For Immediate Release:  Thursday May 4, 2017

Contact:  Ron Rhodes, 802-457-6114

Five river restoration plantings in northern New Hampshire and Vermont completed this spring

Pomfret, Vermont – The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), formerly the Connecticut River Watershed Council, and project partners planted 1,625 native trees and shrubs along 4,386 feet of riverbank at five locations in North Stratford, Stark, and Lisbon, New Hampshire and in Bradford, Vermont.

The riverside plantings along 4.76 acres of Bissell Brook, the Ammonoosuc, Upper Ammonoosuc, and Connecticut Rivers will help reduce erosion, improve water quality by filtering out pollutants, and increase habitat for fish and wildlife.  Since 2012, the Connecticut River Conservancy and its project partners have planted 17,625 native trees and shrubs along our rivers in the New Hampshire and Vermont portions of the watershed.

CRC works with farmers, towns and other landowners who have erosion problems on their property by applying for grants to fund conservation and restoration projects, as well as providing project management services free of charge to the landowner.

“We couldn’t do this important work without the landowners and our partners,” notes CRC River Steward Ron Rhodes, who coordinated the projects. “These trees and shrubs create buffers along rivers that filter out pollutants and help keep our rivers clean for swimming, fishing and boating.  The buffers act like a sponge and are relatively low cost, easy to implement projects,” said Rhodes.

Funding for these spring 2017 plantings was provided by grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, as well as from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Project partners include the USDA-NRCS in New Hampshire and Vermont, the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust, Beck Pond LLC, the Northwoods Stewardship Center, and four private landowners.  Species planted included Red and Silver maples, Box elders, Cottonwoods, Willows, Red Osier dogwoods, Elderberries, Speckled alders and other native stock purchased from the New England Wetland Plants in Amherst, MA.

The Connecticut River Conservancy, which is celebrating 65 years of protecting and restoring our rivers from source to sea, is a membership-based non-profit organization working for clean water, healthy habitat, and thriving communities. Learn more at ctriver.org.

###