Connecticut Water Trails Association
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Connecticut Water Trails Association |
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Connecticut Water Trails Program
Estuaries
Estuaries In Connecticut
Connecticut Estuaries
An estuary is a coastal area where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with saltwater from the ocean. Estuaries are protected from the full force of the ocean by mudflats, sandspits and barrier islands. You'll find estuaries all over the world and there are lots of different names for them. Estuaries are sometimes called bays, lagoons, harbors or sounds. All of these places are estuaries if fresh water mixes with salt water
Connecticut River Estuary
The Connecticut River Estuary is found in the following towns:
Chester, Clinton , Deep River , Essex , Killingworth , Lyme , Old
Lyme , Old Saybrook , and Westbrook
Fairfield County
Bridgeport
The Housatonic River estuary
produces one-third of all the seed oysters which are a vital part of
Connecticut's commercial shellfish industry. In this lower 12 mile
section of the river are tidal wetlands and salt marshes which provide
important habitat for plants, birds, shellfish, finfish and other
aquatic life.
Middlesex County
New Haven County
Branford and New Haven Farm River Estuary The Farm River Estuary is a wild, pristine and
enormously complex productive, and fragile estuarine ecosystem with
wooded uplands, high quality fresh water, and brackish tidal marshes.
These picturesque floodplains, coves, and inlets provide a critical
natural habitat for an immense variety of microbes, plants, insects,
amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, shellfish and mammals that rely on it
for food, water, and shelter, especially during migration and breeding. The Farm River Estuary also forms the southern end
of an important migratory flyway that extends north through the center
of Connecticut and Massachusetts into northern New England and Canada.
The Farm River has been used for navigation by a fertilizer factory,
stone quarry, paper mill, saloon, salt hay harvesters, fisherman and
boating enthusiasts.
During colonial times there was a swine farm in the
northern sections and a prominent hill, Beacon Hill, was used as a
lighthouse and quarry. Barges hauled traprock downstream to Long Island
Sound. During the late 19th century, summer cottages and small boats
moored on stakes lined both sides of the lower river.
The population along the shoreline will continue to
grow exponentially and the cumulative effects of the last century will
pale in comparison to the pressures that will come to bear on the Farm
River Estuary in the coming years. Maintaining the estuary in its
current undeveloped condition and promoting environmentally sound use of
the Farm River watershed is critical as estuaries around the world are
rapidly dying.
More Information: Friends of the Farm River Estuary
New London County
An estuary of the
Pawcatuck River on the Rhode Island-Connecticut, USA,
state line, the Little Narragansett Bay is inlet of the Atlantic
Ocean. It is sheltered by a curving peninsula, site of the resort
village of Watch Hill, Rhode Island
The Thames River is a short river and tidal estuary in the U.S.
state of Connecticut. It flows south for 15 mi. (25 km.) through
eastern Connecticut from the junction of the Yantic and Shetucket
Rivers at Norwich, to New London and Groton, which flank its mouth
at the Long Island Sound.
Waterford
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