Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI DRAFT Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods Little Compton, Rhode Island INSERT PHOTO CLT, 5/08 Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club By Carol Lynn Trocki, 10/2008 Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI Table of Contents Purpose 3 Property Description 3 Location 3 Plat and Lot Identification 4 Acreage 4 Ownership 4 Conservation Restrictions 4 Current Uses & Stakeholders 5 Land Use History 6 Conservation Values 9 Landscape Setting 9 Topography 10 Geology 10 Soils 11 Hydrologic Setting 12 Habitats & Natural Community Types 13 Wildlife Conservation Values 18 Scenic Values 20 Historic Values 20 Recreational Values 21 Educational Values 21 Agricultural Values 21 Human Alterations / Planned Landscape Elements 21 Potential Threats 21 Invasive Species 21 Human Use Impact 22 Overbrowse by White-tailed Deer 22 Management Responsibility & Management Plan Review 22 Management Goals & Objectives 24 Ecological Conservation & Habitat Management 24 Wetland Resource Protection 25 Recreational Use 25 Educational Use 27 Scenic & Historic Resource Conservation 27 Agricultural Resource Conservation 28 Recommended Management Activities & Timeline 28 Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI Purpose The purpose of this document is to establish a Management Plan that provides guidance for the protection, maintenance, and public use of Wilbour Woods in a manner that ensures its sustainability for future generations. This plan seeks to identify the unique conservation values of Wilbour Woods and make certain that they are protected, while encouraging public access for recreational and educational opportunities where most appropriate. Property Description Location Wilbour Woods is located on the north side of Swamp Road in the Town of Little Compton, in Newport County, Rhode Island (Figure 1). Figure 1. Location Map/ Aerial Photo, Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI. (Base Datalayers: RIDOT 2003-2004 1:5,000 scale true color digital orthophotograph, RIGIS roads datalayer, RIGIS perennial streams datalayer.) Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 DRAFT Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI Plat and Lot Identification: Little Compton Tax Assessor’s Plat 17, Lot 12 Acreage: 85.5 ± acres1 Ownership: Town of Little Compton Conservation Restrictions: The property was deeded to the Town of Little Compton by Elizabeth Mason Lloyd on April 14, 1937 with a number of conditions. A summary of the conditions that seem especially pertinent to the property’s current management is listed below. The complete record of deed can be found in the Little Compton Land Evidence Records, Book 28, Pages 99-101. Should any inconsistencies arise between the following summary and the language of the deed, the language of the deed shall control. • The site shall always be known as ‘Wilbour Woods’ and preserved as a memorial to Jessie Bross Lloyd, the Grantor’s Mother-in-Law • The Town of Little Compton shall forever preserve, keep and maintain the premises and woods in their natural and wild state • Any trimming or removal of trees, shrubs, flowers, ferns, or moss shall be only under the advice and supervision of an expert horticulturist 1 Town of Little Compton , Rhode Island, Tax Assessors Maps & Plat and Lot Listings, 2006 Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 4 DRAFT Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI • No business of any kind shall be carried on in the woods • No hunting or trapping shall be allowed • The Town Council shall pass such ordinances, rules and regulations as will carry into effect the preservation and protections of the woods and afford proper police protection against vandalism and destruction Current Uses: The Wilbour Woods property is mostly forested, with both wetland and upland habitats greatly influenced by the presence of Dundery Brook. Although the property is approximately 85 acres in size, it is predominantly the southeastern portion that is regularly accessible to the public. This portion of the property includes approximately 0.89 miles of unpaved road that accommodates single direction vehicular use, as well as pedestrians. There are also approximately 0.66 miles of footpaths that radiate out from the roadway in several different locations. Wigwam Pond is a small manmade pond resulting from a stone dam across Dundery Brook. This pond and the brook itself are posted as stocked trout fishing waters. Stone fireplaces, tables and benches are provided in several locations along the road for picnicking and cookouts. Parts of the property, especially the areas immediately along the roadway, have been managed intensely for recreational use (a more detailed description can be found below under ‘Planned Landscape Elements’) while much of the remainder of the property is in an entirely natural state. A small portion of the property on the western side is currently used for agricultural purposes. The public uses Wilbour Woods for a variety of activities, including walking roads and trails (dogs are allowed), picnicking, campfires and cook-outs, fishing, photography, nature study, bird watching, and ice skating in winter. Stakeholders invested in the preservation and maintenance of Wilbour Woods include: • All individuals using the property for the activities listed above • Little Compton Town Council - authority and oversight • Little Compton Garden Club Conservation Committee – stewardship coordination • Little Compton Tree Committee – tree stewardship • Little Compton Grange – public service • Little Compton Public Works staff - maintenance responsibility • Little Compton Police and Fire - public safety responsibility • Little Compton Agricultural Conservancy Trust – abutting conservation land Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 5 DRAFT Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI • Sakonnet Preservation Association – abutting conservation land • Residents of Little Compton (even those not using Wilbour Woods) Land Use History: Excerpted from Wilbour Woods: Consensus Determination of Eligibility; see document for a complete summary of historical records and landuse history for the property.2 The planned landscape visible at Wilbour Woods today was designed in the mid- nineteenth century to take advantage of the pleasant, natural wooded setting and to commemorate important local Native Americans. There are varying accounts of when Wilbour Woods was initially established, but traditionally, Isaac Champlin Wilbour (1831-1899), a successful Little Compton poultry farmer, is credited with purchasing approximately 50 acres of land in the vicinity of Swamp Road around 1849. It is thought that Wilbour initially planned to use the property as a woodlot, but given its proximity to land known to be the primary inhabitation site for the local Sakonnet band of the Wampanoag tribe, and the physical beauty of the property, he instead developed the parcel as a private family park. Other accounts credit Isaac Wilbour’s son, Philip Herbert Wilbour (1856-1933), with creating the memorials and developing the basis for the planned setting still visible today. The land north of Swamp Road has long been referenced as a settlement site of the Sakonnet band of the Wampanoag tribe, and their settlement period leader, a female sachem named Awashonks. The Sakonnet called the area around Wilbour Woods Tompi Swamp, in honor of one of the band’s sachems, but it was later known as Awashonks’ Swamp or Awashonks’ Wood, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Awashonks and the Sakonnets played a central role in the early European settlement history of Little Compton and in the events of King Philips War. In 1673, 32 men from the nearby Plymouth Colony purchased much of the land that is now Little Compton from Awashonk’s son, though Awashonks was not privy to the sale and contested it. A council of Sakonnet decided in favor of her son’s right to sell his land and the sale proceeded. In 1674, Colonel Benjamin Church, an early settler, entered into a treaty with the Sakonnets in which the band pledged to remain neutral in King Philip’s War. Awashonks, who was a cousin of Metacom (King Philip), initially supported the war against the English colonists, but after the treaty with Church was credited with either remaining neutral or even possibly sending men to fight alongside the English. 2 Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. 2003. Wilbour Woods: Consensus Determination of Eligibility. Prepared for the RI Dept. of Transportation. Developed for the Little Compton Garden Club by Carol Lynn Trocki, updated 3/2009 6 DRAFT Comprehensive Management Plan for Wilbour Woods, Little Compton, RI Ultimately, Church’s treaty with Awashonks sheltered Little Compton from much of the violence and unrest the war brought to the rest of the region. After selling their lands, the Sakonnets were given a square parcel of land in the vicinity of what is now Wilbour Woods, which oral history maintains surrounded a preexisting Sakonnet village. In 1680, this land was apparently taken away from the Sakonnets; property records show 32 different owners with 11-acre plots in the vicinity, which were all then