Let’s Go

Rivers Alliance
Meet Estuary’s Newest River Partner
Rivers Alliance of Connecticut is thrilled to join many wonderful organizations as an Estuary magazine River Partner! Rivers Alliance is a statewide organization focused on policy, advocacy, and education surrounding all things water—including surface water, groundwater, drinking water, rivers, lakes, and ponds.

In addition, Rivers Alliance provides guidance to individuals and organizations seeking better outcomes at the local and state levels in navigating the complex permitting and regulatory landscape surrounding water and land-use issues.

The organization’s primary initiatives focus on ensuring we have water for fish and faucet well into the future as we face the challenges of climate change. This includes promoting and protecting nature-based solutions such as riparian buffers and urging our state agencies and general assembly to address the widening gaps in our planning and decision-making for water resources.

Get to know Rivers Alliance better by visiting riversalliance.org and joining its mailing list. Rivers Alliance needs all the help it can get to protect your water!

Lyme Land Trust
Walks for all Ages!
Join the Lyme Land Trust (LLT) in Lyme, Connecticut, for its popular Tuesday Treks with various board and staff members. Family Trail Time with Tori is led by Tori Harris for families with little ones to introduce them to the wonders of the woods. Wednesday Walks with Wendy are hikes for seniors in collaboration with the Lymes’ Senior Center. LLT also offers regular walks led by experts in their fields. Check the upcoming events page on lymelandtrust.org, and subscribe to LLT’s email list (find a link on the homepage) to get details about all the events Lyme Land Trust offers.

Connecticut River Museum
Join the Celebration!
As fall approaches, the Connecticut River Museum will host a community-wide Block Party on September 21, 2024. This family-friendly, all-day extravaganza celebrates the rich history of the Connecticut River and marks the museum’s 50th anniversary. Enjoy dockside tours, engaging activities for all ages, music on the lawn, and more!

Don’t miss your last chance to see the special exhibition, Getting There: Wayfinding on the Water in the Pre-Modern Age, on view through October 13. Getting There explores how mariners throughout history navigated vast waters in search of new resources and opportunities. Try your hand at a strategic board game and experiment with real navigation tools. Visit ctrivermuseum.org for more information.

Have you shared your river story with the Connecticut River Museum yet? Now’s the perfect time! Share your favorite memories, what you love about the river, or your hopes for its future. Want to learn more? Email gspiegle@ctrivermuseum.org.

East Haddam Land Trust
Something for Everyone
Have fun with the East Haddam Land Trust! EHLT offer hikes, paddles, stargazing, and more. Its 2nd annual Goodwin Trail Challenge is set for November 10, when bikers, runners, and walkers will wind through a fourteen-mile trail in the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Watershed through preserved woodlands from East Haddam to East Lyme.

EHLT hosts monthly stargazing evenings at the Burnham Brook Preserve in East Haddam. Participants use telescopes and engage in informative discussions with amateur astronomists. Times appear on ehlt.org and in weekly e-bulletins. A sign-up to receive emails can be found at the bottom of its homepage.

Every month into the fall, EHLT leads hikes and kayaking adventures. An evening kayak on the Connecticut River to see the swallow murmuration at Goose Island is scheduled for September. For more details, visit ehlt.org where you’ll also find information on hiking in its preserves and an interactive map of all trails in town. Everyone is welcome as a guest or member!

Rockfall Foundation
Celebrate Environmental Champions
You’re invited to celebrate Rockfall Foundation’s 2024 Environmental Champions and 2024 Environmental Grant recipients on Wednesday, October 9, 6–9 p.m., at Rockfall’s deKoven House Community Center. Rockfall’s Environmental Champion Awards recognize individuals, groups, and organizations for their contributions to the Lower Connecticut River Valley in the areas of natural resource preservation, conservation, ecosystem restoration, or education. Its 2024 grant recipients will have tabletop exhibits demonstrating the positive impact of their grants on the local environment. For more info, please visit rockfallfoundation.org.

Save the Sound
Help keep Long Island Sound and Our Rivers Trash-free This Year
The 2024 Connecticut Cleanup has officially started! Save the Sound has hosted the Connecticut Cleanup as part of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup for over two decades. In 2023, its volunteers picked up 7,531 pounds of trash from 131 miles of our region’s beaches, riverbanks, and parks. Each year, Save the Sound recruits more volunteers and removes more trash. As we start the cleanup season, you’re invited to volunteer or host your own cleanup event anywhere in the state. Don’t know where to host your cleanup? Save the Sound can help you find the perfect location! This year it is encouraging more inland cleanups to stop trash from reaching Long Island Sound and ensure everyone has the safe outdoor spaces they deserve.

Learn more about the positive impacts of Save the Sound’s cleanup program and how to get involved at SavetheSound.org/cleanup.

Audubon Vermont
Fall at the Green Mountain Audubon Center
Fall is a wonderful time of year at the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington, Vermont! Audubon VT manages over 250 acres of habitat for birds and other wildlife. Its five miles of trails traverse wetlands, meadows, forests, and its bird-friendly sugarbush. See the landscape come alive with brilliant fall foliage! Bring your binoculars to view migratory birds before they journey south for the winter. Trails are free and open to the public seven days a week. Stop by the Visitor Center Monday to Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m., to learn more about Audubon’s work and buy its very own Bird-Friendly Maple Syrup! You can also learn about guided programs and events hosted at the Audubon Center on the Audubon Vermont’s online events page (vt.audubon.org/events). Come visit this fall—all are welcome at Audubon!

Great Meadows Conservation Trust
Fall Activities
You’re invited to join Great Meadows Conservation Trust (GMCT) for the Connecticut River Conservancy’s 28th Annual Source to Sea Cleanup at 9 a.m., Saturday, September 28, at Wethersfield Cove, 533 Main Street, Wethersfield, Connecticut. GMCT will have grabbers, gloves, and repurposed feed and grain bags. No plastic bags added to the waste stream! The cove looks fantastic when the work is complete! Come get dirty for our beautiful river and gain a sense of satisfaction knowing you have helped keep it clean.

The NRCS- and CLCC-funded stewardship work at GMCT’s Wood Parcel continues following the forest mulching of invasives this spring. Visit the Wood Parcel on Middletown Avenue, Wethersfield, to witness the transformation. Walk the trails and enjoy the ever-changing views of the Fearful Swamp. Please join GMCT for the planting of native species in October. Look for details at gmct.org and on their Facebook page.

Connecticut River Salmon Association
Save The Date: 47th Annual Dinner & Fundraiser!
Connecticut River Salmon Association (CRSA) has been busy this year with Salmon-in-Schools fry stock out field trips, the Herring Amendment 10 meeting for which it submitted a letter of support and testified in Mystic, the 5th Anniversary reception for Estuary magazine, Colombia Schools’ STEM Open House, World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) on May 21 with The Nature Conservancy, its WFMD event on May 25 at the Upper Collinsville Dam Fishway, the 41st Annual Meeting of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), and the Connecticut River Migratory Fish Restoration Cooperative (CRMFRC) meetings. Migratory fish need our support and your support. Join CRSA in its mission!

Connecticut Science Teachers! Bring freshwater and saltwater ecosystems to LIFE for your students. Study the anadromous life cycle of a threatened and endangered species by participating in Salmon-in-Schools, a scientific and environmental learning project. CRSA provides teacher orientation, materials, and support from fisheries biologists at the Connecticut DEEP. Contact salmoninschools@ctriversalmon.org. For more information visit ctriversalmon.org.

Connecticut Land Conservation Council
Supporting Land Conservation Success
Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) proudly empowers land trusts statewide through its grant programs. These grants provide land trusts with critical funding for all stages of conservation projects, from appraisals to stewardship activities for climate adaptation. Recent awardees in the region include:

• East Haddam Land Trust to improve forest health and resilience with funds from CLCC’s Climate Smart Land Stewardship grant program
• Wyndham Land Trust to complete due diligence for the acquisition of 227 acres to expand the Nightingale Forest Preserve
• Avalonia Land Trust to integrate indigenous knowledge into a new forest management plan for the Pike Marshall Preserve

These awards empower local organizations to implement innovative solutions, promote environmental stewardship, and conserve natural and working lands for future generations. CLCC is proud to partner with these land trusts to address pressing environmental challenges and advance conservation efforts statewide. Learn more at ctconservation.org.

Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments
Find A Farmers Market
Are you interested in local farmers markets, buying local products, and supporting local farmers? Celebrate agriculture in the Lower Connecticut River Valley this fall by visiting one of our many farms and farmers markets! The Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments (RiverCOG) has a Regional Agriculture Council (the only one in the state) that supports farmers in the region and provides an agriculture website for the region. Go to knowyourfarmers.org to learn what local farms offer and where they are located, to find your favorite farmers market, and much more.

Florence Griswold Museum
Faerie-Inspired Wonders to See
From September 28 to November 3 contemporary creativity and wonder reign at the FloGris Museum. Visitors to the ever-popular Wee Faerie Village can follow the faerie house walking trail across the museum’s campus and marvel at the detail of two-dozen pint-sized creations. These mini-masterpieces crafted by artists, designers, and faerie-aficionados thrill and inspire all ages with their imagination and whimsy. Check the website for this year’s theme and a roster of special events.

Inside the museum, contemporary artist Adrien Broom continues the enchantment with her immersive exhibition, Mystical Murmurs, where visitors imagine themselves at faerie-scale. A photographer, set designer, and filmmaker, Broom transforms the gallery into a magical installation inspired by the natural environment, faerie folklore, and legends. Broom explains, “I aim to explore these enigmatic elements and their interconnectedness, inviting viewers’ imaginations to run wild and ponder the secrets hidden within the forest.” For more information visit flogris.org.

Connecticut River Conservancy
28th Annual Source to Sea Cleanup
Get your gloves and trash bags ready, the goal of the Connecticut River Conservancy’s Source to Sea Cleanup is to remove as much trash as possible from our waterways, riverbanks, and communities. Trash moves from land to water, from upstream to downstream, and together we can make a BIG impact to prevent this trash from ending up in our rivers. The 28th annual Source to Sea Cleanup will be September 27–28, 2024 (or a date that works for you!), and involve thousands of dedicated volunteers. Visit CRC’s new registration platform at sourcetoseacleanup.org to start or join a group today.
If you’re reading this after September has passed, visit ctriver.org/events for the latest virtual and in-person ways to learn about, engage with, and experience more of the Connecticut River watershed.

Riverfront Recapture
Run and Row for the River
Riverfront Recapture’s mission is to connect people with the Connecticut River, and it does just that year-round in four clean and safe parks covering nearly 350 acres along 3.5 miles of the Connecticut River in Hartford and East Hartford, Connecticut. Events, festivals, and fitness programs are offered, and there’s always the option (weather permitting) to take a leisurely walk or commune with nature. On September 14, run, walk, erg, or row as part of the Run for the River 5K which supports Riverfront’s community rowing program, or participate in the second annual Hartford HealthCare Community 5K on September 21. On October 6, the Head of the Riverfront, a US Rowing Registered Regatta, offers head-style competition on the Connecticut River for high school, collegiate, and masters rowers. Find out more about the parks, programs, and events at riverfront.org.

Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center
Destination for Environmental Education
Connecticut Audubon Society’s Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center (RTPEC) in Old Lyme, Connecticut, is excited to announce its Children’s Innovation & Science Discovery Center. This newly renovated and expanded, 1,632-square-foot center is a premier destination for environmental science education.

The center, which officially opened in July, will be the home of an array of new, specially-designed programs for kids, ages 3–10. Children will learn about conservation and the environment through stories and art, the use of scientific equipment, and explorations of local habitats.

Key features are the Children’s Studio and Lab equipped with digital microscopes and other scientific equipment, Young Explorers Adventure Zone, Teaching Porch, organic vegetable garden, and water and nature play areas. The center is fully ADA-compliant, adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design.

For more information visit ctaudubon/rtpec.