For a copy of the Secretarial Order on the National Blueway System, click here.
For a copy of the Designation of the Connecticut River National Blueway, click here.
National Blueways Initiative
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed a Secretarial Order on May 24, 2012 establishing a National Blueways Initiative and also announced that the 410-mile-long Connecticut River and its 7.2 million-acre watershed will be the first National Blueway - covering large areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The event is part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Rivers Initiative to establish a community-driven conservation and recreation agenda for the 21st century. Today's designation will recognize the collaborative leadership of more than 40 partner organizations under the umbrella of the Friends of the Silvio O. Conte Refuge and the cumulative successes of the Connecticut River Watershed Council, states, and many other partners. The sustained, landscape-level efforts by public and private partners to conserve and restore the river and watershed for wildlife, people, and outdoor recreation provide an exemplary model for future National Blueways.
Running from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut River and its watershed include 2.4 million residents and 396 communities. The existing Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge conserves native plant, fish and wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout the Connecticut River watershed. The Refuge works in partnership with a wide variety of individuals and organizations to provide environmental education, to encourage and support appropriate habitat conservation and management on public and private lands, and to protect additional habitat. For more information, please contact Adam Fetcher (Department of Interior) 202-208-6416 or Terri Edwards (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) 413-253-8324.
About Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was established to conserve the abundance and diversity of native plants and animals and their habitats in the 7.2 million acre Connecticut River Watershed in Connecticut Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
