Since its creation in 2015, the Northeast Forests and Rivers Fund has awarded 96 grants that will restore early successional and mature forest habitat, modify and replace barriers to fish movement, restore riparian and instream habitat, and engage thousands of volunteers in forest habitat restoration and stream connectivity projects in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, plus the Lake Champlain, Saint Lawrence and Upper Hudson watersheds in New York. These projects are expected to:

• Open 1,271 miles of streams for eastern brook trout and river herring through modification or replacement of 168 barriers to fish passage;
• Improve management of 5,663 acres of young forest habitat for golden-winged warbler, New England cottontail and American woodcock;
• Improve management of 9,662 acres of mature and late successional forest habitat for black-throated blue warbler and wood thrush;
• Plant 98 miles of forested stream buffers to improve water quality for brook trout;
• Plant 16,000 native trees; and
• Recruit at least 2,675 volunteers to engage in on-the-ground conservation.

The program has awarded more than $12.8 million in grant funding to date. Grantees, in turn, are leveraging an additional $22.7 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of more than $35.5 million.