The Kickemuit is a 550-acre tidal river in the town of Warren designated as a shellfish management area by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM). USDA NRCS and the RI DEM Marine Fisheries Division found that the Kickemuit had natural oyster recruitment occurring while partnering to identify sites along the Rhode Island coastline with natural oyster beds. This highlighted the need for site-specific soils information in the river. The request for coastal zone soil survey data was forwarded to the Soil Survey Special Projects Office in 2023.

As well as being important management areas for RI DEM and RI-NRCS, there are many local stakeholders in the area. Many homeowners and residents neighboring the Kickemuit River and Nannaquaket Pond are interested in conservation of the area. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted restoration projects here that removed dams along the northern part of the river to restore tidal influence upstream. Tidal rivers in Rhode Island serve important ecological functions such as habitat for shellfish and river herring. Local partners with an interest in the soil survey data include RI DEM, Warren Land Conservation Trust, The Town of Warren, Touisset Wildlife Refuge, the Laurel Park Improvement Association, and others. These partners were involved in project planning and will have access to project deliverables when it is completed. 

Kickemuit river and Nannaquaket pond were mapped using modern Coastal Zone Soil Survey protocols by 

collecting side-scan sonar data, producing a map of the bathymetric bottom, collecting soil cores using vibracoring methods, and documenting/sampling soils for physical and chemical properties. These projects are the latest addition to a long run of successful coastal zone soil survey work in Rhode Island and surrounding states. Coastal Zone Soil Survey information is widely available for the salt ponds and estuaries of Little Rhody, thanks to a strong partnership in the National Cooperative Soil Survey involving staff from USDA-NRCS, the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Conservation Districts, RI DEM, and local coastal interest groups.

Many of the vibracore samples in the Kickemuit project area included glaciolacustrine or glacial lakebed deposits beneath overlying Holocene-age estuarine deposits. These glacial lakebed deposits are identified by the presence of varves, or annual deposits of two contrasting layers: a light-colored layer of coarse material deposited in the summer, and a dark layer of fine material deposited in the winter in still-water conditions beneath the frozen glacial lake. The counting and analysis of varves allows geologists to create precise timelines of past climate conditions and events. This suggests that for a long period of time a glacial lake occupied the area before it became a tidal saltwater system as sea level rose following deglaciation. These unique subaqueous soils have not been frequently documented during coastal zone soil survey activities in southern New England and represent new soil types in the soil survey information.

The newly published coastal zone soil survey data will serve as baseline data for shellfish and other natural resource managers as restoration and conservation activities continue in Bristol County, RI. Visit our Rhode Island Soils page for more information on the state's soils and coastal zone soil surveys.