Fort River Canoe Trip

Fort River, Amherst, MA

The Fort River, flowing through the Towns of Hadley and Amherst, is the longest un-dammed tributary of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. With heavily forested uplands, and a relatively high degree of land protection in the watershed, water quality is sufficiently good that the Fort provides core habitat for native fish (including species of special concern such as bridle shiner), invertebrates such as the federally listed endangered dwarf wedgemussel, and at least four other state-listed mussels species. However, last year we observed very low flows and high phosphorus levels. The event will focus on the Fort River Monitoring, Research and Education Site that is planned as a collaborative effort between Rushing Rivers, scientists from UMass, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, Amherst, and Smith Colleges and other local organizations.