We are truly blessed to have five beautiful wildlife refuges here in Rhode Island that provide homes, nesting and resting spaces for a whole host of wildlife as well as over 60 species of birds some of which just stop to rest and others who stick around.

We are very happy that the Kettle Pond Visitors Center in Charlestown and the Sachuest Point Visitors Center in Middletown are now open seven days a week from

10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We are grateful to all the volunteers who give of their time to allow these Centers to be open every day.

With the visitor centers open, so are our stores. All of the profits from our sales go toward furthering the work of the US Fish and Wildlife Rhode Island Refuge Complex. Hopefully, you will come and shop so that we can carry on with this support.

During this year, the Friends will continue supporting the Rhode Island Refuge Complex by using membership dues, store profits and donations. This year we will continue to provide funds for the Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership Initiative, Complex wide events (Take Me Fishing Day, Refuge Open Houses, National Wildlife Refuge Week and Urban Conservation Day, etc.) and the volunteer program. New initiatives being supported are a program assessing the migratory shorebird stopovers on Rhode Island Refuges, assessing the population dynamic of the Eastern Spadefoot Toad at the Ninigret NWR and the partner led outreach programs (Get Grounded, 15 Minute Field Trips, etc.).

In addition, the Friends are proud to continue to support and run the Junior Duck Stamp program which bring numerous entries from students at schools around the State.

Also, this summer we will be holding our annual amateur photography contest and our popular summer lecture series - Wildlife Wednesdays – at Kettle Pond.

As you can see, our plans are ambitious and we thank all of our members and supporters for their generous financial and volunteering support – we could not do what we do without you!