Ninigret is a coastal

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

in Charlestown,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, in the United States, located at . It is the largest of the nine lagoons, or "salt ponds", in southern Rhode Island. It is utilized for recreational activities, as well as oyster and

quahog The hard clam ('' Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Princ ...

harvesting. Found along its shores are "extensive"

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

remains. Ninigret Pond, like others in the region, was "formed after the recession of the glaciers 12,000 years ago". The pond is situated on low-lying ground, and as such, it is considered particularly vulnerable to

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

flooding. It is connected to

Green Hill Pond Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

via a small channel. The pond is located within the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. Both are named for

Ninigret Ninigret (also known as Juanemo according to Roger Williams) (c. 1610 This source confirms 1662 as the date of his land sales.-1677 This source suggests a date of 1667 for his land sales and a 1647 war against the Mohegans.) was a sachem of the e ...

, a 17th-century

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern ...

of the eastern Niantic aboriginal American tribe.

Watershed and restoration

According to information compiled by the Rhode Island Sea Grant program, Ninigret Pond's watershed covers , of which is occupied by water; Ninigret Pond itself has a surface area of , while other, smaller bodies of water account for the other . Averaging deep, Ninigret Pond has a salinity level of 24 parts per thousand. The pond receives: about 1,927,399,642 gallons of precipitation per year; 8,974,614–12,376,282 gallons of groundwater flow per day; and 1,881,774–4,849,186 of river and stream flow per day. It is permanently connected to the

Block Island Sound Block Island Sound is a strait in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately wide, separating Block Island from the coast of mainland Rhode Island. On the west, it extends to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, as well as Plum Is ...

by a constructed breachway. As a result of heavy development along the eastern shore, there are indications that water quality is degrading; however, restoration efforts are in place.

Eelgrass Eelgrass is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Zostera'', marine eelgrass * ''Vallisneria ''Vallisneria'' (named in honor of Antonio Vallisneri) is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass or ...

population has also been significantly declining. Dredging and cleanup projects have additionally been established. In the past,

breakwaters A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges. Part of a coastal management system, breakwaters are installed to minimize erosion, and to protect anchorages, h ...

were established, allowing inflows of sand to "choke" the pond. The Coastal Resources Management Council and the Army Corps of Engineers spent in excess of $4.1 million to remove harmful sand accumulations. Despite this, Ninigret was assessed as being the cleanest of the nine salt ponds. In contrast, Winnapaug Pond contains high levels of pollution. During the 1960s, Ninigret Pond was included as part of one of the first "integrated multidisciplinary studies of a coastal marine ecosystem".

References

External links

* *
Ninigret Pond map
{{Waterbodies of Rhode Island Lagoons of Washington County, Rhode Island Saline lakes of the United States Charlestown, Rhode Island

Watershed and restoration

See also

References

External links