The public is invited to the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust’s (DNRT’s) 46th Annual Meeting of Members at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17 at Friends Academy, located at 1088 Tucker Road. Refreshments will be served at a reception starting at 6:30 p.m.

The annual meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Farnsworth, senior research ecologist at the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, about the importance of protecting plants and their pollinators toward creating habitats that foster biodiversity. Farnsworth was responsible for the completion of more than one-hundred Conservation and Research Plans for rare plants, and the building and promoting of the web tool “Go Botany.”

DNRT will also be presenting two awards at the meeting. The “Joe Frothingham Memorial Award” is given periodically to a DNRT member who most exemplifies Joe's dedication to conservation, love of the outdoors, and pure joy in it all. The newly established “Bill Pinney Conservation Leadership Award” is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to conservation of Dartmouth's natural resources.

The awards and Farnsworth’s presentation will be preceded by a brief summary of DNRT’s 2016 accomplishments, information about its new and ongoing land conservation projects, and election of new officers and directors.