Beaver River Preserve

A River Runs Through It

Beaver River © The Nature Conservancy

Why You Should Visit
Pleasant, babbling Beaver River flows through undisturbed acres that feature a small woodland pool, streams, seeps, a bog pool and swamp, forested wetland and a mixed oak forest.

Location
Richmond, in southern Rhode Island

Size
241 acres (eastern parcel is 55 acres, western parcel is 159 acres)

Trails
This preserve has two trails.

• A one-mile loop trail marked with yellow blazes begins at the preserve entrance at the end of Fox Ridge Drive, over spectacular rocky outcrops and seasonally wet seeps, through woodlands thick with underbrush. 
• A second trail runs along an old cart path from the southeast corner of the existing loop down to the river. Take this route and you will pass a colonial era grist mill. The trail ends at the Beaver River.  Please note: the timber bridge over the River may be unsafe, do not cross.

How to Prepare for Your Visit
Preserve Visitation Guidelines

Directions

• From Route I-95, take Route 138 east (exit 3A)
• Follow Route 138 east for 2.5 miles and make a left on Hillsdale Road.
• Travel north on Hillsdale Road for approximately 3 miles.
• Turn left on Old Mountain Trail and proceed 1.1 miles.
• Turn right on Oak Hill Drive.
• Go 0.1 miles and bear right on Fox Ridge Drive.
• Travel 0.7 miles on Fox Ridge Drive through a housing development until the road ends. Park here and enter the trail where marked.

What to See: Plants
Blueberry, sweet pepperbush, red maple

What to See: Animals
Dragonflies and the bog copper butterfly

Why the Conservancy Selected this Site
The Beaver River is a major tributary to the Pawcatuck River. The Conservancy identified the Pawcatuck River system as one of the best examples of its type in the Lower New England ecoregion, and thus selected it as a target for conservation. The Pawcatuck River's 300 square mile watershed comprises most of southwestern Rhode Island and extends into Connecticut. It falls within both the South County Landscape and the Pawcatuck Borderlands and supports roughly 70% of Rhode Island's globally imperiled species. In fact, the watershed hosts the largest and perhaps most significant cluster of known breeding sites for the globally vulnerable Ringed Boghaunter dragonfly (Williamsonia lintneri) across the specie's range. Beneath the Pawcatuck watershed lies an abundance of clean groundwater which serves as the sole source of drinking water for more than 60,000 local residents.