Two of our local Narragansett Bay heroes -- photographer Richard Benjamin and Baykeeper John Torgan of Save The Bay -- have teamed up to create a new hardcover book with gorgeous photos and enlightening text.

Click here to check out a slideshow of pix from the book.

Click here for more info or to order a copy. Be sure to order yours direct from this Save The Bay link, and 50 percent of your $27.95 cost will go to fund Bay protection and restoration efforts.

Click on "More..." to check out an exclusive excerpt from the text. Take about two minutes to read, and you will by the end know lots more than you did before about our beautiful Bay and its watershed.

Images courtesy of Save The Bay and Richard Benjamin.

Watershed and Tributaries

by John Torgan, Save The Bay Baykeeper
 
Narragansett Bay is an estuary, where fresh water from tributary rivers meet and mix with the tide as it ebbs and flows from the Atlantic Ocean. Estuaries are among the most productive ecosystems on earth, rivaling tropical rainforests in the sheer volume of plant and animal life produced in this brackish mix.
 
The Blackstone and Taunton Rivers are the largest sources of fresh water to the Bay, contributing more than two billion gallons per day and draining nearly two thousand square miles of land from Worcester in the northwest to Brockton near Boston’s south shore in the northeast. Sixty percent of the Bay’s watershed is in Massachusetts, while more than ninety percent of the Bay itself is within Rhode Island. The Pawtuxet is the third largest tributary, draining the land area west of the Bay.
 
Each of its major rivers are essential to the Bay’s environment, history, and culture though each is unique. The Blackstone River, known as the birthplace of the industrial revolution for Samuel Slater’s mill, has a long history as an engine of commerce and, correspondingly, of pollution. There is a dam for each of its forty miles, and this legacy of use and misuse has only recently begun to turn around thanks to the hard work of dedicated environmental groups and agencies. Once a habitat for long-gone Atlantic salmon, fish ladders and passageways are now planned for the Blackstone to allow the restoration of river herring and to reestablish its direct links with the Bay and ocean.
 
In contrast, the Taunton is largely pristine, with no dams along its forty-mile course. Its rich and diverse plant and animal communities are hidden from view by its heavily wooded banks, although rapid growth from the Boston and Cape Cod areas are beginning to put pressure on its fragile ecosystem. The Taunton is presently being considered for designation as a national Wild and Scenic River.