The Merrimack Watershed

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The Merrimack Watershed is one of New England’s most important natural resources. Its rivers, streams and banks are the pathways for a multitude of ecological processes that connect the watershed’s lands, the estuary, and the coastal and marine environments of the northwest Atlantic Ocean. It sustains thousands of species of plants and animals, including local and migratory fish, birds and mammals, as well as the fishing grounds of the Gulf of Maine. It sustained the first human settlements thousands of years ago, and European colonization of New England – and thus the nation. It built our richest farmlands and serves as the source of pure water for many of us.

The Merrimack Watershed stands at the core of New England’s life and heritage. It is our best symbol of the richness and quality of our lives.
It must be restored and protected for the generations that will follow us.

The geographic extent of the rivers and topography of the Merrimack Watershed, from the Pemigewasset Wilderness of the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Merrimack's estuary with the Atlantic Ocean at Plum Island.
The geographic extent of the Merrimack Watershed, from the Pemigewasset Wilderness of the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Atlantic Ocean at Plum Island.

Regional and Ecological Context: Protecting Our
Little Corner of Planet Earth

Perched on the border of the Gulf of Maine in the northwest Atlantic ocean, the more than 3,000 known species of plants, animals, and other life of
Life of the Merrimack Watershed is embedded in a large and ever-transforming pool of biodiversity drawn from both near and far; exchanged at Local – regional – hemispheric scales. Some of this exchange is dispersal and infiltration, some is seasonal migrations to and from nearby and distant places, some are shifts in populations centers due to changes in climate.  Our responsibility is to make sure that in our ever-increasing human populations and impacts, life on the planet can always find adequate safe space to thrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All About the Watershed

The Merrimack Ecosystem: Wildlife, Habitat and Ecology

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Humans and the Watershed

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The Lands and Waters

The physical environment that supports and shapes the watershed’s ecology: geology, topography, climate, 

Restore and Protect the Merrimack Watershed

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