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
Assabet River followed by deliberate introduction into ponds near the Concord and Sudbury Rivers. This is now an invasive, habitat-destroying plant across many of the eastern states. On the Assabet River, OARS (Organization for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers) organizes an annual plant pulling event in early July. Volunteers in canoes hand-pull the surface-floating rosettes of leaves and nuts before the nuts mature and fall to the bottom. Alewife, "Alosa pseudoharengus" is an anadromous species of herring found in North America, anadromous meaning that it mates and is born in fresh water, but live most of its life in saltwater. In