The Howard Conservation Area is now home to a number of species of wildlife, including a large herd of deer, wild turkey, fox, oriole, cormorant, redheaded woodpecker, night herons, wood duck, and great blue heron.

Pawtuxet River Authority and Watershed Council (PRAWC) owns a 50-acre parcel of land in the cities of Cranston and Warwick along the Mainstem Pawtuxet River, known as the Howard Conservation Area. The Conservation Area was formerly an ill-maintained expanse of illegal trash dumping and abuts the former Cranston Sanitary Landfill which has undergone extensive environmental remediation.  PRAWC has been steadily working to make this area a functional urban passive recreation facility as well as a wildlife refuge by combating illegal dumping, eliminating invasive plant species, encouraging native plant growth, and maintaining a former state institution's historic cemetery.  

There is a relatively flat, but grassy rail trail along the northern edge, which connects to a hiking trail along the river looping back to the cemetery providing over a mile of urban trails that are open to the public.