The eighth annual TRBP “Floating Workshop” will be Friday, June 13, 2008.  Registration will begin at 12:30 PM and the program will end around 5:30 PM.  The focus of this workshop will be “The Natchaug Watershed Basin – Water for People and Nature”. 

Download your TRBP Floating Workshop Registration form here. 

The workshop will start out at the Mansfield Community Center, where our keynote speaker, Mark Smith, Director of the Eastern U.S. Freshwater Program for The Nature Conservancy, will speak about The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Waters Program.  After this indoor presentation, we will relocate to the US Army Corp of Engineers managed Mansfield Hollow Lake (also known as Naubesetuck Lake) for a continuation of the program on the water.  We will learn about the history of the lake, how it is used and managed for people and nature; strategies that can be employed to protect all our favorite water resources and the synergy that the Thames River Basin Partnership can provide at the watershed level.  Learn about the value of conservation buffers around water resources; the function of large forested areas not only as potential timber land and wildlife habitat, but also for the aquifer and watershed services they offer; how to use Connecticut Greenway Status as part of a resource protection strategy; how to protect our waters from non-native species; and fishery and special land habitat initiatives in region.  Even a tour of the inside of the Mansfield Hollow Dam is being offered. 

Many Partner organizations have been actively working to protect and enhance this watershed.  The Thames River Basin Partnership is pleased to feature these successful, multi-agency, multi-town partnerships.

Our on-water presenters will include:

Ed Greenough, US Army Corp of Engineers

Chris McDowell, CT DEP Inland Fisheries

Sue Westa, The Green Valley Institute

Lisa Krall, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Charlotte Pyle, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Holly Drinkuth, The Nature Conservancy and the Green Valley Institute

possibly others

The Thames River Basin Partnership would like to thank our workshop sponsors:

US Army Corp of Engineers for the use of their property and staff support;

Mansfield Community Center, for the use of the Community Room;

CT DEP, for use of the canoes from the Goodwin Forest Conservation Education Center;

Project Oceanology, for the use of their Carolina Skiff;

Naubesatuck Watershed Council, for providing refreshments for this event