Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was established in 1997 to conserve, protect and enhance the abundance and diversity of native plant, fish and wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout the Connecticut River watershed. The watershed covers large areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. It contains a great diversity of habitats, notably: northern forest valuable as nesting habitat for migrant thrushes, warblers and other birds; rivers and streams used by shad, salmon, herring and other migratory fishes; and an internationally significant complex of high-quality
Coonamesset River cranberry bogs that run to the rivers edge. Long ago nearly the entire river may have been bordered by red maple or white cedar swamp when the Wampanoag fished for herring. After European settlers arrived in 1660, the river was initially known as the Five Mile River. Philip Dexter located Falmouth's first grist mill at its mouth around 1700, and by 1795 there were three mills along the river with a corresponding decline in fisheries. A "herring war" began in 1798 with a bylaw giving an elected committee the right to remove any obstructions to allow fish free passage from