The East River Watershed and Tidal Marsh

The East River Watershed and Tidal Marsh. Tidal Marsh Conservation. , The Tidal Marsh and the Watershed , You are now standing 1.5 miles from the mouth of the East River. All water within the East River watershed, which covers half of Guilford and one third of Madison, flows downhill through a network of streams into the East River and past this point into Long Island Sound. Any pollution from the watershed must also flow past this point and through these marshes, which act as a natural biological filter. , Tidal Marsh Conservation , Between 1880 and 1970 about 30 percent of Connecticut's tidal marshlands were lost to development with an accompanying decline in species and water quality in rivers and Long Island Sound. The East River is one of the few rivers that has retained almost all of its original tidal marshes, thanks to the fact that these marshes were donated to conservation groups in the 1960s. This movement was started by Anne Conover when she donated the marshes right in front of you to Audubon in 1964. Mrs. Conover was also instrumental in bringing about the passage of Connecticut's Tidal Wetlands Act of 1969, which brought an end to the dredging and filling of Connecticut's tidal marshes.