The 410 mile-long Connecticut River is New England's longest river. Its headwaters are Fourth Connecticut Lake at the Canadian border, and it empties into Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, CT.

The watershed encompasses an area of over 11,000 square-miles and includes parts of four states -- Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The River is the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire (but is wholly in NH).

The watershed is 80% forested, 12% agricultural, 3% developed, and 5% wetlands and water. There are 390 towns, villages and cities, which are home to 2.3 million people.

The River drops 2,400 feet from its source to the sea, and has a daily average flow of nearly 16,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The flow has ranged as high as 282,000 cfs and as low as 971 cfs.

The lower 60 miles of the River are tidal, with the boundary between salt and freshwater about 17 miles from its mouth under normal conditions. Its waters represent 70% of the freshwater inflow to L.I. Sound.

The Connecticut has 38 major tributaries, 26 of which drain 100 square miles or more. All told, there are over 20,000 miles of streams in the watershed.

Described 40 years ago as "the best landscaped sewer in the Nation," the River today is swimmable and fishable (Class B), and in some areas drinkable (Class A), due to the Federal Clean Water Act and the resulting investment of more than $600 million in wastewater treatment.

The watershed is home to a rich diversity of species: 59 species of mammals, 250 birds, 22 reptiles, 23 amphibians, 142 fish, 1,500 invertebrates, and 3,000 plants. Ten federally listed endangered or threatened species occur within the watershed.

The Connecticut River Valley possesses some of the richest farmland in the Northeast. Its deep, well drained soils are a product of glacial Lake Hitchcock, which flooded much of the Valley during the last period of glaciation, and annual floods.

Primary Source: Conte Refuge Action Plan, USFWS, October 1995