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:
  • the elimination of toxic waste discharges and waste discharges lacking tertiary treatment;
  • the adoption of measures to assure the proper performance of septic systems, including control of minimum lot sizes in relation to their soil characteristics;
  • the adoption of measures for aquifer protection, ridgeline protection, erosion, and sediment control, and the regulation of gravel and topsoil mining;
  • the adoption of best management practices by farms within the watershed; and
  • the adoption of measures to minimize non-point source pollution.
• Promote the preservation of significant ecological areas, including the protection of fish and wildlife habitats and the continued stocking of indigenous game birds and fish;

• Promote the adoption of measures to control the density of recreational activity in the River corridor; and

• Consult and cooperate with federal and state agencies, towns, and local groups in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York for the achievement of these objectives.

Duties of the Commission

• Recommend each member town adopt standards for the 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 State and Federal agencies including the Northwest Conservation District, the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and comment on  their plans affecting the River.

• Encourage gifts of land and conservation easements to 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.

Photo Credit: Lazlo Gyorsok