Coalition helps the Connecticut River become the first National Blueway

Between 40 and 50 local and state entities, both public and private, from four states will work together to preserve the 410-mile-long Connecticut River and its watershed.

By Cathryn J Prince,?Correspondent / May 29, 2012

The Connecticut River, as photographed from the French King Bridge in Gill, Mass. The river and its watershed have been named the first National Blueway, an effort to coordinate the work of nonprofit groups and governments to protect and wisely use the entire 410-mile river and its 7.2 million acre watershed.

John Nordell/The Christian Science Monitor/File

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Science writer Willy Ley once said: ?Ideas, like large rivers, never have just one source.? The same can be said for the Connecticut River Watershed, the first National Blueway in the United States, as designated May 24 by the US Interior Department.

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It took the cooperation of between 40 and 50 local and state, public and private, organizations from four states to make the designation possible. While it doesn't mean more federal funding, it does mean better coordination between these groups to promote best practices, information sharing, and stewardship.

National Blueway is more than a label, says Andy Fisk, executive director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council.

?There are no turf wars here, but there are a lot of folks on the dance floor,? Mr. Fisk says. ?It?s important to recognize that this is a new way in how you get things done. It?s not one entity that will get things done, it?s diversity.?

The 7.2 million acre Connecticut River watershed runs through four New England states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The idea for a National Blueways System comes from President Obama?s America?s Great Outdoors Initiative, which highlights grass-roots efforts in land and water conservation. National Blueways will coordinate federal, state, and local efforts by promoting best practices, sharing information and resources, and encouraging collaboration. Existing federal designations for rivers generally cover only a segment of a river and its corridor: A National Blueway will comprise the entire river, as well as its watershed.

Among the groups involved in the Connecticut River National Blueway are the Friends of the Silvio O. Conte Refuge, the Connecticut Watershed Council, the Connecticut River Museum, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

At 410 miles long, the Connecticut River is New England?s largest and longest. Starting in New Hampshire, the silt-rich river empties into the Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Conn.

It is also one of the only major rivers in the world that remains largely undeveloped, says Jerry Roberts, executive director of the Connecticut River Museum in Essex, Conn. A sand bar at the river?s mouth prevented a large seaport city from developing there.

?I?m looking out my window and see nothing but trees; that?s unusual for a river this size,? Mr. Roberts says.

The National Blueway designation will encourage people to regard the Connecticut River as a source of recreation, as well as something to be conserved, Roberts says. That?s no easy task considering the 7.2 million acre watershed reaches into four states.

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