From cold mountain brooks in the White Mountains to larger rivers like the Connecticut and Merrimack, which have long and diverse histories of human use, New Hampshire is home to a wide array of river resources. Like other New England states, rivers in the Granite State provide life-giving water, transportation, and energy and helped build the state; New Hampshire had its fair share of water-powered mills back in the day, after all. Unlike most states, though, the state of New Hampshire has an active statewide river management and protection program which strives to manage and protect significant river values and resources across the state.
On the other hand, New Hampshire has 10,874 miles of rivers and streams of which 38 miles are designated as wild and scenic—less than 1% of the state’s total river miles.
