The Power of Partnerships: Reconnecting Rivers in New England
Ron Rhodes
Connecticut River Conservancy
South Pomfret, VT
The four-dimensional framework for stream corridors – Lateral, Longitudinal, Vertical, and Temporal – serves as a good starting point for examining river restoration projects and their benefits in the Connecticut River watershed and New England as a whole. Two hundred plus years of dredging, berming, channelizing, clearing, and impounding our rivers has resulted in a dramatic loss of floodplain function and aquatic habitat. According to the National Fish Habitat Partnership’s assessment of fish habitat, "Through a Fish's Eye: The Status of Fish Habitats in the United States" (2015), many areas along the main stem and principal tributaries of the Connecticut River are ranked as moderate to very high risk of fish habitat degradation.
In addition, the Connecticut River is a major source of excess nitrogen (roughly 9,600,000 lbs./yr. from MA, VT & NH) and sediment from eroding streambanks occurring during high flows in the spring exacerbated by impoundment fluctuations, stream channel adjustments, and farms with little or no protective buffer between their fields and local waterways. Nitrogen transported downstream to Long Island Sound causes algal blooms, dead zones, and declining marine life resulting in a TMDL that requires continued action on NPS. The New Hampshire Department of Agriculture estimates that riverfront farms experience the loss of ~ 2.3 feet of valuable soil annually due to this type of erosion.
This presentation will show how teamwork between federal, state, non-profit, and local partners is restoring connectivity through in-stream, riparian, and floodplain restoration projects to improve natural floodplain function, fish and wildlife habitat, and flood resiliency in our communities – many of which suffered catastrophic damages during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Ron Rhodes
Ron joined CRC in 2011 as a NH/VT River Steward, spending most of his time removing old dams, planting trees, and working with landowners and partners to implement river restoration projects. Now, Ron is the Director of Restoration Programs where he leads CRC’s aquatic and riparian habitat restoration programs throughout the watershed in NH, VT, MA and CT, and determines short and long-range restoration program opportunities.
Ron is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH where he majored in Political Science and Economics. Prior to moving to the Upper Valley, where he lives with his wife Betsy, Ron worked in politics and government in Washington D.C. and Ohio.