As part of a Natchaug River Healthy Watershed Implementation Planning Project, the Eastern Connecticut Conservation District is hosting a free online workshop focused on riparian buffers. Land use in these strips of land along stream corridors, lakes and wetland complexes have a major influence on stream and lake health, as well as overall habitat quality.
It will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 28. To register, email
Dr. Juliana Barrett of CT Sea Grant will give the first presentation titled Riparian Buffers and their Importance in Connecticut. Riparian buffers play a critical role in protecting our wetlands and waterways. The presentation will include the characteristics of riparian buffers, the services they provide and the ecosystem services provided by different-sized riparian buffers.
Patrick Smith and Bet Zimmerman Smith will follow Dr. Barrett’s presentation and share wildlife camera video clips from their 30-acre private nature preserve, The Fen, located along Muddy Brook in Woodstock. Their amusing presentation will support the significance of these strips of land as important wildlife corridors as you watch a diversity of animals, from bobcats to wood ducks, featured in their presentation. Who should attend this workshop? The Natchaug regional watershed includes the towns of Ashford, Eastford, Chaplin, Mansfield, Union, Willington, Windham and Woodstock. Volunteer land use regulatory officials, conservation commission members, planners, wetland officials, builders, and landowners with river or lake frontage, or people who are interested in how the ecosystem they live in works. This will be a family friendly event, so invite the clan to watch with you. The Natchaug Watershed Healthy Watershed Implementation Plan project is funded in part by a US EPA Clean Water Act § 319 non-point source pollution grant through the CT DEEP.
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