Turkeys are more than just a Thanksgiving meal, they’re part of forest ecosystems across the country. In this episode of Possibly, we take a look at how they made a major comeback in New England after being driven to local extinction.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Where I live in Rhode Island, turkeys are more than just a Thanksgiving treat, they’re a neighbor. I feel like I see them everywhere – including wandering the streets near my house. But they haven’t always been doing so well. In fact, wild turkeys were locally extinct for many decades.

Possibly reporters Will Malloy and Nat Hardy took a look into how they made their comeback.

Will Malloy: Hi Megan!

Nat Hardy: Hello!

Megan Hall: So turkeys – where did they go and how did they come back?

Will Malloy: Like you, Megan, I was surprised to learn that there were no turkeys in Rhode Island as recently as the 1980s – my friends and I even saw a bunch running around in the road the other day.

Nat Hardy: Lizzi Bonczek, Upland Game Bird Biologist for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, says that turkeys are a natural part of our environment.

Lizzi Bonczek: Before colonial settlement, there was just vast amounts of of woods.

Will Malloy: Indigenous people used practices like controlled burns to keep the forests in a mix of different stages. Most areas had thick woods with parts cleared for farming.

Nat Hardy: This kind of mix gave turkeys different places to search for food, nest, and raise their chicks.

Will Malloy: But when European settlers arrived, they clear-cut about two-thirds of the state’s forests for farming.

Nat Hardy: Which was bad news for the turkeys.

Will Malloy: Plus, early settlers hunted them for food and over time, turkey populations shrunk.  By the early 1900s, there were no turkeys left in Rhode Island.

Nat Hardy: And the same thing happened all over New England.

Lizzi Bonczek: Vermont, Maine, Connecticut. Crazy to think about. No turkeys on the landscape.

Megan Hall: That’s unbelievable! How did they come back?

Will Malloy: Lots of people abandoned their farms, which gradually turned back into forests. Rhode Island also introduced hunting rules that protected wildlife.

Nat Hardy: In the 1960s, many New England states began to reintroduce turkeys, hoping that those forests were strong enough to support them again.

Will Malloy: And in 1980, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the National Wild Turkey Federation teamed up to release 29 turkeys in Exeter, Rhode Island.

Megan: Wait, where did they get those turkeys?

Nat Hardy: From Vermont actually! A decade earlier, the state had relocated a flock of turkeys from New York. And so by 1980 even Vermont had turkeys to spare!

Megan Hall: So they literally caught a flock of turkeys there and brought them into Rhode Island?

Will Malloy: Yes!

Megan Hall: How did the turkeys do?

Will Malloy: Pretty well, actually.

Nat Hardy: The state kept the program going and released flocks around the state over the next 10 years.

Will Malloy: And since then the population has continued to grow. But scientists are still keeping a close eye on the turkeys, to make sure they’re doing ok.

Megan Hall: So I guess this is a success story?

Nat Hardy: Yeah! For sure.

Will Malloy: First of all, it’s a great example of how states can work together to solve environmental and ecological problems.

Lizzi Bonczek: The reintroduction, really was this whole regional collaboration between, the states that have turkeys, the states that don’t have turkeys, the federal agencies that oversee these laws.

Nat Hardy: Plus, Lizzi says, there’s just something that feels good about living in a place where you get to see all sorts of animals, in your own neighborhood!

Lizzi Bonczek: And so I was driving along, and I noticed in the woodline there was a flock of turkeys. They were all kind of in the shade, and I just, like, sat there for a while with my binoculars and just watched them be turkeys. One was sitting on a log, preening another one. They’re kind of, you know, poking around, probably looking for seeds or bugs. There’s that, right, intrinsic value I was talking about, of just enjoying watching wildlife be wild.

Will Malloy: So, when I’m eating turkey this Thanksgiving, I’ll be feeling a little extra grateful for these guys.

Megan Hall: Same here. Thanks Will and Nat!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

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Rhode Island’s biggest landfill is expected to fill up by 2043. And there are about 100 inactive landfills across the state. This made us wonder, what can be done with closed landfills?

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Here in Rhode Island, our biggest landfill is expected to fill up by 2043. And there are about 100 inactive landfills across the state. Which made us wonder, what happens when these places close?

We had Possibly reporters Iman Khanbhai and Charlie Adams look into this question.

Iman Khanbhai: Hi Megan!

Charlie Adams: Cheers!

Megan Hall: Hey guys! Ok, so tell me— what happens to landfills when they’re too full to hold any more trash?

Charlie Adams: Good question. The basic answer is they get capped, meaning covered with something that hopefully isolates the nasty stuff below from whatever is on top.  But the more interesting answer is about what can come after a landfill is capped.

Iman Khanbhai: To find out more, we talked to Kasie Mackenzie.

Kasie Mackenzie: My name is Kasie Mackenzie, I work at Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

Iman Khanbhai: Kasie dedicates most of her work to dealing with the closure, permitting, and oversight of landfills in and around Rhode Island.

Charlie Adams: She says, before new regulations that were passed in the 90s, Rhode Island was less choosy about where cities and towns should put their trash. So, there were small landfills all over the state.

Iman Khanbhai: But now, all the state’s trash goes to official waste management sites, and those old landfills can’t be used for anything else until their owners go through an official process.

Kasie Mackenzie: They have to kind of go through a closure with our department, which deals with a lot of permitting and kind of like an investigation of the site.

Megan Hall: What does that investigation look like?

Iman Khanbhai: They check to make sure landfills can support something being built on top of them, and talk to people in the community about potential environmental and health risks associated with the properties.

Charlie Adams: And they also work to give these landfills a new life – turning them into solar farms. Kasie says DEM has put a lot of energy into making that process easier.

Kasie Mackenzie: The department is kind of a big proponent of solar on landfills, so we wanted to make it so that there is kind of one place people could go to look at all this information.

Iman Khanbhai: Kasie says there are a few things to consider when it comes to making this transition. First, the landfills have to be covered securely so harmful chemicals don’t leak out.

Charlie Adams: And landfills turned into solar farms have to be particularly careful about gasses like methane that form when trash breaks down.

Kasie Mackenzie: Anytime you have explosive gasses near you know electrical equipment, there’s a chance for an explosion. So we have to manage landfill gas in a way that you know it doesn’t come near any hazardous or any situation that can cause a spark and ignite.

Iman Khanbhai: So covered landfills need to have systems that collect this gas and make sure it can’t start an explosion! This has the added benefit of keeping that gas out of the air where it would contribute to climate change.

Megan Hall: Has Rhode Island turned any of its old landfills into solar farms yet?

Charlie Adams: Yes. Kasie says that the department has five different solar projects and a few more in the process. Right now, landfill solar farms generate about 24 megawatts of power. That’s roughly the amount of electricity to power 20,000 homes at the same time.

Iman Khanbhai: We asked Kasie what she sees for the future of her job and this industry.

Kasie Mackenzie: Right now solar companies are really kind of active in pursuing contaminated land for installing solar so I think I mean, if I wanted to, I could stay at the job for the rest of my career and closed landfills endlessly.

Megan Hall: So, what’s the take-away here?

Charlie Adams: The best way to manage landfills is to throw out less stuff. But! There are ways dirty landfills of the past can be a part of a cleaner future.

Iman Khanbhai: And we’re going to have to cover a lot more rooftops, parking lots and other open space in addition to landfills if RI is going to generate a lot of its electricity from solar.

Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks Iman and Charlie.

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org.

You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and The Public’s Radio.

The post What happens to landfills when they close? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. 

One of the great parts about living in the Ocean State is getting to eat fresh shellfish. But what happens to the shells after we slurp down those oysters? Possibly reporters and lifelong Rhode Islanders- Will Malloy and Iman Khanbhai looked into the options.  

Will Malloy: Hi Megan! 

Iman Khanbhai: Hi! 

Megan Hall: So, what happens to the shells after we eat oysters? 

Will Malloy: They can just go in the trash, but a number of coastal states have created programs to gather up those oyster shells and return them to the water.

Megan Hall: Cool! Is that to keep them out of the landfill? 

Will Malloy: Yes, but there’s more to it than that. 

Iman Khanbhai: Oyster shells can actually help rebuild wild oyster reefs. 

Will Malloy: To learn more, we talked to Tim Mooney from The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island. He says wild oysters are in danger. 

Tim Mooney: we have lost about 85% of our wild oyster population compared to say 100 years ago … And so putting more shell in the water is a strategy to recreate self-sustaining wild oyster reefs.

Megan Hall: How do these oyster shells help rebuild those reefs? 

Will Malloy: For one, they provide a good surface for baby oysters to settle and grow on. 

Iman Khanbhai: Those babies need hard surfaces and old shells are perfect candidates. 

Will Malloy: Plus, reefs based on fresh oyster shells make nooks and crannies that small fish can use as hiding spots from predators. Plus, they nurture diverse plant and animal communities. 

Iman Khanbhai: Oysters are also really good at filtering water. 

Tim Mooney:An adult oyster can filter 50 gallons of water in a day. And if you do that at scale, you’re gonna see changes in water quality and clarity.

Megan Hall: Cool! Let’s dump all of our oyster shells into the ocean! 

Iman Khanbhai: It’s a little more complicated than that. These reefs can’t just get built anywhere, Oysters only survive and thrive under very particular conditions. 

Will Malloy: Scientists at The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island and at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management are in the process of figuring out exactly where new reefs would be most likely to do well. 

Iman Khanbhai: They’ve done some small-scale tests of potential locations to reestablish wild oyster populations locally. Right now, they have a couple dozen experimental reefs in ponds down in South County.  

Will Malloy: While they’re still working out what locations are likely to be successful, they have their sights set on something much bigger.  

Tim Mooney: Putting a little bit of shell here and a little bit of shell there, it’s not going to add up to enough to achieve the kind of water quality and fish habitat benefits that we’re looking for. Once we have the solid science on the best places to to build new reefs will be able to do this at scale.

Iman Khanbhai: In the meantime, the two organizations are working on building up a stockpile of shell so that when these plans are in place, they’re ready to drop. 

Megan Hall: How can I help? 

Will Malloy: Well, your oyster shells could do a lot of good, but Tim says…

Tim Mooney: that doesn’t mean everyone should go and start throwing oyster shells in the water wherever they are.

Will Malloy: Before shell can go in the water, it needs to sit outside and cure for a couple months to get rid of all the food waste or germs. 

Iman Khanbhai: So don’t go chucking your shucked oyster shells off the dock! 

Will Malloy: But if you want to support shell recycling efforts, think about eating at local restaurants or oyster festivals that donate their shell. 

Megan Hall: As if I need an excuse to enjoy an oyster festival! 

Thanks Will and Iman. That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to thepublicsradio.org/possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook or X at  “askpossibly” 

Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio, Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society and Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative.

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