Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change
Although far reaching and sometimes severe climate-related impacts in our watershed are increasing, many actions can be taken by individuals, municipalities, conservation groups, and businesses to mitigate the hydrologic and ecologic impacts of climate change. Such actions will make our environment more resilient, mitigate impacts, help to reduce overall climate change, and even improve the quality of our watershed for generations to come.
Primary strategies to mitigate hydrologic impacts include reducing stormwater flows and creating groundwater reserves to feed wetlands and small streams during drought periods. The primary strategies to address ecological issues include creating corridors for species migration and protecting important habitat areas.
Primary large-scale strategies to mitigate ecological impacts focus on ensuring resilient and connected areas as well as connections within and across the watershed to regional corridors that allow migration of wildlife and plants into and out of the watershed.
The Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers, together with the other rivers and streams throughout the watershed, create connections for migration among numerous small protected areas. These separated but interconnected areas function in many ways as larger protected areas having ecological corridors. Since many of the most vulnerable species, such as vernal pool species, are not able to migrate, the protection of targeted areas for the preservation of those species is also critical. There are evolving adaptation strategies, such as assisted migration of more southern species being planted or moved further north along and above their current range, that continue to be investigated and researched.
The specific strategies outlined here range in scale from those that are within the scope of individuals and small landowners to those that require coordinated efforts by conservation groups, municipalities, and regional and state authorities. Many strategies simultaneously address both hydrologic and ecologic issues.
