund Development Committee Love storytelling and have a passion for reaching out to our community? This committee creates and executes the EWPA annual appeal, corporate giving, special events, and grant applications to ensure the organization’s financial sustainability. This committee is perfect for fundraisers, grant writers, event planners, storytellers, and anyone passionate about public engagement.
Government Relations Committee Help EWPA maintain its strong partnerships in the government and ensure regulatory and permitting compliance. This committee is ideal for individuals with experience in public relations, liaising between programs and public officials, project management, government documentation, or regulatory compliance.
Site Committee Love the park? Want to help us keep it beautiful, sustainable, and safe for generations to come? The Site Committee coordinates and oversees all site-related work to ensure our park, cove and marshes stay beautiful, clean and cared for. This committee welcomes individuals skilled in landscape management, gardening, hands-on manual labor, and anyone who enjoys park beautification.
Volunteer Management Committee EWPA is volunteer-lead, volunteer-run! This Committee develops comprehensive volunteer management strategies, including recruiting, training, and engaging volunteers across all organizational activities. This committee is perfect for individuals with strengths in relationship building, volunteer coordination, event planning, and community organizing.
Over 80 neighbors joined together at this socially distanced outdoor clean up on April 24th, 9:30-11:30 am.
Teams worked on clean ups at Stillhouse Cove, Pawtuxet Park, and Sheldon Street.
With cooperation from the Pawtuxet Village Association, Save the Bay, RI Yacht Club, Cranston Rotary Club, Pawtuxet Cove Marina, Edgewood Garden Club, the City of Cranston and the City of Warwick the clean-ups were a huge success.
With everyones cooperation, we followed RI Department of Health guidelines. Thanks to everyone for the great event.
MISSION: The EWPA is an independent, volunteer-led nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, plant, maintain and enhance the Narragansett Bay waterfront in the Edgewood section of Cranston, Rhode Island, including marshes, wildlife, waterscape and parks for historic preservation, scenic beauty and physical protection for the benefit and enjoyment of the public. This important work is done in collaboration with the City of Cranston and other community partners, and by fundraising from public and private sources.
The Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association (EWPA) was founded in 1996 to revive a neglected 5.5- acre waterfront park, fronting the historically significant Stillhouse Cove adjoining Narragansett Bay in Cranston, Rhode Island. Originally designated as a park in 1915 by the Metropolitan Park Commission, it remained in the possession of the State of Rhode Island (Department of Environmental Management) until 1984 when it was deeded to the City of Cranston as a conservation area for passive recreation.
For many decades this property was neglected and abused. When Narragansett Boulevard was created and again during the installation of public sewers in the City, construction materials were dumped along the public shoreline. In the 1940s and 1950s it was used as a turnaround for electric buses. After the February 1978 Blizzard it was a dumping ground for polluted snow. During the 1970s and 1980s the Park was overrun with invasive weeds and trash; and the public had lost its access to the shoreline. The adjoining salt marsh had accreted so much sediment carried by storm water that few native species could survive. The waterfront was colonized by Phragmite Australis and Japanese Knotweed, tall invasive plants that proliferated in the marsh and along the shoreline.
Over the last 26 years, under the stewardship of EWPA, Stillhouse Cove has undergone tremendous environmental restoration. Water entering the Cove is now filtered through a storm water infiltration area or re-directed toward Vortechnic units located in the southern end of the park that filter sediment out of runoff. EWPA volunteers regularly clean the shoreline and hold annual maintenance activities in the salt marsh. After years of treating invasive vegetation, native flora and fauna are re-establishing. The Park has been preserved through the vigilant curbing of shoreline erosion, the planting of native grasses and bushes, the management of trees, and the introduction of native perennial flowers to provide visual interest and color.
The Park has become the focal point of the entire Edgewood neighborhood. Twelve months a year it hosts joggers and walkers, bench sitters, bird watchers, kayakers and picnickers, outdoor yoga participants, football throwers, painters and photographers. It is the meeting place for dog walkers who are provided with EWPA-supplied waste bags. Wedding parties and school graduates come to pose by the water. The Park regularly hosts school kids doing science projects on the shoreline.
The EWPA’s goals for 2025 and beyond are to maintain these advancements for the enjoyment of all of our neighbors and visitors. The EWPA is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization governed entirely by volunteers. Although EWPA receives some in-kind assistance from the City of Cranston, most of the work maintaining the park has been carried out by volunteers with some paid labor supported entirely by donations from the community or small grants for specific purposes.
2020 saw a significant increase in the use of the park at Stillhouse Cove. Your support enables us to protect and preserve Stillhouse Cove, our local environmental treasure.
Some of What We Did in 2020 with Your Help
Completed the new rose garden with stepping stones and a plaque recognizing our supportive donor.
Protected the marsh and conservation area at Stillhouse by treating and removing invasive weeds and seedlings.
Re-planted 5 gardens and the rotary with native plants that withstand drought and attract bees.
Re-hydroseeded the stormwater infiltration area with our City of Cranston partner and Save the Bay.
Repaired the vandalized sprinkler system and damage to the park lawn.
Provided dog waste bags to neighbors and visitors, including adding a third dispenser to the park this spring when demand increased and maintained walkways to the beach area.
Each year, we need to raise $10,000 to sustain improvements and to keep Stillhouse Cove the clean, beautiful, and safe waterfront park it has become.
Please give today. Donations are collected through a secure PayPalpayment.
A Peek into the Future Climate Change & Rising Sea levels in Cranston RI
Monday, March 22, 6:30pm Live Via Zoom
RSVP HERE - EVENT FULL
Please join us for an exciting evening looking into our future at Stillhouse Cove, at the Annual Meeting of the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association (EWPA).
Free and Open to the Public. Space is limited. RSVP Required.
Annual Meeting Presentation Have you wondered how our neighborhood might be impacted by climate change and rising sea levels?
A Peek into the Future: Climate Change & Rising Sea levels In Cranston RIPlease join us for a presentation by Teresa Crean as she guides us through a discussion of the future of sea level rise predictions, Storm Tools and remediation efforts to plan for the future in our community.
About the Speaker Teresa Crean is a community planner and coastal management extension specialist with the Coastal Resources Center (CRC) and Rhode Island Sea Grant at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Teresa facilitates municipal-scale projects in Rhode Island that address coastal adaptation to climate change and sea level rise. Her work involves evaluating the results of mapping exercises to clearly communicate anticipated challenges and opportunities for municipal stakeholders while collaboratively considering policies and projects that may increase resiliency in the face of potential impacts from coastal hazards and storm events.
Stillhouse Cove, along Narragansett Blvd. Restored salt marsh is at right.
Pawtuxet’s Stillhouse Cove has undergone a remarkable transformation. Since 2004, almost $1 million has been invested in projects that have restored the 3-acre salt marsh, protected the embankment from erosion, enhanced the parkland, replaced a derelict boat ramp, and calmed traffic.
Stillhouse Cove Park is managed by the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association (EWPA), a non-profit incorporated in 1996. EWPA has developed partnerships with agencies and organizations critical to the funding and installation of these great projects. Partners include: Save the Bay, the City of Cranston, DEM, CRMC, the US Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Narragansett Bay Commission and the Edgewood Garden Club.
2003 2015
Improvements in a coastal zone are very expensive, require environmental permits, and have to be carefully managed. Projects are complicated and time-consuming. However, EWPA and its partners have been tenacious. The result? Note the following projects and milestones completed in the past fourteen years:
2004
Coastal erosion project. Stone rip-rap was installed on about 1000 linear feet of the southern embankment, and the embankment to the north was cleared and planted with special “warm season” grasses, with root systems capable of holding the steep slope in place.
2004-5
Salt marsh restoration project. The invasive phragmites grasses were cut away. The
streambed channels were dug out, removing accumulated sediment, and restoring infiltration of salt water critical to allowing native marshland ecology to recover.
Vortechnics catch basin unit installed, 2005
2005
Installed “Vortechnics” catch basin units in the lawn area, capable of filtering out sand, metals and other contaminates before reaching the marsh.
Installed new sidewalks and granite curbing on Narragansett Boulevard.
2005-09
Installed six memorial benches, for park patrons to enjoy.
2008
Garden improvements installed by the Edgewood Garden Club
Additional channels dug to control mosquitoes and increase salt water infiltration
2012
Installed wooden fence at northern end of park
2013
Recovery from Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy grant enabled stabilization of embankment
2014-15
EWPA wins National Historic Register designation for Stillhouse Cove
EWPA wins Hurricane Sandy restoration grant for new erosion project
Water service installed at site, 2015
Water service and sprinklers installed on lawn area, which was regraded and reseeded as well.
Narragansett Boulevard traffic calming installed, including two speed tables and a new rotary at the intersection with Ocean Avenue.
New boat ramp installed.
Ten new gardens planted on site.
Annual Cove Clean Up, 2015
EWPA has ongoing initiatives and the annual Cove Clean Up every April. Pawtuxet neighbors who use or appreciate Stillhouse cove are encouraged to check out www.stillhousecove.org and sign up to become a member. Thanks for your support!
Phoebe Bean did not disappoint in presenting a fascinating talk on “Relics, Rebels and Rum” of Stillhouse Cove. Thanks all that attended, to our presenters, President Barbara Rubine, Secretary Susan Hartman, and Treasurer Piers Curry, and of course, Phoebe Bean!
