It’s Official! Eightmile River is “Wild & Scenic”
President Bush signs watershed protection bill
MIDDLETOWN, CT — May 9, 2008 — The Eightmile River meanders through 40,000 acres of forests, fields and tranquil river towns. From its cold, fast-flowing headwaters to its confluence with the Connecticut River at Hamburg Cove’s freshwater tidal marshes, the Eightmile remains in remarkably good condition with high water quality and rich aquatic life.
Today, a locally-led effort to protect the Eightmile River came to a successful conclusion when President Bush signed into law a bill designating the Eightmile in East Haddam, Lyme and Salem as a Wild & Scenic River. The designation was the final step in 12-year process, which included the development of a Watershed Management Plan. The three communities, their land use commissions and elected officials overwhelmingly endorsed the Plan.
In the last 40 years, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has protected over 11,000 miles of rivers in the country by preventing federally funded or permitted activities that could harm the natural and cultural resources of these select rivers.
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A young boy plays in the Eightmile River in Pleasant Valley Preserve in Lyme, CT
© Jerry and Marcy Monkman
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While most Wild & Scenic designations focus on specific sections of river and immediately adjacent lands, the Eightmile process accounted for the entire 62 square mile watershed, the first time such a designation as applied to a river system.
“We applaud this designation for its precedent-setting, watershed scale designation,” said Lise Hanners, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. “Keeping the entire river system in or near its natural condition is the key to maintaining the ecological services that the Eightmile provides, such as clean drinking water, natural flood control and wildlife habitat.”
"Each milestone achieved along the path to Wild & Scenic designation has been exciting and important,” said Nathan Frohling, director of the Conservancy’s Lower Connecticut River Program and Vice Chair of the Eightmile Coordinating Committee. “And we could have never done it without the leadership of Congressman Joe Courtney.”
For more information on the Eightmile River, visit nature.org/Connecticut.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.
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