Officials with RI’s Department of Environmental Management is seeking the public’s help in tracking down the persons responsible for vandalizing the Tefft Hill handicapped access trail in Arcadia Management Area last week. The trail features a wooden walkway that offers people of all abilities, including those with limited mobility, access to hike along a hardwood swamp and fish in the Upper Roaring Brook.

The vandals damaged a large kiosk with a motor vehicle, threw the wheelchair access ramp and a smaller kiosk into the water, damaged and removed structural hardware, and destroyed a fishing line recycling box.

District Resources Manager Jeff Arnold from the Division of Agriculture and Forest Environment removed the access ramp and smaller kiosk from the water and replaced them, and will be fixing the large kiosk in addition to the structural hardware that was damaged and removed.

If you suspect vandalism or a solid waste violation such as illegal dumping on DEM-managed property, please contact the DEM’s 24-hour Dispatch Center at 401-222-3070.