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Norwalk River Watershed Initiative

Our Chapter has been working very hard this year under the direction of Ed Vallerie and the NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service) to restore a large portion of the Norwalk River. This is an ongoing project and will take many more hours of volunteer work to complete. The work that has been done so far is amazing and should be viewed in person. The areas that we rebuilt withstood the 11" of rain that fell this fall.

The Norwalk River Watershed Initiative continued to hold meetings every 3^rd Thursday of each month at 3:00 p.m. He noted that water quality testing on both the Norwalk and the Silvermine Rivers was continuing, and that a couple of hot spots had been identified. There are now over 30 monitoring sites along both rivers. He said that the chapter was all set for working on the river next year, with funding in place. He also told the Board that the chapter was well ahead of the game in terms of what it had signed on for with the watershed group.

Before

This section of river is behind the Merwin Meadows Bath House. It was totally overgrown. TU member Tom Yates volunteered his equipment and his time to make this project work. Without his help this would have taken months if not years to accomplish.  

After

The installation of sawtooth deflectors into the river will increase the trout habitat areas. These new areas will provide needed protection for trout fry. The Town of Wilton was instrumental in making this project work. They donated many of the essential pieces to bring this project together.

This section of the Norwalk River is near the Wilton High School. The Banks had eroded to a point that was making the river too wide and too shallow. Our work here included adding strategically placed dead Christmas trees staked to the bank. These trees will work to catch the silt deposits and eventually become the bank themselves.


Adding logs to shore up the banks and reduce erosion is one of the key parts to this project. We installed over 50 logs to several sections of the Norwalk River. Our goal is to improve the water quality of this neglected river.

Contact Ed Vallerie for more information on this project or to Volunteer your time to help save this precious river.