WESTMINSTER — While people are making their traditional resolutions for the new year, our Connecticut River could use a few well-intentioned pledges. In that spirit, river users could make the following resolutions:
• As a boater: “I resolve to respect the 150-foot no-wake zone along the shores of the Connecticut River and all its boatable tributaries. I know that reducing my wave action will reduce river shoreland erosion. I will respect the rule as it applies to shoreline, swimmers, and other boats so my safe boating will not only protect the river but will protect others river users.”
• As a resident or visitor to the Connecticut River watershed: “I resolve to throw no trash of any kind into the river. The tires, cans, carts, bicycles, construction debris, unidentified barrels, wire, hoses, and the other trash found in the river are not good for the river itself or for those who wish to use the river to boat, float, fish, or swim.
“This year I will join with the Connecticut River Watershed Council and some 2,000 volunteers to remove trash from the river during the annual Source to the Sea River Cleanup the first Saturday in October.”
• As a logger: “I resolve to protect the natural vegetation zone next to the river or any of its tributaries to reduce runoff into the river. I will follow the best-management practices that leave a protective buffer zone between the river, any cutting, skid roads, and staging areas to reduce sediment that could be washed into the river.”
• As a farmer: “I resolve to work with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service to help develop protective cultivation and fertilization plans for fields close to the river. I will protect the natural vegetation along the shore to cut down on runoff that carries high level of nutrients into the river.”
• As an elected state or local official: “I resolve to reinvest in the river by voting to make funds available to treat wastewater to the highest possible levels, replace aging infrastructure, correct any design flaws, and increase capacity when necessary due to population increases.
“Because the river is at highest risk of direct discharge pollution at any time since the passage of the Clean Water Act and despite the federal government's abandonment of its commitment to clean water, I as a local or state official will work to make the river cleaner.”
• As a private landowner: “I resolve to protect the natural vegetation along the river from cutting or other disturbance. As a resident of New Hampshire, I will follow the New Hampshire law for required undisturbed setbacks from the river. Or, as a resident of Vermont, where no requirements for setbacks apply due to a loophole in the law, I will use the Natural Resources Conservation Service recommendations for an undisturbed buffer along the river. Short of that and although I am a Vermonter, I personally resolve to adopt the New Hampshire setback standards for use on my property.”
• As an operator of a hydroelectric facility: “I resolve to repay the river for the profit its waters make for our stockholders. I will operate my facilities at the river flow levels that protect habitat for fish and other aquatic species. I will be responsible when I raise and lower the flows of the river seasonally to protect the spawning needs of fish in the river.
“I will be responsible to meet the needs of aquatic organisms relative to how quickly I raise or lower the flows in the river. I will ensure that an emergency management plan to protect lives and property of valley residents is in place in the event of the unthinkable - a dam failure.”
• As a citizen of the watershed: “I resolve to protect the river by voting for upgrades of wastewater treatment facilities, voting for my town to use the most river-friendly techniques for road maintenance and repair even if they are slightly more costly.
“I will call on my national representatives and my president to halt airborne mercury and acid-rain pollution from Midwest power plants that poison the waters and the fish in the Connecticut River.”
If we all follow through on these New Year's resolutions, 2009 will be a happier year for the Connecticut River and for all of us who love the river.