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| Perspectives | Currents & Eddies | |
How we see it
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Download CRWC's newsletter "Currents & Eddies" or Annual Reports (.pdf) |
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| River Currents | In The News | |
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Download one of River Steward David Deen's columns on issues affecting the River and the Watershed (.pdf) - (coming soon) 
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Download a recent newspaper article (.pdf) The Hartford CourantJanuary 4, 2008 - "A Chance To Help Plan A Refuge: Citizens Are Asked To Comment On Vast Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Area"
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| Information Resources | ||
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Facts and Figures
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| The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge—spanning the entire four-state Connecticut River watershed—is currently developing its first Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP). The CCP will establish management goals and objectives for the Refuge’s wildlife management, habitat protection, education, and public use programs for the next 15 years. Inadequate staffing and the Refuge’s broad geographic range mean that your participation is vital to ensure the Conte Refuge stays focused on protecting river habitat. Please participate by (1) attending one of the public meetings planned; (2) submitting a comment letter; or (3) contributing to CRWC so that we can continue our work on this issue. | IN THE NEWS "A Chance To Help Plan A Refuge: IN THE MEDIA
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What is at stake: The Conte Refuge contains globally important wetlands, is a high priority flyway for many migratory bird species, and is home to hundreds of rare and endangered species. CRWC Comments on the CCP: The Connecticut River Watershed Council has a long history of working in partnership with the Refuge. We helped organize public participation when the Refuge was originally proposed and donated the land which formally established the Refuge in 1997. We continue to see the great opportunities this Refuge presents to our region. While CRWC is a strong supporter of the Refuge and its programs, we have serious concerns that the current CCP alternatives do not adequately protect the long term quality of fisheries habitat in the Connecticut River watershed. Specifically, there are eleven special focus areas from the 1995 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that are not currently part of the new proposed divisions. These include rivers identified by the EIS as high priority focus areas, such as the White River (VT), Ammonoosuc River (NH), Deerfield River (MA), and the Farmington River (CT). The CCP should identify how fisheries habitat will be preserved in the special focus areas identified in the 1995 EIS with particular attention given to water quality, riparian buffers, and fish passage. Additionally, if a special focus area identified in the 1995 EIS is not included in the new CCP, a biological basis should be given to justify its exclusion. CRWC is concerned that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s “Stay Strong” initiative is a “Stay Weak” mandate for the Conte Refuge. To deal with shrinking budgets, the Service has prioritized a handful of Refuges at the expense of others, including the Conte Refuge. This has resulted in the loss of three key positions at the Conte Refuge: a Deputy Refuge Manager, Deputy Project Leader and a Biologist. The loss of 25% of the Conte Refuge employees will significantly reduce the Refuge’s ability to protect the watershed’s threatened terrestrial and aquatic species. At a minimum, these three key positions should be funded. The Conte Refuge’s geographic scope and legislative emphasis on education, outreach, and partnership require the Refuge to work cooperatively with others to achieve its potential. CRWC urges the Refuge to be a catalytic leader by convening stakeholders, providing research and information guidance, and providing conservation leadership across state boundaries. For example, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut have each developed Wildlife Action Plans that identify species at risk and prioritize conservation strategies for their protection. Conte Refuge staff should work with the states and other stakeholders to implement collaborative projects that help achieve the shared objectives of the Wildlife Action Plans and the Refuge. The CCP should also take into account global warming impacts on riverine systems throughout the Connecticut River watershed. CRWC urges the Conte Refuge to be a leader in developing regional strategies to counter the effects of climate change on our native fish, macroinvertebrates and other aquatic species. MEETING DATES AND LOCATIONS * Dec. 10: Norwich, VT, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Montshire Museum Jan. 8: Hadley, MA, 7-9 p.m., FWS Regional Office *On the day of the meeting, in case of inclement weather, you can check the status of the meeting by calling 877-289-8495 ext. 8565.
Click Here – for a sample letter Letters and worksheets should be sent to: Beth Goettel For more information: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/planning/Conte/ccphome.html Download a PDF file of USF&WS's Conte NFWR Comprehensive Conservation Plan: Planning Update -- Fall 2007 To donate to CRWC: http://www.ctriver.org/donate.html |
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A finding from the Vermont Environmental Court could come any day now. With fingers crossed, we await the decision on whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will be barred from by-passing its cooling towers and adding even more thermal pollution to the Connecticut River for years to come. We will share that news as soon as it arrives. To us the issue is clear: the river should not bear the cost of increasing profits for Entergy, the owner of the Vermont Yankee. Vermont Yankee’s super-heated discharges, some as high as 105 degrees, create a thermal plume that has been shown to extend downstream at least fifty miles to Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts. Higher river temperatures degrade the ecosystem and hurt migratory fish by inhibiting spawning and damaging the viability of eggs. They also adversely affect feeding behavior, increase vulnerability to predation, and the incidence of disease. Cool and cold water fish like American shad and Atlantic salmon are particularly susceptible to temperature increases and are the subjects of restoration programs due to their significant declines. Entergy’s own data show that the American shad population has declined by over 99% in Vernon Pool since the early 1990’s. CRWC believes that allowing Entergy to continue to ratchet-up temperatures would be a serious misstep that could further impair the health of the Connecticut River and compromise restoration efforts. In April of 2006, the Watershed Council took our appeal of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources’ decision to allow warmer discharges to Vermont Environmental Court, an option of last resort for us. Entergy wanted to increase the river temperature at Vernon an additional 1-degree Fahrenheit by bypassing their cooling tower system between June 16th and October 14th annually. In August of 2006 the Vermont Environmental Court granted its first stay on the issue pending the appeal, stating, “Appellants have shown sufficient potential for irreparable injury to American shad in the Connecticut River, both at present as the juveniles become accustomed to cooler water temperatures prior to their migration down the River in the fall, and in the summer of 2007 for the growth of the next generation of juveniles.” Joining us in the appeal were Trout Unlimited and the Citizen’s Awareness Network. CRWC’s partner and chief counsel throughout the case have been the skilled staff of Vermont Law School’s Environment and Natural Resources Law Center. This includes senior staff members as well as interns. In all, VLS has logged thousands of volunteer hours—doing yeoman’s work on behalf of CRWC, its partners, and the river. Out front as always has been David Deen, CRWC River Steward for Vermont and New Hampshire. Leading up to the trial, Entergy dipped into their pool of extensive corporate resources calling upon five full-time attorneys and four consultants in an attempt to stymie CRWC’s case. In the process, they filed three motions to either dismiss the case or narrow its scope. All were denied. The courtroom aspect of the appeal finally got underway in late-June taking the full eight days scheduled for testimony, which, with breaks, did not conclude until late July. In the end, Entergy submitted over 200 objections to our testimony. These were either rejected or reduced to minor wording changes by the Court. The case presented by our council was so strong that Entergy petitioned the judge for two additional trial days to question our experts. Vermont Law School Director Pat Parenteau, Assistant Director David Mears, staff attorney Ben Rajotte, and a host of student interns, put our post trial memo and request for findings before the Court in early October. They also executed our reply brief, filed October 29th, with the CRWC/VLS team working nights and weekend sessions in order to answer the 900+ contentions in Entergy’s final filing. We now await the decision of the Court. We look forward to sharing it with you in the form of a victory for the Connecticut River. Click on the links below for additional information
Contact: For additional information on CRWC's appeal of the Vermont Yankee discharge permit amendment, please contact David Deen, River Steward (Upper Valley) at crwc@sover.net or by phone at (802) 869-2792. |
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The Fifteen-Mile Falls Mitigation and Enhancement Fund has been making grants since 2002 to local community organizations for river restoration, wetland protection and shoreland protection projects throughout the Vermont and New Hampshire reach of the watershed from the White River to the Connecticut Lakes. The Connecticut River Watershed Council was a driving force in the establishment of the fund and continues to provide strategic leadership to identify successful outreach projects that help to mitigate the effects of the Fifteen-Mile Falls hydroelectric project’s three dams. To apply for funding from the Fifteen-Mile Falls Mitigation and Enhancement Fund, download the following documents: MEF Guidelines and Application Coversheet click here [.pdf] MEF Proposal Categories and Evaluation Criteria click here [.pdf] | ||
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"How clean is the river?" is a common question we get. Often times we don't know, because there is no group regularly monitoring the Massachusetts stretch of the river. CRWC is aiming to fill that void, and in 2007, we launched our first year of volunteer water quality monitoring. Thanks to a US EPA Equipment Loan grant, we were able to measure dissolved oxygen, water temperature, specific conductance, and water clarity. Five volunteers and three staff were involved in measuring water quality at six sites, four along the mainstem of the Connecticut River and two in the Fall River. Our sites were split into two "teams" and both teams measured on the same day and at the same time. In 2007, we had a shortened field season, sampling once a month in August, September, and October. In general, all sites met water quality standards for temperature and dissolved oxygen on the days we measured. Due to the drought late this summer and into the fall, the clarity of the river water was consistently very good. Specific conductance at Connecticut River sites were low, but the Fall River sites had high readings. One sampling date in particular showed a spike in specific conductance that might indicate a pollution source upstream. To learn more about this volunteer project, download the full report (PDF 440KB): |
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| Eating What You Catch | ||
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It's a sad commentary on the state of our national environment that one of life's simple pleasures -- catching a fish and eating it fresh -- may be hazardous to your health. Pollutants from both far away and from local run-off are found in many fish to be caught in the Connecticut River watershed, making them unsafe for eating in quantity. Follow the links below to see what the public health advisories are for each state: CT - http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2686&Q=322298MA - http://db.state.ma.us/dph/ fishadvisory/ and http://www.mass.gov/dph/beha/mercury/pamphlet.pdf NH - http://www.des.nh.gov/pdf/Mercury_Fish.pdf VT - http://www.state.vt.us/health/fish.htm |
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| The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has thus far failed to open its proposed classifications to meaningful public review and CRWC objects to the manner in which the Proposed List has been put out for “notice and comment." Click here to download a PDF file of CRWC's comments on the proposed Massachusetts 2006 Integrated List of Waters. | ||
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| The MA Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is considering marketing Quabbin Reservoir water to new communities in order to offset MWRA debts incurred in several expensive system upgrades (e.g., Deer Island, the second-largest sewage discharge in the country), post-9/11 security measures, and surging energy costs. In 2003, Governor Romney eliminated the debt service assistance program for MWRA and other municipalities; without debt service assistance, it will be harder for the MWRA to pay their loans without steep increases in rates billed to their customers.
The last time customers were angry about high water bills, area residents dumped boxes of bills into Boston Harbor in a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party. MWRA wants to avoid this from happening again, and their solution is to sell more Quabbin water to additional communities. They are pitching it as a win-win-win, saying that suburban communities want the water, stressed rivers in eastern MA would not have as much groundwater withdrawn nearby for drinking water, and the MWRA would not have to raise their rates as much. The result? Less water to help dilute pollution in the impaired waters of the Connecticut River, especially in the Holyoke/Springfield region; less water for the famous trout fishery in the Swift River; and more sprawl across the state. Unnecessary water withdrawals runs counter to the enabling act of the MWRA, the governor’s stated policy of “smart growth,” and the state’s new Water Policy. Click on the links below for additional information
Contact: For additional information on CRWC's position on more interbasin water transfers from the Quabbin Reservoir, please contact Andrea Donlon, River Steward (Massachusetts) at adonlon@ctriver.org or by phone at (413) 772-2020 ext 205.
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| Participate in World Water Monitoring Day! | ||
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Would you like to help take take the "vital signs" of your nearest river or stream AND be part of a world-wide event at the same time? You can do that by joining in World Water Monitoring Day. Sponsored by America's Clean Water Foundation, the event takes place every year between September 18th and October 18th. CRWC would like you to help us out by getting involved. World Water Monitoring Day participants measure four "snapshot" parameters of watershed health: temperature, pH, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen. There's an inexpensive kit you can order online to take these measurements in the Connecticut River or one of its tributaries. If you already have access to instruments that measure any of these conditions, you are all set. The website for WWMD is www.worldwatermonitoringday.org. If you participate in WWMD, send us your results after you submit them to America's Clean Water Foundation. CRWC will tabulate all the data we receive about the Connecticut River watershed and prepare a summary report that we will send you. In future years, CRWC plans to build a strong base of water quality enthusiasts who will help us learn about and monitor the health of the Connecticut River watershed. |
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What's Current on the River?
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For latest migratory fish count: US Fish & Wildlife Service For current river flow and stage levels: For flood information: the National Weather Service
For tides in the estuary, click here: Tide Charts |
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Photo credits: © B.B. Greenbie. The photographic images found throughout this site are by the late Barrie Greenbie and are used by permission. Site designed by Caroline Sinton and developed by Jesse Miner. Funded in part by a grant from the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge.
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