Rivers Alliance
of Connecticut
Connecticut's United Voice for River Conservation

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(Page updated Mon Jul 9, 2007)

Reading List

Click here to see the previous list

Mathias Collins, Kevin Lucey, Beth Lambert, Jon Kachmar, James Turek, Eric Hutchins, Tim Purinton, and David Neils of the NOAA Restoration Center, New Hampshire Coastal Program, Massachusetts Riverways Program, Maine Coastal Program, and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services present the Stream Barrier Removal Monitoring Guide available at http://gulfofmaine.org/streambarrierremoval

The Stream Barrier Removal Monitoring Guide provides a framework of critical monitoring parameters for use at dam and culvert removal sites in the Gulf of Maine watershed. When analyzed collectively, the eight parameters will allow restoration practitioners to document the physical, chemical, and biological effects of stream barrier removal. The Guide is based on the input of more than 70 scientists, natural resource managers, engineers, consultants, and staff from non-governmental organizations in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Final review was sought from experts in barrier removal monitoring from outside the Gulf of Maine region.

For more information, please contact: Matt Collins, NOAA Restoration Center, (978) 281-9142 Kevin Lucey, New Hampshire Coastal Program (603) 599-0026 Beth Lambert, Massachusetts Riverways Program (617) 626-1526 Jon Kachmar, Maine Coastal Program (207) 287-1913

July 2007 Additions to the List (in order by Author):

Russ Cohen.  Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten.  (Essex County Greenbelt Association $15).  Edible wild plants in Essex County (and most of New England).  Russ Cohen with Massachusetts Riverways is also a prominent expert on wild plants one can eat.  Yum.  To order go to ecga@ecga.org or  call (978)768 - 7241.

Jared Diamond. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed   (Penguin $17).  This book examines both ancient and modern societies and the effects of ignoring the environment using a multitude of sciences.  249 out of 346 customer reviews on Amazon have been 4 stars or higher.  

Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston.  Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage (Yale $25).  This book has been featured on WNPR recently on "Where We Live".

John Echeverria, Pope Barrow, and Richard Roos-Collins. Rivers at Risk: Concerned Citizen's Guide To Hydropower  (Island Press $31).  Environmentally responsible hydropower is an important issue for Rivers Alliance.

David H. Getches. Water Law in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series)   (West Publishing Co. $27).  This book is part of the Nutshell Series.  Environmental Law in a Nutshell by Roger W. Findley and Modern Public Land Law in a Nutshell by Robert L. Glicksman are two other titles from the series that are equally as pertinent to the issues we tackle at Rivers Alliance

Paul Hawken.  Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming (Viking $24.95). Hawken describes a groundswell of activist groups working towards sustainability and environmental & social justice.  This book is #48 on the Amazon.com best seller list.

Richard Louv. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books $13.95).  Written by a child advocacy expert, this book explores the separation between today's ever more sedentary youth and nature.  Louv points out that exposure to nature can even be a treatment for attention deficit disorder.  This is another book featured on WNPR's "Where We Live".

Tim Palmer.  Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement (Rowman & Littlefield $29.95). The author is famous for his books on rivers, many gorgeously illustrated with his photographs. Lifelines, The Case for River Conservation (Rowman & Littlefield $26.95).  This plain volume is one of our favorites. It reminds us of the central role of rivers to our lives and well being. This book is a must for anyone who wants to present cogent arguments (economic as well as ecological) for saving rivers. Rivers of America (Harry N. Abrams $40) is Palmer's latest collection of photographs.  Don Elder, the president of River Network says "This book is a remarkable celebration of America . In photographs and in words, Tim Palmer has captured the magic and value of rivers as nobody has ever done, and as nobody is ever likely to do again."

Paul Tukey. The Organic Lawn Care Manual  (Storey Publishing $19.95).  This is a fantastic book for rehabilitating once chemical dependant lawns and for basic lawn maintenance.  It features a forward by Nell Newman, president of  Newman's Own Organics.

Reading List Posted Dec, 2006:

George Black.  The Trout Pool Paradox: The American Lives of Three Rivers (Houghton Mifflin, $34).  The three rivers are the Housatonic, the Naugatuck and the Shepaug.  This is a history by a man in love with rivers and fishing.  Earlier this year, at a meeting on the Farmington River, Sen. Chris Dodd spontaneously called the book “fascinating.â€�  The NY Times gave it an excellent review.  The author is an expert in international affairs and in his spare time edits the Natural Resources Defense Council magazine On Earth.  This is more than a local history; it is a narrative on how watersheds and rivers evolve and degrade and are saved (if they are saved).  

Tom Crider.  A Nature Lover's Book of Quotations, with wood engravings by Thomas W. Nason (Birch Tree Publishing, $19, call 203-267-6851).  This beautifully bound and produced volume is a fine gift for any lover of nature and language.  Mr. Crider, who is the president of the Roxbury Land Trust, is a writer and book man widely recognized in Connecticut as a dedicated conservationist.  

Ross Gelbspan.  Boiling Point  (Basic Books, $22).  Jacket copy reads , “How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists are Fueling the Climate Crisis  --  and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster.  This book was praised by Al Gore in a NY Times book review, and is top ranked by one of our most ardent members.  Former journalist Gelbspan is also the author of The Heat Is on: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription.  

Brendan and Nancy Hanrahan, editors, Great Day Trips series (Perry Heights Press).  The idea for this outstanding series of books on natural history came to the Hanrahans when they were shopping in the store at the Department of Environmental Protection.  They thought, “There are reams of wonderful information here.  How can we get it to the public in an easily readable, easily usable form.  The resulting series of books offers delights for the serious amateur scientist, as well great ideas for the harried parent looking for new ideas for family outings.  The books thus far are Great Day Trips in the Connecticut Valley of the Dinosaurs (Road to Discovery Guides) ($19.95), Great Day Trips Connecticut’s Critical Habitats ($19.95),, Great Day Trips to Discover the Geology of Connecticut (Road to Discovery Guides) ($22.95), and Best Fishing Trips from Ponds to Pounding Surf ($22.95).  The authors of the individual books are experts in their field, and the organization is outstanding. 

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  Crimes Against Nature (HarperCollins, $21.95).  Mr. Kennedy is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, aggressively defending New York City’s upstate water sources and the Long Island Sound.  The group is now active in Connecticut as well.  This book is an indictment of the Bush administration’s environmental policies and record, written in plain language with lots of detail.  Very popular with Democrats.  Might not be a good gift for a Republican.  

Wendell Minor (illustrator) and Michael Dennis Browne.  Give Her the River:  A Father’s Wish for his Daughter (Powell’s Books,  $15.95).  Mr. Minor, one of the leading book illustrators in the U.S., donated a few copies of this book for a Rivers Alliance party, and they were claimed immediately by parents and grandparents.  The cover shows a father and young daughter in a red canoe on a river; she is trailing her hand in the water.  People familiar with Washington, Connecticut and environs will recognize many of the scenes.  The text is a lyric tribute to a river in all times and seasons, a dream by a father of all he would give his daughter.  

Robert Satter.  Under the Gold Dome.  An Insider’s Look at the Connecticut Legislature (Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, $22.95).  Judge Satter knows the law and the legislature from inside out.  This book looks at history and process, with lots of illustrative anecdotes and plenty of humor.   If you want to be taken seriously by legislators, take an hour or two go learn more about their world.  The book received high marks from the Hartford Courant.  

James Gustave Speth.  Red Sky at Morning:  America and the Crisis of the Global Environment (Yale University Press, $24).  In Connecticut, we know Gus Speth particularly as dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He is also an international leader on the environment; an advisor to presidents Carter and Clinton; founder and past president of the World Resources Institute; co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council; winner of the prestigious Blue Planet Award.  So what does he tell presidents (those who want to listen): “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.â€�  We are into a red-sky global environmental crisis.  The crisis may come in devastating crashes.  This book gives us the data we need to understand our plight; it explains why and how our leaders have failed to respond to the crisis; and lays out the steps we must take to avoid catastrophe. 

USEPA MANUALS

Under a cooperative agreement from EPA's Office of Wastewater Management and Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds, the Center for Watershed Protection has just published three manuals of what will be a series of 11 manuals, which CWP has dubbed "Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series". CWP states that the series is designed to provide a stronger foundation to assist local and state managers in crafting urban watershed restoration plans. The manuals were written to "organize the enormous amount of information needed to restore small urban watersheds into a format that can be easily accessed by watershed groups, municipal staff, environmental consultants and other users."

Each of these is approximately 100 pages long, and some also include a CD with software to enable data collection and storage.

The eleven manuals are:

1. An Integrated Framework to Restore Small Urban Watersheds

2. Methods to Develop Restoration Plans for Small Urban Watersheds

3. Storm Water Retrofit Practices

4. Stream Repair and Restoration Practices

5. Riparian Management Practices

6. Discharge Prevention Practices

7. Previous Area Management Practices

8. Pollution Source Control Practices

9. Municipal Practices and Programs

10. The Unified Stream Assessment: A User's Manual

11. The Unified Subwatershed and Site Reconnaissance: A User's Manual

The first three have been published in March 2004 and can be downloaded for free from www.cwp.org for the next six months. Five additional manuals are scheduled for release later this summer and early fall, and the remaining three some time after that.

Global Warming

Environment Northeast has published good reports on global warming, including three specifically for CT.  Their website is www.env-ne.org.  Click on Research Reports; you will be asked for some information before the reports come up. 

Drafting a Conservation Blueprint

 By Craig R. Groves            Island Press  (Book Review  by Richard Whiteford, Highlands Coalition)

Drafting a Conservation Blueprint lays out a step-by-step planning process for conserving the biological diversity of entire regions. In an engaging and accessible style, Groves explains how to develop a regional conservation plan and offers experience-based guidance that brings together relevant information from the fields of ecology, conservation biology, planning, and policy.

The book brings together a wide range of information about conservation planning that is grounded in both strong scientific foundation and in the realities of implementation.

I highly recommend this book for everyone in the environmental field. 

This book can be purchased at www.islandpress.org.  Click on Bookstore and then select Browse to find this title.  The hardcover version will set you back $70.00, while the paperback edition is $35.00.  

River Buffers Brochure Available

The Rivers Alliance brochure on the importance of river buffers is available in a new edition, funded by the Sweet Water Trust.   Contributions welcome.  For information on how to obtain copies, call 860-693-1602 or email us at rivers@riversalliance.org. 

Environmental GIS Data for Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP) is pleased to announce the publication of "Environmental GIS Data for Connecticut"; a set of 7 groundbreaking CDs that contain environmental Geographic Information System (GIS) based data for the entire State of Connecticut. Now users can have environmental GIS data for the State of Connecticut available
at home, school, work or wherever their laptops take them. For anyone who uses environmental data in their day-to-day life, or for those looking to learn more about their state and environment, this CD set is an invaluable tool.

 The CD set will allow a variety of users to create their own digital map of Connecticut that can display any number of features, including lake location and bathymetry, roads, aquifer protection areas, DEP properties, airports, sewer service areas - even Legislative House and Senate Districts. This is but a sampling of the range of data contained in the CD set. This CD
set allows the user to view any portion of Connecticut. It gives them the ability to zoom in for close-ups and systematically pan along any area of interest and print maps as needed.

"This CD set will make comprehensive geographic information for the entire State of Connecticut easily available to everyone. It is an especially valuable tool for educators, local commissions and land use planners," said DEP Deputy Commissioner David K. Leff. "In addition to being a compilation of important geographic information, the interactive features of this set will allow students, teachers and environmental professionals to easily create their own digital maps with many layers of natural resource information."

The GIS data on the CD set is in ESRI shapefile format, which can be viewed using the free ArcExplorer mapping software that is also included on the CD set. The CDs also come with easy-to-understand instructions, as well as tutorial links to further enhance the user's ability to get the most out of this exhaustive collection of data and software. Also included with the
CD set is the ability for the user to receive future GIS information updates at no extra charge.

 The GIS data in the set was contributed by the CT DEP, Office of Policy and Management, University of Connecticut, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Geological Survey.

 The CDs are available for purchase at the DEP Store, 79 Elm Street, Hartford 06106. The cost is $29.95 per set, plus $7.65 for shipping and tax - please make checks payable to DEP. The DEP Store is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The guide can also be purchased by phone at (860) 424-3555 or online through the DEP website at:
http://www.dep.state.ct.us/store/index.htm
 

posted 5-5-03

01/03/08

New Manual for Protecting Vernal Pools 

 Westchester Land Trust wants you to know about an important new manual for protecting vernal pools that is available from the Metropolitan Conservation Alliance/Wildlife Conservation Society. The manual is designed for local planners, preservationists and builders, and its title conveys its purpose -- "Best  Development Practices: Conserving Pool-Breeding Amphibians in Residential and Commercial Developments  in the Northeastern United States."

 Westchester Land Trust and the Westchester Open Space Alliance believe it can be an important tool in helping communities protect biodiversity, but only if the manual is read and used by decision-makers. We urge local advocates and others to get a copy and to bring it to the attention of your planning board and municipal planner or planning consultant.  For more information, or to order a copy, call the MCA at 925-9175.  Vernal pools are small woodland wetlands that tend to have water in winter and spring and then dry up in summer. They are among the richest and most important wetlands in terms of biodiversity. Many vernal pools are too small to be protected by local wetlands ordinances, and local ordinances that do protect them tend not to also protect the adjacent land that is just as crucial to the pools' productivity.

 The manual was written by Michael W. Klemens, Ph.D., of the MCA/WCS, and Aram J.K. Calhoun, Ph.D., of the Maine Audubon Society and the University of Maine.

 The manual is easy to read, contains useful full-color photos and illustrations and, most importantly, is a practical guide to be used locally.

New Beautiful River Guide to Lower Connecticut River.  
"Tidewaters of the Connecticut River, an Explorer's Guide to Hidden Coves and Marshes" is the work of more than a dozen experts...discussing the river's natural history and a guide to paddling.  The book provides canoe and kayak access points to each of 12 destinations described in detail.   For more information, call 1-866-598-0158.  Proceeds go to  the CT River Watershed Council to benefit conservation and protection programs on the river.

Rivers Alliance of Connecticut PO Box 1797 7 West Street, 3rd Floor Litchfield, CT 06759 860-361-9349 rivers@riversalliance.org www.riversalliance.org