Federal funding freeze halts Connecticut River Conservancy projects in N.H., including water quality improvement and flooding mitigation efforts. Closure affects 15 projects over 5 years, hindering riparian buffer installation, culvert replacements and stream restorations. Delays threaten summer work season and stream erosion mitigation on tributaries like Jacob's Brook in Orford, N.H. Community impacts felt as construction contractors await contract approvals.
CT River Conservatory photo
Water quality improvement and flooding mitigation projects along the Connecticut River and its tributaries are on hold due to a federal funding freeze.
Water quality improvement and flooding mitigation projects along the Connecticut River and its tributaries are on hold due to a federal funding freeze, according to a March 24, 2025, article in the Valley News, published in West Lebanon, N.H.
In November 2024, the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) was awarded an $11.5 million, five-year grant for a project titled "Improving water quality and climate resiliency in New Hampshire through ecosystem restoration" from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The money came from the Inflation Reduction Act, but funding allocated through the act was halted Jan. 21, 2025, through the Trump administration's Executive Order 14154 "unleashing American energy."
"It's a huge amount of money that has potential to do so much for water quality and ecosystems in the entire Connecticut River Watershed," said Marilla Harris-Vincent, a river steward for New Hampshire at the conservancy.
The nonprofit organization works on river-related projects in the Granite State, as well as in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The headwaters of the river are in Pittsburgh, N.H., and from there travel more than 400 mi. before emptying into the Long Island Sound.
The CRC's goal was to complete 15 projects over the course of the grant, including work in Pittsburgh and Lancaster, N.H. Now, however, there are fears that the summer work season — which typically runs from June through September — will be lost.
"Our construction seasons are so short in New Hampshire," Lauren Zielinski, stream restoration specialist and Regional Conservation Partnership Program project manager of the CRC, told Valley News. "We really take this time to get all of our projects lined up and designed and permitted and contracted. There are many things that go into the project before we break ground."
The group has planned projects to put in riparian buffers, which involves planting trees, shrubs and other plants to filter water, which has an added benefit of slowing the flow of the river during extreme rain events.
Riparian buffers also assist in keeping sediments in place, which can contain nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. An excess of those nutrients can lead to algae blooms, which can cause water quality to decline.
Harris-Vincent noted that riparian buffers "also enhance habitat for sensitive species like brook trout, endangered dwarf wedge mussels and wood turtles."
The federal grant also could be used for dam removals and culvert replacements.
"The great thing about this funding source is it's five years," Zielinski said. "It allows us to react quickly to projects that come up."
The now-frozen funds also were slated to support the organization to conduct outreach, engage with landowners, hire consultants and contractors and implement restoration projects across the watershed, according to a CRC news release.
"It's a long process and there's a lot of different players involved," Harris-Vincent said. "You really can't move forward if you don't have any of the money to start this."
While the initial projects in New Hampshire were planned miles from the Upper Valley, they could affect the way water flows downstream.
"Whenever you have a healthy stream up in the headwaters it means it's better able to cope with the sudden heavy storms that we're getting from climate change," said Adair Mulligan, executive director of the nonprofit Hanover Conservancy, a New Hampshire organization that owns Lower Slade Brook Natural Area, part of which borders the Connecticut River.
The headwaters act as a "sponge" that helps absorb water and sediments, she said.
"All of these things add up. The more healthy stream miles we have, the healthier the river will be at the end of the day and the healthier the Long Island Sound will be."
Stream Restoration Projects Heavily Dependent On Federal Funds
Approximately 75 percent of the projects that the CRC does in New Hampshire are connected to federal funding, which also act as leverage when soliciting other sources of revenue, Zielinski said in speaking with the Valley News.
"Usually, funders don't want to be the only funder," she added.
In a follow-up e-mail to the West Lebanon news source, Zielinski said that the Connecticut River Conservancy also is waiting on the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) — another USDA program — to approve its contract for construction funds for a separate Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant issued in 2021.
In all, there are three projects connected to that funding source slated to begin this summer, including one using natural materials to address erosion on Jacob's Brook, a tributary of the Connecticut River in Orford, N.H., according to Zielinski.
That project, which will cost between $250,000 and $270,000, was scheduled to begin in August or September 2025 to reinforce part of the stream bank with native plants to slow soil erosion due to a risk that flood waters could break through the current bank.
The stream runs along New Hampshire Highway 25A and the Orford town offices are located on the state route near Jacob's Brook. Only eight years ago, the waterway flooded and damaged the roadway.
"There was a lot of work that had to be done to repair that," said Bob Hedges, chair of the Orford Conservation Commission.
He described the erosion work scheduled for Jacob's Brook as being a big benefit to the community because it will help people who live all along the streambank.
"It's an expensive undertaking," he told Valley News. "It's hard to imagine an individual person doing that. This kind of funding isn't about academic research; it's about, in our community, maintaining the property and making sure the stream banks are safe and … we're ready for the next big rainstorm which we know will happen."
While the three conservancy projects tied to the 2021 grant are now shovel ready, the pause in funding them is due to a national review of government contracts.
"We have a little bit of wiggle room, but we work with local contractors and they need to schedule their summer projects," explained Zielinski. "Ideally, we'd know by May if those projects are a go or not."
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