CONNECTICUT RIVER WATERSHED TO BE NATION'S 1ST BLUEWAY

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will preside over a ceremony at 11:15 a.m. Thursday to designate the Connecticut River and its watershed as the nation's first National Blueway.

The event will take place at Riverside Park, 20 Leibert Road, Hartford, on the upstairs deck the Riverfront Boathouse. Salazar is scheduled to sign a secretarial order establishing the National Blueways Initiative. The Connecticut River and its watershed, along with the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, have been chosen to serve as a model of collaborative watershed partnerships that enhance river recreation, restoration, conservation and educational goals.

The Blueways project is part of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative to establish a conservation and recreation agenda to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.