Beautiful spot to be put back into use
By Ryan Arruda, Rhode Island Current
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| The view of the lake from the Great Room of the Sycamore Lodge at the Whispering Pines Conference Center on the W. Alton Jones campus. (Photo by Ryan Arruda for Rhode Island Current) |
Six years after pandemic lockdowns forced state officials to shut down the University of Rhode Island’s 2,300-acre environmental camp, nature preserve and conference center in West Greenwich, the site is finally set to reopen on Labor Day.
The W. Alton Jones Campus is now undergoing a $2 million renovation to its Environmental Education Center’s lodge, surrounding cabins and farm buildings as well as improvements to signs and public access. Up until the campus was shut down in 2020, the property saw as many as 20,000 visitors each year. But economic concerns kept the campus closed after pandemic lockdowns were lifted.
In addition to the Environmental Education Center, which contains the largest lodge, the campus is home to the Whispering Pines Conference Center, which includes the Whispering Pines Lodge, the Sycamore Lodge, and two smaller, unnamed lodges, and the 9-acre Woodvale Farm, which has two barns, two houses, and a classroom building.
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Terry Gray, a West Greenwich resident, made reopening the campus a priority after he became the agency’s acting director in 2021. He took over the job permanently in 2022.
In an interview, Gray said DEM is focused on preserving the property while expanding public access and environmental education. The goal is to make Alton Jones a center for environmental education in the state.
“One of the things that I found out when I moved into the director’s role was that there had been a lot of discussions between URI, the Nature Conservancy and DEM about how they could make sure that the land was conserved,” Gray said.
Gray said he wanted to make sure the land was used for open access and educating the public and didn’t want to see it fall into the hands of developers.
“It’s very near and dear to my heart,” Gray said.
URI has maintained the historic property for research, teaching and community activities since 1962, the year its oil and gas industry executive and philanthropist namesake was killed in a plane crash. William Alton Jones, president of Cities Service, used the site as his private hunting and fishing retreat and hosted his close personal friend President Dwight D. Eisenhower there.
In 2021, DEM began drafting a plan for the conservation of the property. Momentum grew when URI issued a request for information in November 2024, seeking input from vendors across the state. Because DEM had previous discussions with URI, the agency emerged as a leading partner for the campus redevelopment, Gray said.
The URI Board of Trustees approved the partnership in June 2025, giving DEM a 10-year lease for the campus and access to a majority of the property.
When the Environmental Education Center reopens in its namesake lodge, it will bring together several nonprofit organizations from across the state under one roof and encourage collaboration between them.
“They’re not really coordinated,” Gray said of those groups that will include URI, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, The Nature Conservancy and Roger Williams Park Zoo.
Rhode Island Current reached out to all the groups for comment, but representatives said they had not yet been approached about programs at the campus. Representatives from the Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy expressed enthusiasm about the reopening of the campus. The Nature Conservancy has hopes of working with DEM to extend trails between adjacent properties and those on the campus.
“We’re open to exploring ways to improve trail connections between Alton Jones and Arcadia, Wickaboxet and Tillinghast Pond,” said Tim Mooney, a media representative for The Nature Conservancy, in a request for comment.
DEM’s two major natural resource divisions, Fish and Wildlife, and Forestry and Agriculture, are also slated to join the Alton Jones campus. The move will avoid a multi-million dollar capital improvement project because the offices now used by these divisions across the state are in need of replacement.
“What we want to do is consolidate these folks into the campus, and it’ll result in greatly improved working conditions for them,” Gray said.
Once construction is complete, 30 to 40 DEM employees will be working at Alton Jones. DEM has already relocated its Deputy Chief of Forest Environment Tee Jay Boudreau to the main gate office at the entrance of the campus, and the agency’s remaining staff will be transitioned into the campus by the end of the summer.
The property is slated for major rehabilitation on cabins outside of the Environmental Education Center, as well as the Woodvale Farm, and for minor maintenance at the Environmental Education Center lodge. The cabins were traditionally used for overnight summer camps, but will transition to offices for DEM employees.
DEM is funding the project through its capital budget. Subleases, events and classes at the Environmental Education Center will generate some revenue.
“We’ll have to see how these subleases go,” Gray said. “It’s not going to be a huge revenue generator, but there may be some incidental money coming in.”
One of the subleases will come from the Woodvale Farm which will be used for educational classes and rehabilitation for injured animals before their release back into the wild.
URI will continue to manage the Whispering Pines Conference Center, and the university is working on a lease with a separate organization for its development.
The DEM’s lease agreement with URI includes an opportunity for a 10-year lease renewal.
“At least for the next 20 years, it’s conserved, and it’s going to be spaced within the DEM portfolio,” Gray said.
Gray said he would like to see summer camp programs eventually brought back to Alton Jones, though they would be daytime programs.
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