Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Located within parts of four New England states — New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge is the only refuge of its kind to encompass an entire watershed. The design was proposed by Congressman Silvio O. Conte, who had a dream of a Connecticut River cleaned, fishable, swimmable, and with salmon restored to abundant numbers, and who hoped his children and grandchildren would continue to enjoy the outdoors as he had. In 1991 he asked Congress to establish a National Wildlife Refuge to protect the watershed of the river and its wildlife resources, and in 1997 the refuge named in his honor was established to fulfill that dream. The refuge was designed to include the entire Connecticut River watershed because legislators realized that, in order to protect migratory fish and other aquatic species, there was a need to protect the whole river system and its watershed; the health of any aquatic ecosystem is linked to the health of the whole watershed upstream. It is one of only three refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System that has Fish in its title.