S O W A F I N A N C I A L . C O M
R E T I R E M E N T P L A N N I N G P O R T F O L I O M A N A G E M E N T A D V I S O R Y S E R V I C E S
( 4 0 1 ) 4 3 4 - 8 0 9 0
1 4 B R E A K N E C K H I L L R D . S T E . 2 0 2 L I N C O L N , R I 0 2 8 6 5
Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network ®, member FINRA . org / SIPC . org , a Registered Investment Adviser . Additional advisory services offered through Sowa Financial Group , Inc . are separate and unrelated to Commonwealth .
IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT Laura Ruzzo Reale , Esq .
IS NOW A PARTNER
50 PARK ROW WEST , SUITE 109
PROVIDENCE , RI 02903
401-351-7700 WWW . MCINTYRETATE . COM that is sometimes the harder ingredient .”
In 2008 , state and federal biologists began working on a different strategy to create more shrub lands while building the population of New England cottontails . In 2011 , the state Department of Environmental Management ( DEM ) began clearing selected acreage near established populations in Connecticut .
“ There ’ s no formula , because this hasn ’ t been done before ,” says Cathy Sparks , DEM ’ s assistant director for natural resources . “ The presumption is : If you build it , they can expand their range .”
The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service ( NRCS ), which provides farmers , ranchers and forest owners with financial and technical assistance for conservation planning , has likewise encouraged interested property owners to pitch in by clearing some of their forested land . Each year , the NRCS works with up to 200 property owners , reimbursing them for clear-cutting small parcels and leaving a few mature trees .
“ The financial assistance is helpful ,” says NRCS biologist Gary Casabona . “ But we have a lot of people who do it for all the right reasons . They care about wildlife .”
Tom and Antonia Bryson , who own 160 acres in Carolina , signed on to create what Tom jokingly calls the “ rabbitat .”
“ It was an interest in improving the habitat and the health of the forest , and I think we feel very good about it ,” he says . “ Also it ’ s a nice , cuddly little animal and a lot of wildlife will benefit from the brush .”
Among them are native birds and some sixty-five species of migratory songbirds that refuel in Rhode Island on wild berrybearing shrubs on their way to the Caribbean or South America .
“ Species that specialize in grasslands — the bobolink , the Savannah sparrow , the Eastern meadowlark — their numbers have declined dramatically over the last thirty years ,” says Peter Paton , a URI professor who studies migratory birds . “ For a lot of long-distance migrants , Rhode Island is a chief stopover .”
The Audubon Society of Rhode Island , which protects nearly 10,000 acres in the state , has also cleared acreage around its Marion Eppley Refuge in West Kingston .
“ We all agreed it was a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to set the
34 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MAY 2021