What We Do
Since 2017, there have been 39 successful Around Beavertail swims by 32 different swimmers. With every swim comes the opportunity to bring someone into nature and the expose them to the beauty, both in and out of the water, of the Narragansett Bay.
Our Mission of Conservation
After the 2023 edition of the swim, Beavertail Open Water was formed as a registered non-profit organization to host the event and expand its presence in both the local Rhode Island community and the global open water swimming community. This will allow for Beavertail Open Water to use all net proceeds and fundraising to accept applications for and allocate grants to the local conservation, science and research community. Our goal is to support researchers, professors, and Masters & PhD students with the funding they need to pursue research, projects, programs and initiatives of conservation.
“Grant writing for science and research is extremely competitive and the impacts of funding are massive. If we can add even one grant to that ecosystem, that would be such an honor and a privilege.”
— Pat Reyes, Race Director
Highlighted Grant Recipient: Taylor Lindsay, PhD Candidate, University of Rhode Island
“Back to basics: Seasonal and interspecific ecology of Rhode Island’s State Coral”
In 2021, the Northern Star Coral (Astrangia poculata) became the State Coral of Rhode Island. Since then, its popularity as a model species for tropical corals has skyrocketed: it has been used in studies on coral immunology, microbiome, gene expression, reproduction, energetics, and others. However, to this day, we still do not understand the fundamental ecology of this species. Little is known about how wild juveniles settle and mature, how climate change affects the coral, or the ecological value of this species to the Narragansett Bay ecosystem or food web. Without this knowledge, it is nearly impossible to appropriately protect such a unique and special species to the state of Rhode Island. Here, we propose to answer two fundamental questions: First, is climate change affecting Astrangia’s winter dormancy? Second, how does Astrangia interact with other species, focusing on algae and natural predators of the coral? To accomplish these goals, we will employ non-invasive visual surveys over the course of a year to document dormancy and species interactions. These surveys will allow us to understand the ecological role of our state coral and the impacts of environmental change to improve conservation practices in Narragansett Bay.
