Meet the Beetles: Bug Nights 2015 are on!

It’s been 50 years since the Beetles invasion… Experinece all the excitement again at the Nineteenth Annual Bug Nights. Training and opening night is January 14, 2015. See this year’s flyer with the full schedule and driving directions at  http://www.merrimackriver.org/

A New Sense of the River

Most people think of a river as a place to go fishing with their pals. Some have a much broader sense of rivers. A few, who are members of the Planning Boards in communities, take on serious responsibilities for their land and water resources. The principal duty of the boards is to protect the natural heritage of their […]

The weekend is here but not the bacteria 8.7.14

Dear River friends, The weather should be sunnier and drier this weekend and while the water may be a bit high from the near daily rains, the good news is that the E. coli counts will be low. Thanks to our wonderful water quality monitoring volunteers and our partners at the Franklin Waste Water Treatment […]

Setting Rivers Free: river and watershed restoration goes mainstream

Click here to read the “setting Rivers Free” cover article from the August 4, 2014 edition of the Christian Science Monitor. The article tells the story of how hundreds of the United States’s rivers and watersheds are being restored. There are many local examples including Black Brook and McQuesten Brook in Manchester and the (former) […]

Incredible mayfly hatch in Wisconsin

Bug Night and Rock Basket volunteers may enjoy this short article and video link from the Huffington Post. A mayfly hatch in Wisconsin was detectable by radar and reduced visibility in the area. Thank you to Barb Cook for sharing it with us all.

Do you have plans to be on the river this weekend? 7.24.14

Dear river friends, It’s a mixed bag this week for E. coli results. We have 549.3 colonies of E. coli per 100 millitres (exceeding the Merrimack’s Class B standard of 406) on Site 5, just behind the Merrimack State Forest, in Boscawen to a low of 31.3 on Site 1 on the Pemigewasset River just […]

Our Megalopteran isn’t quite this large but…

This one has the title of the world’s largest (but not heaviest) insect. The upper Merrimack is blessed with Megalopterans and they are very impressive but not quite this large! See the full story by clicking here.  

E. coli monitoring results this week 7.11.14

Dear river friends, The results for this week’s monitoring: ecoli 7.10.14 are far better than our last report for samples taken on June 26. All eleven of our sites’ E. coli counts fall well below the state’s Class B standard of 406 colonies per 100 millilitres. All but two sites fall within the Class A or designated […]