Chafee's legacy: `A green and pleasant land'
By PETER B. LORD
Journal Staff Writer
It became an annual event during the last several years for U.S. Sen. John H. Chafee to come back from Washington, summon reporters and staff and some environmental leaders and then hike across a field near Trustom Pond, in South Kingstown, or climb a scenic bluff on Block Island, or look out at ducks swimming in Pettaquamscutt Cove, in Narragansett.
At those picturesque places, Chafee would announce that he had won another few million dollars from Congress to buy more woods or marshes or beaches in Rhode Island so they could be preserved in their natural states.
In his long career, Chafee got behind his share of building projects.
As governor, he built the Newport Bridge. As a senator, he sponsored appropriations for the Jamestown Bridge, a third federal building in downtown Providence, the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island and all kinds of tranportation programs.
He earned national recognition for helping craft and pass environmental legislation that will affect all Americans for years to come.
``Quite simply, no American has done more for the environment of this country over the past five decades than John Chafee,'' John DeVillars, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency's New England Region, said last week. ``He led every significant environmental fight of our generation -- from drinking water to air quality to endangered species, from rivers to shellfish beds to open space.''
But the legacy that probably most directly affects Rhode Islanders is the collection of beautiful places John Chafee leaves behind.
All over Rhode Island, you can find beaches, forests, marshes and parks that are there for people to enjoy because Chafee had a passion for conservation and the energy and clout to make it happen.
At the end of his outdoor press conferences in recent years, Chafee usually stayed around and talked with other conservation enthusiasts.
As often as not, he'd look out at the beautiful spot he was working to preserve, shake his head, and say something like: ``Look at that out there. Isn't that something? Just beautiful.''
Chafee often quoted his hero, Teddy Roosevelt, about the need to ``leave behind for the next generation a more green and pleasant land.''
Chafee certainly followed that advice. Here are some of the ``green and pleasant'' places he left behind:
Colt State Park
Chafee often said his acquisition of the 460-acre waterfront estate as a park was one of his finest accomplishments in elected office. It also was his first conservation effort.
Col. Samuel P. Colt assembled the estate; when he died in 1921, his will directed the land be kept open to the public. But descendents pressed to sell to developers.
For two years, Democrats in the General Assembly blocked then-Gov. Chafee's efforts to buy the estate. He finally rounded up enough votes for the $600,000 purchase in 1964. Last summer, Chafee told a reporter that few things gave him greater pleasure than driving through the park and seeing people jogging and biking and strolling -- and enjoying its scenery.
During this period, he launched his Green Acres program, which for the first time made it business as usual for the state to buy and preserve open land.
While he was governor, the state purchased East Matunuck Beach, Ninigret Conservation Area in Charlestown, Brenton Point, in Newport, and two undeveloped parks, J.L. Curran Park, in Cranston, and Coccamscussoc State Park in North Kingstown.
Since then, the state has purchased more than 6,600 acres and another big bond issue is being considered for next year.
Ministerial Road
For years, South Kingstown residents battled a state plan to widen, straighten and level this 6.4-mile highway that winds by streams, ponds, mountain laurel and a white cedar swamp.
State officials insisted they needed to bring the road up to federal standards. Neighbors said the project would turn one of the state's most scenic roads into a barren highway.
Finally, in 1991, Chafee sponsored legislation that barred the use of federal funds to reconstruct the road without the Town Council's approval.
In the end, instead of spending $14 million to rebuild the road as the state originally intended, it was simply repaved for less than $1 million.
Several years ago, the neighborhood group that fought to protect the road won a national conservation award from a group called Scenic America.
National Wildlife Refuges
More than 2,000 acres of Rhode Island's most scenic waterfront property is preserved in national wildlife refuges on Block Island and in Charlestown, Narragansett, South Kingstown and Middletown.
Some of the land was donated and some came from the military. But Chafee sponsored nearly $12 milllion in federal appropriations that dramatically expanded the refuges and bought all of the land to create the 400-acre Pettaquamscutt Cove National Wildlife Refuge on the Narrow River in Narragansett. Last summer, Congress voted to name that refuge after Chafee.
More improvements are coming soon, thanks again to Chafee legislation. Congress has set aside money for a $5-million visitor center in South County, as well as road and parking lot improvements at Ninigret Park, in Charlestown, and the Sachuest refuge, in Middletown.
``He liked land protection in general,'' refuge manager Charles Hebert said of Chafee. ``When we talked about the visitor center, he really wanted us to use a lot of the money to buy more land. I guess every dollar we've spent on refuges we owe to Chafee.''
Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor
For years, people argued about how to turn around this corner of the state, a battered vestige of the Industrial Revolution that watched most of its mills move south.
Chafee authored legislation in 1986 that designated the 46-mile valley from Worcester to Pawtucket a heritage corridor. He later was instrumental in obtaining financing for the recreational trails and exhibits that helped people take pride in the area's old buildings and powerful river.
`My biggest accomplishment is the Blackstone River Valley Heritage Corridor,'' Chafee said in an interview a few weeks ago.
He helped generate nearly $11 million in federal financing for the corridor during the last decade.
Bike paths and train stations
Several years ago, you couldn't find a bike path in Rhode Island. Now the East Bay Bike Path is a huge success, and more paths have been developed or are on the way.
Chafee, who worked hard to get people out of their cars, helped resolve some right-of-way issues that allowed the East Bay Bike Path to move ahead. Since then, he secured funding for the Blackstone, South County, Woonasquatucket and Washington/Secondary Bike Paths -- all in various stages of development. More than $9 million for these projects will be spent in Rhode Island this year alone.
Chafee also sponsored funds to renovate the historic train stations in Kingston and Westerly.
Now both old buildings are fully available for use as Amtrak launches its new high-speed train service.
One more station is in the works, thanks to Chafee. He sponsored $25 million to build a new station in Warwick, close to Green State Airport.
Southeast Lighthouse
The historic lighthouse on Block Island could well be in the ocean right now if Chafee hadn't sponsored funding to pull it back from a deterioriating cliff.
Chafee played a key roll in securing federal financing used to jack up the lighthouse and drag it inland.
Chafee also secured federal money to restore and preserve the Sakonnet Light, in Little Compton.
Narragansett Bay
Everyone who spends time on the Bay can see it's cleaner now than it was a generation ago, and Chafee certainly helped.
In the 1980s, he sponsored $10 million to finance the Narragansett Bay Project, a massive study that is still used to guide policies and programs for managing the Bay.
He steered millions of dollars in sewer construction grants to Rhode Island. The money for boat pump-out stations around the Bay came from Chafee's Clean Vessel Act. He sponsored legislation that could generate more funds for restoring habitat around the Bay.
Newport Bridge
The bridge went up during Chafee's term as governor and opened in June 1969. He was very proud that he built it without federal funds, according to his staff. The money came from a state bond issue.
Being a man who couldn't stand for obscuring a good view of nature, Chafee ensured that railings for the bridge would permit motorists a grand view of the Bay and Newport Harbor.
In 1992, Governor Sundlun signed legislation naming the bridge after Claiborne Pell.
``It used to frost him that it was named the Pell Bridge,'' recalled aide Janet Coit. ``But then he'd say, `no one actually calls it that.' ''
The view from the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge.
The Mount Hope Bridge always bothered Chafee. He complained that the railings made it difficult to enjoy the view.
So he put his foot down again in 1987, when the state was building the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge.
He attached a rider to a federal highway bill, requiring that railings on the new bridge be designed so motorists would have a clear view. He later sponsored legislation that provided $2 million for new railings.
``Everytime we crossed that bridge, he'd say `Look at that view,' '' said his aide, Bentfield.
Striped bass
If you like to fish for striped bass and enjoy the fact that they've come back from a perilous decline, you might thank Sen. Chafee.
In 1979, he suspected stripers were disappearing because of habitat loss and pollution. He sponsored an amendment that provided $1 million to study the declining stripers. The study came up with a different culprit: overfishing.
In 1984, Chafee authored the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act, which led to tough new restrictions that gave stripers a chance to reproduce and grow in numbers.
Anyone who fished on Narraganset Bay this fall can tell you how abundant the stripers were.
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