The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Connecticut River

Comprised of scientists from the four states the river touches, the Connecticut River conservation team works across state lines to understand the river for what it is — the center of the largest freshwater ecosystem in New England. The Connecticut sustains diverse landscapes and communities, and provides one of the last remaining homes for many threatened species.

When the four Conservancy chapters in states through which the river flows came together to launch the Connecticut River program, they faced the reality that the whole river — all 410 miles of it — is a conservation priority. It isn’t just one marsh in Connecticut or some tributaries in Massachusetts that are ecologically significant, but the entire ecosystem.

A river doesn’t stop when it reaches the state line, nor does a shad or an osprey that is following its winding course. But threats cross borders, too, and years of intense human use have disrupted the natural flow that nourishes our fisheries and the riverside forests that protect us from floods and filter pollution before it reaches our waters.

The Nature Conservancy has been working in the Connecticut River landscape for more than 40 years. The Conservancy's first land acquisition in the watershed was 46 acres at Burnham Brook in East Haddam, Ct., in 1960. To date, we have protected nearly a quarter-million acres in the watershed.

In addition to protecting land, we also work to restore critical processes and features like natural stream flow, connectivity and intact floodplains across our four states, because we believe that working at the scale of the problem is the only way to make a meaningful difference. Securing these natural processes now is a necessary part of securing our future.

For more information about The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut River program or to support our work in your state, please contact:

Kim Lutz
Connecticut River Basin
Program Director
(413) 584-1016
klutz@tnc.org

The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts
99 Bedford Street, 5th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Phone: (617) 532-8300
Fax: (617) 532-8400

The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut
55 Church Street, Floor 3
New Haven, CT 06510-3029
Phone: (203) 568-6270
Fax: (860) 344-1334

The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire
22 Bridge Street, 4th Floor
Concord, NH 03301
Phone: (603) 224-5853 
Fax: (603) 228-2459

The Nature Conservancy of Vermont
27 State Street, Suite 4
Montpelier, VT 05602
Phone: (802) 229-4425 
Fax: (802) 229-1347