The Salmon River is formed at the confluence of the Blackledge and Jeremy rivers about one mile west of North Westchester, Connecticut. It drains 96,000 acres and courses for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 1, 2011 to Salmon Cove near Moodus where it flows into the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

. The Salmon River is probably the largest stream and watershed whose sources and mouth are entirely within the limits of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. There is a popular paddling route along the Salmon River varying in difficulty from quickwater to Class II whitewater. It begins along River Road about 1/10 of a mile south of the river's formation and continues for about 7 miles to the flatwater of Salmon Cove. The Salmon River's substantial drop in elevation over its course provided considerable water power to the textile mills in Moodus during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Conservation

Beginning in the early 20th century, significant efforts have been invested on the federal, state and local levels towards conserving both the Salmon River corridor itself and the broader territory encompassed by its watershed. The Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 425 acres of freshwater tidal marshes, riparian meadows, cold-water tributary streams, floodplain forests, mixed hardwood forest, hemlock stands and vernal pools along the lower stretches of the river near its confluence with the Connecticut. Connecticut's State Board of Fisheries and Game established the

Salmon River State Forest Salmon River State Forest is a Connecticut state forest located in the towns of Hebron, Marlborough, Colchester, East Haddam, and East Hampton. It includes leased from the United States government. The forest features Comstock's Bridge, the o ...

in 1934. Subsequent acquisitions by the state have enlarged the forest to its present size of roughly 6,000 acres throughout

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

East Haddam East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census. History Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the Ni ...

and East Hampton. The 300-acre Machimoodus State Park in East Haddam, 180-acre Day Pond State Park in Colchester and the 465-acre Wopowaug Wildlife Management Area in East Hampton and Haddam further contribute to the state's role in conserving the natural habitats and rural character of the Salmon River watershed.

Land trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

s hold numerous, smaller nature preserves and

conservation easement In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...

s throughout the Salmon River basin such as Pine Brook Preserve in Haddam, Keech Preserve and Salmon Cove Preserve in East Haddam and the Gateway Property and Palakewitz Easement in Colchester.

References

External links

Connecticut Explorer's Guide
Online paddling map of the Salmon River {{authority control Rivers of New London County, Connecticut Rivers of Middlesex County, Connecticut Tributaries of the Connecticut River Rivers of Connecticut

Conservation

See also

References

External links