MCAA held its Winter Meeting on December 9, 2025, at the Norman Bird Sanctuary. Click here to view slide presentation.

MCAA President Melissa Welch provided an overview of MCAA’s activities over the previous six months, highlighting the recent approval by the Coastal Resource Management Council to allow MCAA to “adopt” six of the ten coastal access rights-of-way (ROWs) in Middletown.  MCAA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CRMC and the Town of Middletown to monitor conditions at the ROWs, conduct periodic clean-ups, and report on MCAA activities twice a year (see slides for details).  A copy of the MOU can be found HERE.

Thanks to our robust cadre of volunteers, MCAA is now monitoring all ten ROWs in Middletown, with the help of organizations like RI Surfriders and the Newport County Saltwater Fishing Club, along with neighborhood groups and individuals who share our goals to monitor, maintain, and preserve the ROWs that provide public access to our coastal waters. Monitoring reports to date indicate that litter continues to be an issue at our ROWs, with beverage containers, food packaging, and smoking materials occupying the top three spots in our trash collection efforts. Plastic pieces are also a growing concern, as they can break down into microplastics that have serious implications for the health of our coastal waters, wildlife, and even humans, according to a recent study by URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

MCAA’s Winter Meeting also provided the opportunity to follow up with our partners at the Norman Bird Sanctuary (NBS) to learn more about their water quality monitoring program, Program Lead Kathleen Matthews explained that the program aims to test water quality at various points as it traverses NBS property, eventually entering the ocean at the Sakonnet River.  MCAA looks forward to learning from and supporting this project to better understand what impacts are affecting our local waters and how we can help maintain clean and healthy coastal environments.  Check out the Norman Bird Sanctuary’s Water Quality Monitoring and Restoration Program HERE, where you can also learn about volunteer opportunities.

Another important MCAA partner, Aquidneck Island Land Trust, also participated in our Winter Meeting to provide an overview of the Aquidneck Resilience program, led by Paige Myatt.  Paige explained the goals of Aquidneck Resilience: to take an island-wide approach to developing actionable strategies and implementing projects to increase our community’s ability to prepare for and respond to more frequent and intense weather events. She noted that resilience projects that use nature-based solutions to address coastal erosion and sea-level rise can help preserve and even enhance coastal access.   Learn more about Aquidneck Resilience and sign up for their newsletter HERE.

Looking ahead, MCAA plans to increase outreach to expand our network and volunteer cadre.  We’re also continuing to build our MCAA website, but need help to update ROW photos, improve data collection, develop social media platforms, and more!  If you’d like to join MCAA’s efforts – or just express support and join our email list – contact middricaa@gmail.com.  We’re also working to establish 501(c)(3) status, which will allow us to accept tax deductible donations to support our efforts — stay tuned!  

We thank all our dedicated volunteers, partners, and supporters and look forward to working together to ensure Middletown’s coastal access ROWs remain a valuable resource for all to enjoy.