Almost every morning this Winter, Tom Wojick heads down to Stillhouse Cove to capture spectacular images of this year’s scenes of snow and ice.
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Earlier this year, EWPA President Barbara Rubine and Vice-President Colin Murphy gave a presentation at the Edgewood Yacht Club detailing the work that our organization does all along Stillhouse Cove. Press the link below for a video of their talk which provides excellent background on EWPA’s history as well as the ongoing challenges that we face. https://vimeo.com/1133612774
We will be digging up invasive tree seedlings along the Park’s embankment and in the marsh. No need to sign up. But, if you are planning to come, it would be helpful if you emailed barbara.rubine@stillhousecove.org or donna.fieldman@stillhousecove.org
We had a spectacular day on September 20 for the EWPA’s annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) conducted in coordination with Save the Bay. Forty-four volunteers of all ages showed up at Stillhouse Cove to scour the beach areas, shoreline, and riprap for glass, plastics, and other items of pollution. And they recorded their findings on a data form so that the information can be compared to previous years and entered into an international data base. In all, one hundred and fifty pounds of solid waste was collected, not counting wood waste. Items included a laundry tub, syringes, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles, and a pillow.
On June 24, 2025, Save the Bay’s Executive Director Topher Hamblett and Restoration Coordinator Wenley Ferguson hosted a site visit to Stillhouse Cove by members of the national board of Restoring America’s Estuaries who were visiting Rhode Island for their national conference.
Members of the group from Texas, San Francisco, Maryland, North Carolina, Long Island, and other distant coastal communities learned about the decades- long collaborative effort of EWPA and STB to preserve Stillhouse Cove’s salt marsh and improve the water quality of Narragansett Bay.
Senator Lammis J. Vargas met with members of the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association board on June 25, 2025 to present a RI Senate grant to support their work at Stillhouse Cove.
American beach grass (Ammophila breviligulata) helps preserve the sandy areas that guard the salt marsh at Stillhouse Cove. Erstwhile members of the EWPA board, Donna Fieldman, Greta Francis, and Colin Murphy and former board member Joe Cooney, recently planted 200 “plugs” of beach grass in an exposed area near Strathmore Place. These will have to be nurtured and watered during the coming summer to turn into established plants such as those pictured above.
THE INFILTRATION AREA ON NARRAGANSETT BLVD., BELOW THE TROLLEY MONUMENT, POSES CONSTANT CHALLENGES.
Because of its steep banks, it very difficult to maintain the grass on the area. In an experiment, the EWPA just planted several plugs of special drought resistant Zoysia grass. We will monitor their survival in the coming months.
EWPA LOOKS TO THE CITY OF CRANSTON TO ADDRESS TREE SAFETY AT STILLHOUSE COVE.
At its December meeting, the EWPA Board discussed the dangers posed by untreated tree limbs in Stillhouse Cove Park. Ironically, at that very moment, two very large Cottonwood tree limbs crashed to the ground from a great height, startling a couple who were out walking their dogs.
Stillhouse Cove is a Cranston City Park. While the EWPA works on protecting the salt marsh and beautifying the Park, basic maintenance of the Park is the responsibility of the City. Concerned citizens should contact their representatives and the City administration about the danger posed by the lack of maintenance of the Park trees. Other tree limbs overhang the roadway or pose a threat pedestrians.
When friends view Tom Wojick’s spectacular photos of bird life, they imagine them taken in South County or some other exotic locale. But no, these were all shot right here in Stillhouse Cove. You can find Tom’s best images at https://www.heartofresiliency.com/wildlife.
Every Friday morning for the last six weeks, approximately 40 Cranston school kids from all over the city (grades K -6) came to Stillhouse Cove as part of a the Cranston Parks and Recreation Department’s summer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) camp program. Their teachers used the Cove as a laboratory regarding local ecology. EWPA’s Barbara Rubine and Donna Fieldman explained the challenges that erosion poses to the marsh and park and highlighted the different ways the problem is addressed at this location.
On July 26, two educators from Mystic Aquarium led the group in collecting and analyzing samples from the marsh and cove. This is the fourth consecutive year that Stillhouse Cove has hosted a STEM program.
