For Immediate Release:  Friday May 17, 2013, Pomfret, Vermont – To improve water quality and wildlife habitat, the Connecticut River Watershed Council and project partners planted 2,250 native trees and shrubs at three locations in the Connecticut River watershed this week.  Each tree planted will remove over 570 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – a total of nearly 1.3 million.

The Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRC) is a membership based nonprofit working to protect the four state watershed of the Connecticut River from “source to sea” through on-the-ground projects, public education and advocacy.

The trees, which were planted along Eastman Brook and the main stem Connecticut River in Piermont, NH as well as along the Wells River in Vermont, provide shade for fish, summer food for songbirds and other wildlife, as well as stream bank stabilization and erosion reduction.  These plantings, which build on work done last fall by the CRC and project partners, were made possible with grant funds from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

“These on-the-ground projects help maintain and protect clean water and wildlife habitat, as well as provide for carbon reduction,” said Andrew Fisk, Executive Director of the CRC. “In just three days our staff and team of partners planted 2,250 native trees and shrubs that will have meaningful benefits to all of us who enjoy this great river and its entire watershed.”

The environmental effects of carbon dioxide are of great importance since this greenhouse gas is warming the Earth’s surface.  Burning of carbon-based fuels since the industrial revolution has rapidly increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, thus increasing the rate of global warming and causing climate change, more violent storms and additional flooding.  Carbon dioxide also is a major source of acidification of our local lakes and streams, which negatively affects aquatic organisms such as our native Brook trout.

Project partners on these plantings include:  The towns of Piermont, NH and Newbury, VT; the Piermont Village School; the NorthWoods Stewardship Center; Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District; Beck Pond LLC; private landowners; and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

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CONTACT:  Ron Rhodes, North Country River Steward, Connecticut River Watershed Council

(802) 457-6114 or rrhodes@ctriver.org