Programs and Projects

The UMWA conducts a variety of programs and projects throughout the upper Merrimack watershed. All activities involve communities, local businesses, schools, and other organizations to keep the watershed clean and healthy.

Turkey River Watershed Restoration and Management Pln

The Upper Merrimack Watershed Association is leading an effort to implement a restoration and management plan for the Turkey River. In 2020, the Upper Merrimack Watershed Association (UMWA) received funding from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) to develop a watershed restoration and management plan (WRMP) for the Turkey River watershed. Click here to learn more.

Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program

Since 1995, hundreds of volunteers from throughout the region have worked with the “UMMP” to monitor water quality through field chemistry, E. coli testing, habitat assessments, and biomonitoring with benthic macroinvertebrates. The results for the UMMP’s first three years are published in State of the Upper Merrimack 1995-1997, a river quality report, Click here to use the interactive map and river quality data tool. Bug Nights are an integral—and very popular part of the Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program. You can subscribe to the Bug Nights listserve by sending an email to bugnight-join@merrimackriver.org.

Watershed Monitoring and Outreach

UMRLAC builds on the success of the Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program by completing State of the Upper Merrimack 1995-1997, a river quality report, The Merrimack Monitor [newsletter], brochure, multi-media presentation, and the Program’s Macroinvertebrates of the Upper Merrimack, an annotated picture key through a generous grant from the NH Department of Environmental Services Nonpoint Source Grant Program.

Data Presentation, Outreach, and Education for Action

This project, funded in part through the NH Department of Environmental Services Nonpoint Source Grant Program, expands UMRLAC’s extensive outreach efforts by training more representatives. These volunteers reach out to additional groups to provide stream ecology demonstrations and presentations about the watershed. The presentations help participants understand the history of the Merrimack, past and current threats to water quality, how their behaviors and practices affect water quality, and how they can become involved.

Riverbank Restoration Project

Supported in part by the NH Department of Environmental Services Merrimack Watershed Restoration Fund and in collaboration with NH Department of Resources and Economic Development Division of Forests and Lands and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the project is restoring a badly-eroded section of riverbank by implementing a variety of natural Best Management Practices.