US Senate Designates Pawcatuck River Wild And Scenic

On Tuesday, February 12, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve legislation to designate rivers in the Wood Pawcatuck Watershed as Wild and Scenic. The designation will make the rivers eligible for up to $100,000 a year in federal funds for conservation purposes.

The bill had tremendous bipartisan support and was approved 92 to 8. The bill now goes to the U.S. House for its vote.

The bill also will permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund that is used to support national parks and public lands and will provide support to our local National Wildlife Refuges. Congressional authorization for the fund, which gets its revenue from offshore oil and gas royalties, expired four months ago. This has meant a loss of more than $300 million in royalty payments.

Thanks to Jack Reed who authored the language to designate the river segments within the Wood-Pawcatuck watershed as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and Sheldon Whitehouse for co-authoring the bill. And thanks especially to the Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association for their years of hard work, study, and writing to manage this process.

Now it’s up to the U.S. House of Representatives!