The University of Rhode Island’s W. Alton Jones campus recently had its lease approved for construction, and renovations are now underway to have the campus open to the public by the spring.
The West Greenwich campus will include renovations to the Environmental Education Center, structural updates to damaged buildings and an enhanced trail system. W. Alton Jones is now under the management of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
The partnership between URI and RIDEM was announced on March 2, with the goal of re-establishing the campus as a hub for environmental education programs throughout Rhode Island.
“That includes DEM education programs, it includes a lot of different URI environmental education programs and also just working with a lot of our partner organizations like Save the Bay, the Nature Conservancy, the Land Trust Council and Audubon Rhode Island,” Terry Gray said, director of RIDEM. “All of them have awesome education programs.”
Alton Jones will be available to any of URI’s education programs, including environmental education, according to Abby Benson, URI’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.
“I know Terry’s actively met with many of our deans,” Benson said. “That’s something that we’ll partner with DEM on.”
According to Gray, RIDEM’s staff has moved into the front office, and the department is now working on building replacements and upgrades.
“They’ve been closed up for five or six years,” Gray said. “Some of the decks and patios have really gotten damaged over time.”
RIDEM is also looking at upgrading the water system at the Environmental Education Center, according to Gray.
Although the campus is not currently open for public use, it is an active research site for URI students and faculty, according to Benson. URI’s partnership with RIDEM has allowed the research to continue since the campus’s closure in 2020.
Gray said RIDEM is actively working on improving the trail systems and looking to reopen the farm property in the future. The trail plan would involve connecting Arcadia Management Area with Tillinghouse Pond and the Wickaboxet Management Areas.
“I think it’s an awesome place to get outside,” Gray said.
Benson said that although RIDEM is managing the campus and has taken ownership of the IT systems, URI will work hard to make sure that the community still has access to Alton Jones to promote its research and educational mission.
“DEM is in a better position to manage it from a forestry standpoint and a capital standpoint,” Benson said. “This is what they do.”
