Science &
Conservation
Diatoms
March 1, 2020On a hot weekend in July, we headed out on the Connecticut River for a wildlife safari. We weren’t aiming to see osprey, swallows, bald eagles, or turtles, though we saw plenty of those. Instead, we were on the hunt for the River’s smallest inhabitants… its microbial wildlife. The presence of such wildlife can be an indicator of the health of a river....
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
March 1, 2020Just about a mile as the crow (or cardinal, or chickadee) flies from the Connecticut River’s western bank in Norwich, Vermont, sits a nondescript building that houses one of the most effective wildlife conservation organizations in the Northeast that you’ve probably never heard of: the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE)....
The Estuary’s Most [un]Wanted Plant is Under Water
March 1, 2020The aquatic plant known as Trapa natans has the unfortunate common name of water chestnut, leading people who are first hearing about it to think that it may well be a bonus source of that good appetizer, with a strip of bacon wrapped around it....
It’s All About the River’s Water Quality
March 1, 2020A thoughtful interview in a boat with Dr. Andrew Fisk, executive director of the Connecticut River Conservancy....
A Treasured Refuge Becomes Permanently Protected
March 1, 2020Alongside the Connecticut River, just a few miles south of Springfield, Massachusetts, is a 371-acre environmental success story, a jewel of a refuge, called the Fannie Stebbins Memorial Wildlife Refuge that will be a safe-haven for wildlife for generations to come....