Great Swamp / Central RI

Great Swamp WMA and the Queens River corridor in south-central RI — Atlantic white cedar, red maple swamp, pitch pine islands, and mixed hardwood uplands. Historically-significant 1675 battle site. Chanterelles, black trumpets, lobster mushroom after summer rain; chicken-of-the-woods and oyster on red maple and oak; lion's mane in fall on beech wounds. Cedar swamp hosts unusual Russula and bolete species.

Trees:Red Maple White Oak American Beech

Updated Jul 13, 4:19 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**Great Swamp is firing on all cylinders—S-tier is earned.** Soil temps are locked at 69°F with seven solid days above threshold, and your 3" of rain over two weeks has saturated the swamp matrix to 0.27 VWC average. You're looking at a 59-species bloom across every major guild: chanterelles and black trumpets (the money finds), chicken of the woods on dead hardwood, boletes across the forest floor, and opportunistic wine caps wherever there's enriched ground. The polypores (Artist's Conk, Birch, Tinder Fungus) are already producing, and wood-decay species like Oyster and Jelly Ear are in overdrive. The only soft constraint is moderate desiccation risk—July heat will thin the moisture window as the week progresses, so VWC will trend down despite no drought status. This means the next 3–4 days are your premium window before mid-afternoon sun stresses the shallower fruiters. Watch the swamp margins and low-lying hardwood zones hardest; those retain moisture longest and will sustain production while open glades dry out. **Hot tip:** Hunt the understory after dawn and into early afternoon while dew is still anchoring moisture—by 3 PM desiccation risk spikes and you'll miss flushes that were there at 8 AM.

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.

Foraging Potential95/100

✅Moisture

✅Soil Temp

✅No Freeze

✅No Drought

Precip 7d

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Nearby Camping

Within(8)

Camp Hoffman

developed

Girl Scouts of Rhode Island~2.2 mi from center

Reserve →

Junior Campsite

developed

~6.1 mi from center

YMCA Camp Fuller

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Sherman Campsite

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Jungle Campsite

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Camp Fuller - By The Sea

developed

YMCA~6.3 mi from center

Senior Hill

developed

~6.3 mi from center

Camp Watchaug (Westerly YMCA)

developed

Westerly (Ocean Community) YMCA~7.4 mi from center

⚠ Road Access Notice

Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.