Published on Wednesday, September 24, 2025
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will soon begin a forest health project to reduce the risk of uncontrolled wildfires within an 8,300-acre parcel of the Big River Management Area that spans Coventry and West Greenwich. Starting next week, weather permitting, a crew of professional wood operators will thin dense tree cover and remove brush along at least two miles of forestland near fire roads to reduce the risk of wildfire spread, making it easier for first responders to suppress it.
A shaded fuel break created in 2023 along Blitzkrieg Trail at Arcadia Management Area in Hopkinton. These projects remove dense tree cover, brush, and dead branches, but leave behind many mature, well-spaced, healthy trees.
The project will create areas called “shaded fuel breaks” where foresters reduce fuels such as brush, shrubs, and dead branches that could feed a wildfire. This project is not clear cutting and unlike firebreaks, which remove all vegetation to stop a fire, shaded fuel breaks keep much of the forest canopy intact while reducing the amount of fuel on the ground. A fuel break by itself will not stop a wildfire but will help reduce a fire’s speed and severity. This scientifically supported strategy also helps reduce wildfire spread by maintaining cooler and moister understory conditions, helping vegetation remain greener longer.
“We have two main goals by taking steps to thin and manage these areas now,” said DEM Division of Agriculture and Forest Environment Deputy Chief Tee Jay Boudreau. “First is protecting people and property by reducing the risk of a wildfire spreading on state lands. Just as important, we want to make it safer and easier for fire departments to fight wildfires if they do happen.”
The project is funded using $3 million that was designated for forest health projects at state management areas in the voter-approved 2022 Green Bond. In recent years RI has experienced busy wildfire seasons. In 2024, southern New England saw a historic fall fire season, with RI experiencing a total of 75 wildfires, 41 occurring between Oct. 18 and Nov. 19. In 2023, DEM recorded 78 wildfires encompassing 582 acres, includes the back-to-back Congdon Mill Fire in West Greenwich that covered nearly 196 acres and the worst-in-decades Queen’s River fire in Exeter that burnt 286 acres.
For more information on DEM programs and initiatives, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem) for timely updates.
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