RHODE ISLAND: For the health of the bay.

• Author: Kaplan, Seth
• Position: Brief Article

An unprecedented and important event took place at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence on April 24 and 25: the Narragansett Bay Summit. The political leaders of the state (including both U.S. senators from Rhode Island) came together with scientists, planners, environmental advocates, business leaders, fishermen, and a broad and varied collection of citizens and groups to discuss the past, present, and future of Rhode Island's key natural resource, Narragansett Bay.

Preparation and planning for the summit had taken nearly a year and resulted in the creation of a series of comprehensive White Papers that surveyed such topics as fisheries, industrial development, and marine transportation. The planning process also brought forward a series of panel discussions held at the summit during which diverse points of view were presented, conflicts were aired, and sometimes surprising consensus emerged.

An important theme of the summit was the interrelation between the management and development of the land in the watersheds that flow into the bay and the health and future of the bay itself. A clear and honest look at this interrelation forces Rhode Islanders to confront uncomfortable facts. That 60% of the watershed for the bay lies outside Rhode Island's boundaries (in Massachusetts) is the most salient of these facts and was repeated many times at the bay summit. That road and bridge construction in the bay watershed, far from the bay itself, can lead to increased levels of toxic substances in the bay is another uncomfortable truth. That the spread of suburban sprawl and increased use of lawn chemicals far upstream can have a real and powerful impact on the "dissolved oxygen crisis" in the bay with a potentially catastrophic impact on its ecosystem, especially on fish, is yet another thorny consideration.

What emerged was a surprising consensus among participants. They included realtors, developers, and smart growth advocates. The consensus was achieved through panel discussions about the need for land-use planning that...