Mission
The Connecticut River Watershed Council works to protect the watershed from source to sea. From alpine forests to tidal estuaries, rural farmlands to urban riverfronts, spotted salamanders to bald eagles, and mussels to salmon, the Connecticut River watershed unites a diversity of habitats, communities and resources.
As stewards of this heritage, we celebrate our four-state treasure and collaborate, educate, organize, restore, and intervene to preserve the health of the whole for generations to come.
The River Connects Us.
From modest beginnings bringing awareness to the languishing natural heritage of New England’s Great River, to the Connecticut’s designation as an American Heritage River in 1998—and now, onto its second half century of advocating for clean water standards, preservation, and migratory fish restoration, the Connecticut River Watershed Council has become one of the most powerful forces for positive environmental change in New England.
Across its history CRWC has raised the public’s awareness of what it means to live in a watershed. We’ve helped stem the rising tide of pesticides that once leached into waterways; and helped halt the flow of thermal pollution into those same waters while preventing the diversion and sale of river water out of our region. Today, the Watershed Council can extol decades of work that have again made the Connecticut a treasure in New England and the Nation. In helping shape the Connecticut’s resurrection, we’ve protected over 8,000 acres of land.
Our Commitment
We continue to meet the challenges of 21st century watershed protection. We’re guiding development, preventing erosion, restoring stream passage, and making sure hydropower and industrial permits are aligned to protect our natural heritage for future generations. We’re solving the nagging problem of raw sewage entering urban streams and safeguarding a biodiversity that includes bald eagles and dwarf wedgemussels. We’re working each day to make this great basin a better place to call home for over 2 million people, and 5,000 watershed species.
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Image (Above) Al Braden www.albradenphoto.com
Image Credits at Right - Illustrations: Bill Singleton; Photos: Elizabeth Leong, Megan Hearne, Ron Bouley www.ronbouleyphoto.com, Nancy Rich, Boating Guide cover photo © McConnell/McNamara, CRWC Archive.
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