These are among the highlights of the Connecticut River watershed, which is often referred to as the heart of New England.
Its 7.2 million acres features critical habitat for a variety of fish and wildlife, supports agriculture, provides clean drinking water and flood control, and offers many opportunities for outdoor recreation.
A total of 5.6 million acres, or 79 percent of the watershed, is forested.
It is home to extensive and globally significant tidelands featuring the least disturbed tideland area (36 river miles) of any large river in the Northeast and offers critical tidal resting and feeding habitat to migrating shorebirds, waterfowl and fish.
It is also home to several federally threatened and endangered species including the shortnose sturgeon, the piping plover, the puritan tiger beetle, dwarf wedgemussel, small whorled pogonia, Jesup’s milk-vetch and the Northeastern bulrush.
Deer, moose, black bear, fisher, red and gray fox, coyote, beaver, bobcat and bald eagle are some of the many other species that make the watershed home.
There are also 2.4 million humans who live in the region in 396 communities.
At 410 miles long, the Connecticut River is New England’s longest river, flowing 410 miles from the Quebec-New Hampshire border to Long Island Sound at Old Lyme, Connecticut.
This river is one of 14 designated American Heritage Rivers in the nation recognized for its distinctive natural, economic, agricultural, scenic, historic, cultural and recreational qualities.
In 2012, the Connecticut River was designated as America’s first National Blueway because restoration and preservation efforts were a model for other American rivers.
There are currently 16 dams on the main stem of the Connecticut River, 12 of which are for hydropower, and over 1,000 dams are located on its tributaries.