Legislators, Kerry Mackin honored at Annual Meeting

What a night! It was great to see 70+ friends and colleagues from all over the state at our December 4 annual meeting, in Belmont. We elected seven board members including new members Judy Eiseman, Wayne Castonguay, and Kelsey Smithwood, and returning members Heidi Ricci, Andy Magee, Pam Resor, and Paul Beaulieu. We honored our River Heroes: Representatives Carolyn Dykema and Senator Jamie Eldridge (in absentia – farewell speeches to departing Senate President Therese Murray ran long…we missed him!), and River Friend: Representative Dave Rogers. These legislators made significant contributions to protect and restore our rivers this year in the State House. We also presented longtime Ipswich River Executive Director and Mass Rivers Alliance founder Kerry Mackin with a River Advocate award, to honor her many contributions to river protection in Massachusetts, and particularly for her work to restore stream flow to dry rivers. After dinner, The Nature Conservancy’s Alison Bowden took us through a presentation that examined the impacts of gas pipelines on rivers, and Climate Advocate Shanna Cleveland made a compelling argument that more fracked gas is not actually needed in Massachusetts. You can find Alison’s presentation here: Alison Bowden’s presentation on pipeline impacts on rivers and Shanna’s presentation here: Shanna Cleveland’s pipeline presentation. To see more photos of our annual meeting, check out our

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