Sachuest Point
- > 100 ft
High value birding location.
- Listed on more than one “valuable wetland” list by natural resource agencies or nongovernment organizations.
- Protects biological diverse wetland flora, fauna and/or their habitat
- Supports significant numbers of wetland-dependent fauna, such as water birds or fish
This refuge is one of five national wildlife refuges in Rhode Island. In 1970, a 70 acre donation from the Audubon Society of Rhode Island led to the establishment of Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge. Today, with the land transfers from the Navy, the Refuge totals 242 acres that provide an important stopover and wintering area for migratory birds.
Shrubland, cobble beach, and salt marsh habitats provide valuable habitat for numerous species of flora and fauna including New England cottontail, harlequin duck, saltmarsh sparrow, and endangered migratory birds. Other highlights the USFWS identify include: visitor interpretive center with classroom available, 200 species of birds that utilize the refuge, and excellent surf fishing.
- Aesthetic/cultural heritage value/ provisioning
- Recreation (birdwatching, ecotourism)
- Education
- Coastal Salt Meadow
- Coastal Regularly Flooded Salt Marsh
- Coastal Saline Sound/Bay
- Pond
- Tidal Systems
Shallow to bedrock area. Interior marshes have surficial peat.
Bedrock Geology of Rhode Island (Geological Survey Bulletin 1295, US Department of the Interior 1975) excerpts:
1. "The shores of Newport Neck expose a considerable mass of volcanic tuff, conglomerate, and quartzite. Other exposures of these rocks are on the southeastern part of Conanicut Island, Cliff Walk of Newport, the outer shore of Sachuest Point..."
2. Pennsylvanian rocks of Narragansett basin, described as "...clastic sedimentary rocks of continental origin, more or less metamorphosed."
Peat within salt marsh, otherwise shallow to bedrock
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