Rewilding in the Watershed

Project partners from three different organizations wander across fields of goldenrod and burnweed under a perfect September sky. From a boardwalk just a few inches above the wetland soils we inspect alders and cattails, wool grass and smartweed.

Gardening for Good: Gardening for a Changing Climate

In summer 2021, my neighbor sent me a text with a picture of an unusual bird wading in the marsh below his deck. You had to take note, as there are just no big pink birds local to Connecticut. Indeed, that bird—a roseate spoonbill—is typically a resident of Florida and tropics further south. Likely sent off course from a storm that blew it up the coast, it is somehow appropriate to elicit that recollection in a conversation about how our climate is changing in New England.

Casting About: A Day on the Deerfield River

On an Autumn evening last year, I got a text message from guide Chris Jackson offering me a half-day float on the Deerfield River. His offer, however, came with a warning. Drought conditions, coupled with unseasonably warm weather plaguing the entire Northeast at that time, had caused river conditions that were low and warm, resulting in difficult fishing.

What’s for Dinner: Duck Confit and Wild Rice

Ducks and wild rice are as comfortable together on your dinner plate as they are in the wild! The wild rice, a semi-aquatic grass, is mostly found along riverbanks where the water is shallow and the currents slow.

Conte Corner: Fifty Years with Andrew French

I n November 2024, I sat down with Andrew French, Refuge Manager of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge and the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge and longtime employee of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to discuss his career and perspectives on the Connecticut River watershed.

A Letter from the Editor:

If you are reading this, there is an excellent chance you love the River as much as we do. The more we speak with readers like you, the more we hear new and interesting stories about the River. This is an invitation to submit those stories to us so that we might share them with other readers. We have a process for doing this. Go to estuarymagazine.com/submissions and read the detailed instructions on how to submit story ideas. You can also submit letters to the editor.

Send Us Your Best

This dramatic photo was taken by Frank Dinardi an amateur wildlife photographer from Connecticut.

An Editorial

When people wore gas masks to protect from the man-made stench of the Connecticut River

A Room with a View

Tom Rose does not live on the Connecticut River, but he lives surrounded by a panoramic River view. His view is not obstructed by buildings, by trees or by traffic-laden roads because he created it himself.