There are 409 dams in the Farmington River Watershed, according to the Farmington River Watershed Association.

Make that 408 once you’ve subtracted the former Spoonville Dam in Tariffville and East Granby which was removed in July 2012. Click this Environmental Headline for more of this story from Simsbury Patch.

Dozens of speakers at a hearing Tuesday night denounced a plan to take water from the Farmington River Watershed to supply the University of Connecticut, saying it would harm an already stressed Farmington River, an important resource.

Click on this environmental headline for more on this story from The Hartford Courant.

John Hampton, Simsbury Deputy First Selectman and newly-elected 16th district state representative, said he may seek legislation to make it harder to divert water from the Farmington River.

Citizens will have more time to comment on a controversial plan by the University of Connecticut and The Metropolitan District to tap the upper Farmington River to serve the university’s growing water needs.

The University of Connecticut and the town of Mansfield need water. The issue they are facing is where that water will come from. One option under consideration could divert as much as 1.93 million gallons of water away from the Farmington River Watershed and local officials are concerned about the long-term implications for the Farmington
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CANTON —The National Park Service has released the Study Report and Environmental Assessment for the proposal to designate the lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook in Connecticut as National Wild and Scenic Rivers. The report is available on the National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment website at For more on this story, visit:
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The National Park Service has released the Study Report and Environmental Assessment for the proposal to designate the lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook in Connecticut as National Wild and Scenic Rivers. The report is available on the National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=261&projectID=35651&documentID=48466. The public is encouraged to
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COLLINSVILLE — The Canton Board of Selectmen have drafted an ordinance to prohibit motorboats on the town’s section of the Farmington River, and discussed the issue July 11. A public hearing could be held on the issue in just a few weeks. via Canton selectmen consider ban on motorboats on the Farmington – Canton –
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The removal of the historic dam at the border of Tariffville and East Granby will improve the natural habitat of the lower Farmington River.

Removal of the 128-foot long, 25-foot high concrete dam in East Granby and Bloomfield, Connecticut, will help make the river and its tributaries accessible to migratory fish that have historically spawned there. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

At a press conference held in the Tariffville section of Simsbury, Connecticut’s U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators announced that they have introduced a new bill in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives to designate the Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook as protected under the U.S. National Park Service Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. NewHartfordPlus reports.

Through his time on the Farmington, Tom Cameron has become an informal ambassador for its wild and scenic character and will be donating a portion of his photography sales during May for direct support of river preservation activities. The exhibition “The Farmington River Collection” is currently on display at Matthew’s Restaurant in Unionville. For more
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Currently several of the trail routes are overlaid on Google Earth maps on the site. However, it’s just a first step. Eventually the plan is to overlay the routes on topographical maps. One of the organization’s main goals is to post laminated maps and provide paper versions at the kiosks it has been installing at
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The town will host a meeting on a preliminary master plan for the Farmington River in Collinsville on Thursday night. The plan includes recommendations for the town to pursue in the future, including fishing areas, artificial habitat, traffic calming measures, public boating and swimming access and additional trail opportunities. Canton Patch reports.

A consulting firm hired to help the town develop ideas for the Farmington River in Collinsville presented its preliminary masterplan to a local committee this week. Funded by a $100,000 Department of Energy and Environmental Department Farmington River Enhancement Grant, Milone and MacBroom Inc. of Cheshire has worked with an Upper Collinsville Mill Pond Master
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As part of his monthly “Commissioner in Your Corner” sessions, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Daniel C. Esty will be touring parts of the upper Farmington River Thursday, showcasing the benefits of the natural resource. Esty, joined by several groups and organizations that focus on the Farmington River, will make four stops on
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The Connecticut DEP has announced that the highly invasive freshwater alga, Didymosphenia geminata, known as “didymo,” has been discovered in the West Branch Farmington River, a very popular trout stream in northwestern Connecticut.

A 38-acre mountaintop wilderness and a 73-acre forest will be preserved thanks, in part, to two grants from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. A third grant will improve water quality monitoring in towns along the lower Farmington River.