The Housatonic River Commission’s purpose is to coordinate, on a regional basis, the local management and protection of the Housatonic River Valley in northwestern Connecticut.
The following are those objectives as outlined in our most recent Management Plan.
Objectives of the Housatonic River Commission
The following are those objectives as outlined in our most recent Management Plan.
Objectives of the Housatonic River Commission
- Promote the retention of the free-flowing and scenic character of the Housatonic River;
- Promote the protection and improvement of water quality, through:
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- Promote the preservation of significant ecological areas, including protection of fish and wildlife habitats and the continued stocking of indigenous game birds and fish;
- Promote the adoption of measures to control density of recreational activity in the River corridor; and
- Consult and cooperate with State agencies, the Towns, and local groups in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York, and Federal agencies, for the achievement of these objectives.
Duties of the Commission
- Recommend each member town adopt standards for protection of the River Corridors.
- Provide inter-town coordination of a regional Housatonic River Management Plan with each of the Towns involved.
- Explore and develop, when required, means to limit and/or regulate the recreational use of the River.
- Monitor development in the Corridors and review and comment on development applications.
- Consult with the State and Federal agencies, e.g. the Northwest Conservation District, the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,and Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and comment on their plans affecting the River.
- Encourage gifts of land and conservation easements to the individual towns, local land trusts or to a regional land trust to protect critical ecological, archeological or wildlife habitat areas.
- Encourage towns in the River Corridor to actively carry out the objectives of this Management Plan.
- Educate the general public on the importance of the River.