Just north of Flagg Road, adjacent to URI’s Kingston campus, lies the North Woods encompassing over 300 acres of forest, wetlands, headwater streams, and robust trails. The North Woods is currently used by many students as a learning lab for biology courses, a training space for the ROTC for leadership building with an obstacle course, and a trail system for walking or running. 

This area of land has captured the attention of a group of Masters of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) students to lead the North Woods Stewardship Project. Beginning in 2020, the project is a student-run initiative to responsibly steward, manage, and identify how the North Woods can best meet the University’s diverse academic and sustainability goals. The group was inspired to coordinate this project because of the North Woods connection to diversity. Diversity in the sense of the ecosystems, flora, and fauna within, the diversity of students and programs at the university, and the diversity of the opportunities to connect with nature in the North Woods, in addition to the aesthetic and spiritual importance of the North Woods with its proximity to campus.