Estuary Magazine

10/07/2025

If you live in the lower Connecticut River watershed where hydrilla is having serious adverse impacts, your social media may have blown up recently with alarm by folks just learning about the proposed use of herbicides to try to eradicate the invasive aquatic w**d. Estuary magazine readers know however, that this is part of a years-long study of how to best—and safely--treat hydrilla with the least impacts on water quality, fish, flora, and fauna. There are no easy and perfect answers—hence the years-long study. Please read our River Partner 's statement and find out more. You'll find further links to detailed information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We've been writing about hydrilla since 2020 and are planning a follow-up story about these latest developments in our upcoming Winter issue.

https://riversalliance.org/statement-on-hydrilla-management/

08/07/2025

Looking for tips to up your fly-fishing game? Look no further than Ed Mitchell's "Casting About" column in every issue. Ed often explores the best places to fish, but in this issue he schools us in that all important question about what you cast into the river at the end of your line. And that means—caddis pupae, aka the caddisfly, and how to tie something that looks enough like the real thing to get a bite.

Ed writes, "Granted they are not as legendary or graceful as mayfly duns riding the riffle. Nor have caddis traditionally played as big a role in our sport. Yet on today’s waters, caddisflies are often more prevalent than mayflies and therefore more significant to our angling success."

A must-have resource for the beginner to expert fly-fisherman alike. When you subscribe, you get access to all of Ed's back issue columns, too!

Visit estuarymagazine.com to subscribe today!
https://www.estuarymagazine.com

04/07/2025

A breathtaking work of Connecticut River art to inspire your weekend 😊

In 2016, the Connecticut River Museum commissioned renowned wildlife artist Michael DiGiorgio to create a painting that would bring to life the tidal marshes of the lower Connecticut River. The painting was photographed by award-winning photographer Jody Dole and enlarged to a mural that is 81 ¼” L x 76” H and installed at the Museum.

The goal of the mural project was to complete the important story of the ecological significance of the river, thereby enhancing school programming and visitor experiences, as well as increasing opportunities to foster environmental scholarship.

More information about the mural via Estuary Magazine here:
https://www.estuarymagazine.com/2020/03/about-the-seasonal-ecology-mural/

And much more to explore at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex, CT here: https://ctrivermuseum.org/

04/07/2025

Important update from our River Partner Rivers Alliance of Connecticut

We love our rivers as much as you do. That’s why we support careful, science-backed work to stop the CT River strain of hydrilla from turning our waters into dead zones.

Get the facts, not the fear: https://riversalliance.org/statement-on-hydrilla-management/

02/07/2025

Get In Your Nominations! Estuary magazine and its parent The Watershed Fund are looking for nominations for its Early Career Achievement Award in Environmentalism. Nominations accepted through July 30, 2025.

The criteria for the award are:

had not reached their 33rd birthday as of January 1, 2025
lives or grew up in the Connecticut River Watershed
has worked and/or studied in an environmental job for five years or more
has demonstrated significant achievement in their field
Send us the person’s name, contact information, and any information you can about why you believe this candidate deserves the award. The recipient will receive a small honorarium and be invited to speak at a ceremony to receive the honor. Send your nomination to [email protected].

The award comes with an honorarium, an event to showcase their work, a story in the magazine and promotion on social media.

Previous awards went to Madeline Lahm and Riley Doherty (shown with publisher Dick Shriver).

Find out more information here: https://www.estuarymagazine.com/the-watershed-fund/

25/06/2025

Great blue herons—with their six-foot wingspans—are the largest herons in North America. Read all about these majestic birds and how and where they nest along the Connecticut River in the summer issue's Wildlife Wonders column by Bill Hobbs. Bill got an assist from our River Partner Great Meadows Conservation Trust which conserves and stewards land along the river in Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Subscribe to read Bill's Wildlife Wonders column in every issue at https://www.estuarymagazine.com.

Image credits: Ray Uzanas

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22/06/2025

Wrapping up a celebration of pollinators this Pollinator Week, read Judy Preston's Gardening for Good column "A Local Cemetery Inspires Wild Ideas for Your Lawn" in the summer issue. Judy writes, "A “tapestry” or “bee” lawn (such as you often find in your local cemetery) incorporates low-lying plants, many of them flowering, that provide resources for native wildlife, including insects that are essential for pollination and the food web. These lawns can be mowed at heights of three to four inches, permitting low-growing flowers or plants with the capacity to easily reflower."

Shown here: Quaker ladies or bluets (Houstonia caerulea), and dwarf cinquefoil, (Potentilla canadensis). photo: Judy Preston

Judy provides great advice in every issue about how to improve our gardens for the benefit of pollinators. Subscribe to learn more!

https://www.estuarymagazine.com

15/06/2025

Happy Father's Day! In the Summer issue, we celebrate Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont, father to two sons but better known as the "Father of the System of Land Grant Colleges" that laid the foundation for a national system of state colleges and universities. Find out more in our Summer issue.

https://www.estuarymagazine.com/current-issue/

12/06/2025

Did you have any idea cormorants are controversial? Summer issue feature writer Ed Ricciuti explains the cormorant "is a remarkable creature, exquisitely adapted to life over, on, and under the water. It flies 35 miles per hour, can cover a yard underwater in a couple of seconds, and can dive more than 100 feet. Its streamlined form, smoothed by feathers low in preen oil so they compress and reduce drag under water, is propelled by powerful simultaneous backwards thrusts of webbed feet and steered by its wings."

But here's the catch: "Biology and behavior make cormorants fish-eating machines." And that means they can clear out a freshly stocked pond—leaving fishermen frustrated and empty-handed. They can outcompete other birds for nesting habitat. Some want them gone. And that's controversial.

Think this is only a coastal problem? Then you'll want to find out why Audubon Vermont in involved. Read more in our Summer 2025 issue, available online now with your digital or print+digital subscription.

https://www.estuarymagazine.com

Audubon Vermont

09/06/2025

More FREE content! Click below for the latest from our River Partners—14 of the most active environmental and cultural organizations in the Connecticut River watershed. Hikes, volunteer opportunities, resources, exhibitions, programs—valuable information to fuel your advocacy for and enjoyment of the Connecticut River and its watershed! Find River Partner news in every issue!

estuarymagazine.com, click on the News/Events tab, or

https://www.estuarymagazine.com/2025/06/lets-go-8-2/

Save the Sound
Connecticut River Conservancy
RiverCOG
The Rockfall Foundation
Audubon Vermont
Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center
Connecticut Land Conservation Council
Lyme Land Trust
East Haddam Land Trust
Connecticut River Salmon Association
Rivers Alliance of Connecticut
Connecticut River Museum
Florence Griswold Museum
Great Meadows Conservation Trust
Coming this Fall: Kestrel Land Trust

Save the Sound Connecticut River Conservancy Connecticut River Museum Florence Griswold Museum Lyme Land Trust East Haddam Land Trust Rivers Alliance of Connecticut Connecticut Land Conservation Council Audubon Vermont The Rockfall Foundation The Connecticut Audubon Society

04/06/2025

A STORY SO IMPORTANT, it's FREE: What's happening with DOGE-mandated federal budget cuts in the watershed? Our Summer issue feature writer Ted Williams, former information officer for the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, is raising the alarm. He goes to the source to find out the impact of these cuts. But he also reminds us of all that has been accomplished—arming us with the information we need to be the best advocates for the river and the watershed.

READ THE STORY HERE: https://www.estuarymagazine.com/current-issue/

Read the story and then become one of the many supporters of the Connecticut River who want to arm themselves with the latest information about science and conservation, history, wildlife, recreation, people and more. You'll find a link at the story above.

photos: Sally Harold, a dam removal specialist, holding a wood turtle below the Leesville dam on the Salmon River in Connecticut. Image credit: Steve Gephard; USFWS’s Ken Sprankle surgically inserting an acoustic tag
into an alewife with Tim Wildman of CT DEEP. Image Credit: Ken Sprankle, USFWS; A bald eagle carries a sea lamprey snatched from the Connecticut River in Windsor, VT. Image credit: Mary Holland, https://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com

02/06/2025

The Summer issue is here and it's now available online for all active subscribers—both Digital-only subscribers and Print subscribers. Simply log into your account on the website and go to the Member Content page. You can read it as a flip-book in the format you see in print, or as individual blog posts. Plus you can access all of our back-issue content at the same time. Happy reading!

Click on Member Login or visit https://www.estuarymagazine.com/my-account/

If you're a subscriber but don't have a log in or need help, contact us at [email protected].