Connecticut River Program

Click on the right hand corner icon to view the slide show full screen.

A Four-State Watershed at the Heart of New England
The 410-mile Connecticut River is New England's largest river, draining a 7.2 million-acre watershed that supports fisheries, farmlands, forests, and fresh water in four states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. While 89 percent of the watershed is undeveloped, its lands and resources are under constant threat of development. Without strategic, community-initiated conservation, the resources that sustain community identity, ecological integrity, and the land's economic viability will be lost.

TPL's Role
Through land transactions, TPL permanently protects land consistent with local community priorities. TPL also develops partnerships, assembles funding, and helps engage the community in setting conservation priorities. TPL has conserved more than 170,000 acres in the watershed.

Three Strategic Areas of Focus

  • Farmland - lands with highly productive soils, capable of economically viable local food production.
  • Fisheries - places capable of supporting native Eastern Brook Trout and other coldwater fish species. This strategy will help mitigate for habitat loss resulting from climate change.
  • Community Open Spaces: lands communities identify as important for public—especially along the river—that support multiple public benefits, such as productive farms, forests (learn more about Community Forests), fisheries, and fresh water.

TPL's report, The Connecticut River Watershed: Conserving the Heart of New England, identifies the environmental, economic, cultural, recreational, and historic values of the watershed, and details threats to it.

Some Sample Projects
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut

Updated 2/2010




Please select a service to share with:

Digg del.icio.us
Facebook Favorites
Google Multiply
Newsvine Reddit
Technocrati StumbleUpon
MySpace  

[x] Close