Protecting What We Love: A Celebration of Action for Maine's Environment
Photo by Cait Bourgault
This annual event features an evening of inspiring talks, engaging workshops, and hands-on activities all focused on protecting our beautiful Maine environment. This event is your chance to connect with like-minded individuals, learn about local conservation efforts, and take action to safeguard what we cherish.
In addition to celebrating our collective action, we present our Conservation Leadership Awards to celebrate individuals who have done extraordinary work in their communities. NRCM and our members and guests come together to celebrate and preserve the natural beauty of Maine!
This year’s Conservation Leadership Award recipients are:
- Habib Dagher & Anthony Viselli, of Orono, for providing their expertise and advocacy in support of increased offshore wind power in Maine
- John Hagan, of Brunswick, for his work to identify and protect Maine's last remaining older growth forests
- Pat Ianni, of Falmouth, for her work in support of EPR for Packaging legislation and to address the problem of single-use plastics
- Maya Kellett, of Farmington, for her work to address climate change in Maine and to rally other youth activists to speak up for action
- Nick Bennett, of Hallowell, retired NRCM Staff Scientist and Healthy Waters Director, who will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award
- We'll also present our 2025 People’s Choice Award to Marcel Polak of Woodstock
Join us for Protecting What We Love Event: Thursday, September 11th at Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport.
NEW THIS YEAR: NRCM is committed to making our events more welcoming to families. This year, we're excited to offer a childcare option for the duration of the ceremony (approx. 6:30-7:30 PM). We're partnering with Wolfe's Neck Center's educational team to offer a sunset goat hike for kids during the ceremony. Led by Wolfe's Neck staff, with assistance and support by NRCM staff, kids will spend some time with the resident goats while learning about what goats eat, why they move in groups, how they digest food, and more! This programming is free, but space is limited.
Register today to reserve your child's spot on the goat hike!
