Housatonic Valley Association (HVA)

Water: initiating river restoration and protection strategies in targeted sections of the tristate Housatonic watershed, based on our Housatonic watershed health dashboard, to build climate resiliency locally through several programs including but not limited to: continuing the berkshire river restoration partnership for the Housatonic, hoosic and farmington river watersheds in ma to increase the pace of instream culvert replacements to improve river flow, health and aquatic habitat while reducing flood risk, and readying culvert replacement projects in four berkshire communities; leading and supporting the ten mile (ny) watershed collaborative implementation of the ten mile watershed restoration and action plan; continuing to implement the still river watershed restoration and action plan in the greater danbury, ct region including tracking down pollution sources and identifying polluted runoff sites for restoration; completing a draft pootatuck river watershed restoration and action plan to safeguard and restore the pootatuck river in newtown, ct; continuing to monitor and restore stream health and habitat through macro invertebrate, temperature, and bacteria monitoring across the berkshires, riparian buffer restoration and rain garden installations at multiple sites across the watershed, and culvert evaluations across northwest Connecticut, the naugatuck river Valley (southern Connecticut) and the berkshires with 15 high priority culvert replacement sites identified; completing storm water management and pollution reduction installations on wells brook, a high priority brook in dover, ny in the ten mile watershed; continuing restoration work on macedonia brook in kent, ct, and watershed planning for the green river in Massachusetts; continuing to maintain a fish ladder and thermal refuge area on furnace brook in cornwall, ct; and successfully attaining, with our partners, the federal designation of 41 miles of Housatonic river in northwest Connecticut as a national wild and scenic river.

Education: providing classroom education to fifth-graders across the berkshires and hands-on learning in the summer with youth and interns in ny, ct and ma; completing a 6th year of Housatonic river recreational user surveys to inform a continuing assessment of recreational access and management needs along the Housatonic river that can also protect river ecology, provide for public safety and address diversity and equitable access issues; continuing hands-on environmental skills training with at-risk youth in the greater danbury area through our still river connections which engages youth in special projects across the still river watershed such as installing rain gardens, removing invasive plants, and helping the public understand how to protect our waterways; continuing direct action with the public to teach about and restore river health through multiple buffer plantings, clean ups, invasive plant removal and water quality monitoring events across the watershed; providing paddling and hiking trips for families and launching a june 2023 watershed celebration to engage the public in outdoor learning and activities; speaking at multiple public gatherings on a range of environmental topics; and expanding social media outreach on river and land conservation and recreation.

Land: initiating land conservation strategies in targeted sections of the tristate Housatonic watershed, based on our Housatonic watershed health dashboard, to build climate resiliency locally through several programs including but not limited to: conserving nearly 10,000 acres through follow the forest partners and direct action aiming to conserve a total of 50,000 acres of high quality woodlands and the wildlife linkages that connect them through the collective efforts across the Housatonic river watershed and south in new york and north in Vermont; leading and supporting the litchfield hills greenprint collaborative, a regional conservation partnership of 33 conservation organizations in northwest Connecticut; updating and sharing maps and data with partners of critically important core and riparian forest, headwater stream lands, strategically important forest and connector corridors, and newly protected lands in the watershed to assist in prioritizing land conservation efforts; promoting our collaborative on-line portal of hiking trails throughout 27 ct towns; providing mapping and natural resource assessments for land trusts and communities in ct, ma and ny as well as support for strategic visioning, collaboration, and shared services; assessing and sharing the impacts of land use proposals in 2 communities in ny and ct; participating in land conservation policy and climate change readiness initiatives at the state and federal level; and successfully deploying federal funds for land conservation through the highlands conservation program.

Issue response - study and alert communities of potential problems to contamination of the environment; respond to complaints and developments threatening ground water and river quality; review reports and develop solutions to problems.