Natchaug Watershed Advisory Project Seeks Input
What most of us know about living in the Natchaug watershed is just how abundant, unique, and diverse the natural surroundings of this region are. We appreciate the variety of ecosystems and the extensive areas to work and play. Making a living in forestry and agriculture have been passed down through the generations.
A watershed includes the land that drains into a waterbody, like a stream, lake or river and eventually the ocean. As water or snow melt drains across the land, it carries with it various materials referred to as non-point source pollution, impacting the health of the watershed. The land and water in the Natchaug Regional watershed drain into three major rivers (the Natchaug, Mount Hope and Fenton Rivers) and is the source of drinking water for approximately 22,000 residents in Willimantic and parts of Mansfield and Windham. The Natchaug is recognized as an overall healthy watershed due to the high amount of forest cover (about 75 percent), minimal development impacts, and a good deal of state, town, land trust and privately owned protected land.
Federal and state environmental agencies continue to show strong support for the area. The Eastern CT Conservation District (ECCD) has been awarded EPA grant funding administered by the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to create and facilitate a Natchaug Healthy Watershed Advisory Board (NWAB) for eight of the watershed towns — Ashford, Chaplin, Eastford, Mansfield, Union, Willington, Windham and Woodstock. This is the first EPA-funded “healthy watershed” initiative undertaken in Connecticut focusing on preventing pollution before it happens and reducing common types of non-point source pollution including bacteria, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.), sediment, salt, petroleum products, PFAS, heavy metals, pesticides and trash.
A history of conservation cooperation exists in the Natchaug watershed, demonstrated by multiple municipal efforts to establish Greenways and the signing, by the eight watershed towns, of The Natchaug River Basin Conservation Compact in 2011. In it, the municipalities agreed to work cooperatively to balance conservation and growth in the watershed, demonstrating that residents, businesses, and academic institutions of the Natchaug watershed towns are cognizant of the special location in which they live.
Now in 2025, all eight towns’ first selectmen have signed Memorandums of Understanding with ECCD showing their leaderships’ support for the Natchaug project. It takes a cooperative regional effort using thoughtful land use planning and non-regulatory, cost-effective means to protect, and restore where needed, the watershed’s natural resources into the future.
The NWAB and five workgroups have been meeting monthly since the project kickoff last April to focus on implementing recommendations from the 2020 Natchaug Healthy Watershed Protection Plan, including identifying stressors and solutions to protect natural resources and water quality. Workgroups include forestry and open space, healthy residential landscapes and septic systems, riparian wildlife corridors and pollinator pathways, cold water stream habitat and connectivity and municipal land use officials education. The Advisory Board and workgroups continually welcome municipal representatives, non-profit organizations, lake and outdoor recreational groups, local businesses, farmers and residents with experience in any of the topics alongside an interest to work with neighbors on opportunities such as planning workshops, creating brochures, planting native vegetation and more!
Please reach out to Maura Robie, Natural Resource Specialist at ECCD, at [email protected] to participate. Go to ECCDs website conservect.org/eastern and look under ‘Watershed Committees’ for more information and educational events. Join us in sustaining our shared home, the Natchaug watershed, for generations to come! This project was funded, in part, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The funding is administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Courtesy photo
