NNWB celebrates 7 years
and welcomes a new Board and officers

NNWB's 7th year closed with a celebration and great promise for watershed protection to come. Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection Director Bob Hoyt, the keynote speaker, enlisted citizen assistance in retaining stormwater on site. Audubon Naturalist Society Conservation Director Diane Cameron, in receiving an honor award, urged members to actively support passage of good water protection laws.

On behalf of NNWB, President Anne Ambler presented honor awards to Bob Hoyt, Diane Cameron, and two NNWB members, Ed Murtagh and Elaine Lamirande. The awards, represented by velours versions of a river otter, a beaver, and two buckets of frogs, were donation adoptions through the World Wildlife Fund. In a surprise move, the NNWB Board presented, by way of thank-you, a life size recycled metal Great Blue Heron, the organization's logo bird, to the outgoing President and Secretary.

(L-R: John Fay, Ed Murtagh, Elaine Lamirande, Bob Hoyt, Diane Cameron, Anne Ambler)

The evening concluded with the cutting of the anniversary cake.

At its first meeting of 2011, on January 4, the new Board of Directors elected Jim Fary as President, Suzanne Donohue as Secretary, and Larry Hush as Treasurer. Tiffany Wright will assist the new National Capital Region Watershed Stewards Academy on its steering committee as the NNWB rep. And finally, former President Anne Ambler is organizing an Outreach Committee to carry our message of water stewardship to more residents of the Northwest Branch watershed. If you are interested in helping to plan or implement our strategy, please contact Anne at anambler@gmail.com. We can use any amount of time you can give!

The outgoing and incoming boards of directors thank you for your past and current support of our efforts. We look forward to building ever more relationships with you and other watershed residents to advance the ecological well-being of the Northwest Branch!