Connecticut River Watershed Designated as National Blueway

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently signed a Secretarial Order establishing a National Blueways System and announced that the 410-mile-long Connecticut River and its 7.2 million-acre watershed will be the first National Blueway – covering areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

“The Connecticut River Watershed is a model for how communities can integrate their land and water stewardship efforts with an emphasis on ‘source-to-sea’ watershed conservation,” Salazar said in a prepared statement. “I am pleased to recognize the Connecticut River and its watershed with the first National Blueway designation as we seek to fulfill President Obama’s vision for healthy and accessible rivers that are the lifeblood of our communities and power our economies.”

The new National Blueways System is part of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to establish a community-driven conservation and recreation agenda for the 21st century. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture both identified the Connecticut River as an important priority under this initiative.

Running from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut River and its watershed include 2.4 million residents and 396 communities. The estimated 1.4 million people who enjoy the natural beauty and wildlife of the Connecticut River watershed every year contribute at least a billion dollars to local economies, according to the Trust for Public Land.

The National Blueways System is designed to recognize river systems conserved through diverse stakeholder partnerships that use a comprehensive watershed approach to resource stewardship. The program will strive to provide a new national emphasis on the unique value and significance of a “headwaters to mouth” approach to river management.

The Secretarial Order on National Blueways also establishes an intra-agency committee to provide leadership, support, and coordination. For the Connecticut River National Blueway, the collaborating federal agencies include the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The National Blueway designation differs from existing federal designations for rivers (e.g., Wild and Scenic), which generally cover only a segment of a river and a narrow band of the riparian corridor. A National Blueway, by contrast, includes the entire river from “source to sea” as well as the river’s watershed. National Blueways designations are intended to recognize and support existing local and regional conservation, recreation, and restoration efforts, and they do not establish a new protective status or regulations.

Media report:

The Day: Massive Connecticut River watershed is named Blueway (29 MAY 12)

Background information:

U.S. Department of the Interior: Secretarial Order on the National Blueway System

U.S. Department of the Interior: Designation of the Connecticut River National Blueway