The North and South Rivers Watershed Association held their Annual Meeting on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with a full house at the beautiful JPH Organization at Ferry Hill. A brief meeting was held where the current board was recognized. Craig Hannafin and Jocelyn Keegan have stepped down from the Board and we thank them for their service. President Rick Mayfield conducted a vote, and the new Board members were voted in. The three new Board members are; Stephanie Harrington, Maggie Leitch, and Marty Pitkow. We welcome them to the board and thank them for all their past and future efforts!
Executive Director, Samantha Woods, spoke about our Beneath the Surface art show and gave an update on the progress on the River Center. Staff members gave brief presentations on some of their highlights from 2026, which will be highlighted in a future e-news.
The organization honored the following volunteers for outstanding achievements:
Citizen Science Volunteer of the Year – Brian Walsh
For many years Brian has gone above and beyond for our Citizen Science projects. For our Horseshoe Crab surveys in Duxbury Brian has been a key leader. He has shown up to help with training sessions. He has taken on the Team Leader role for many daytime and nighttime surveys. In 2026 he encouraged the local newspaper, Duxbury Clipper, to feature the project and he even volunteered to let the reporters “ride-along” on a nighttime survey with him. This produced several great articles and photo spreads. All of this effort helps raise awareness for this important species. For our herring counts, Brian has shown up to count across our sites, including the South River, Herring Brook, and Island Creek. He always provides insightful observations at these sites, whether it be the status of the herring or looking out for the safety of other volunteers.
In addition to our regular Citizen Science projects, Brian has recently been instrumental in helping the town of Duxbury pursue funds to assess climate resiliency and water quality. Brian volunteers on the town’s Coastal Resiliency Task Force (CRTF) which prioritizes and recommends coastal resiliency goals and actions to the Selectboard. Through the CRTF Brian has conducted water quality sampling in the Bluefish River to evaluate long-term nutrient loading in the bay. Also, with the CRTF, Brian helped establish an alert system, tied to tide gauge at the Town Pier, that can warn residents of impending high water on town roads.
Through all these actions Brian exemplifies the spirit of Citizen Science where community members make meaningful contributions to environmental science, stewardship, and advocacy.
Volunteer of the Year – Steve French
At this year’s Annual Meeting, NSRWA presented the 2026 Volunteer of the Year Award to Steve French of Hanson. About a year and a half ago, when Steve saw that NSRWA was looking for a volunteer to coordinate its monthly Walking Club, he reached out to offer his time and expertise. Steve’s reputation preceded him. He had supported NSRWA in the past, as part of the kayak safety team for the Great River Race. He received high praise from Doug Lowry for his work at Mass Audubon, plus NSRWA’s Environmental Educator Brian Taylor was already a fan. We invited Steve into the office to chat, and it turned out he was the perfect fit. He got right to work, connecting with guest hosts, scouting locations, making our staff very happy by submitting his walk descriptions well in advance.
Fifty people signed up for Steve’s first walk! He ended up having to line up a couple extra leaders to accommodate such a huge crowd. Steve has now led 14 sessions of Walking Club. The participants love him. He even has groupies — those who sign up every month, as soon as we post the event on our website.
In addition to all that, Steve continues to help with the Great River Race, and last winter he basically saved the day by stepping up at the very last minute to speak at the Water Watch Lecture Series when the scheduled speaker had a family emergency. What a hero! We hope he will continue to lead our Walking Club for a long time.
Emerging Environmentalist Award – Lexi Schiller
We were thrilled to present Lexie Schiller with our inaugural Emerging Environmentalist Award for her outstanding leadership in passing a single-use plastic bag ban in the Town of Hanover.
Lexie’s journey began during her junior year at Hanover High School when a persuasive writing assignment for English class sparked a passion to tackle local plastic pollution. Noticing that surrounding South Shore communities had already banned single-use plastic bags while Hanover remained a gap in the region, Lexie took action.
The NSRWA was proud to support Lexie throughout her campaign by sharing background resources from neighboring watershed towns, mobilizing local members to get out the vote, and providing reusable shopping bags for her to distribute throughout Hanover.
Lexie is a testament to the power of student activism—proving that when you identify a problem, do the research, and organize your community, real change happens. Now a high school senior applying to colleges, Lexie has a bright future ahead, and we cannot wait to see where her environmental stewardship takes her next!
Following the framework of over 163 Massachusetts municipalities with existing bag bans, Lexie:
- Researched regional precedents and local environmental impacts.
- Gathered signatures from peers and residents to place a bylaw on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Engaged local leaders, presenting her proposal to key town committees to secure their backing.
- Advocated at Town Meeting, delivering a compelling presentation that earned unanimous approval from voters at the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting!
The NSRWA was proud to support Lexie throughout her campaign by sharing background resources from neighboring watershed towns, mobilizing local members to get out the vote, and providing reusable shopping bags for her to distribute throughout Hanover.
Lexie is a testament to the power of student activism—proving that when you identify a problem, do the research, and organize your community, real change happens. Now a high school senior applying to colleges, Lexie has a bright future ahead, and we cannot wait to see where her environmental stewardship takes her next!
Barbara Pearson River Champion Award – The Town of Duxbury for the Temple St. Dam Removal
This year’s Barbara Pearson River Champion Award was presented to the Town of Duxbury for its leadership in removing the Temple Street Dam. The award recognizes exemplary efforts in furthering NSRWA’s mission and Duxbury’s commitment to this project demonstrates what we can achieve when dedicated partners work together to protect our natural resources and let the future flow freely. As a result, we have reconnected 4.2 miles of river and tributaries, and 6.5 acres of open water wetland.
Back in 2012, NSRWA started the conversation around removing all three dams on the South River. From there, numerous studies and reports were conducted to better understand potential impacts of removing the Temple St Dam. These studies would not have been possible without the Town’s steady support and participation throughout the process.
Then on a rainy day at the end of July 2026, NSRWA and our partners at the Division of Ecological Restoration and the Town of Duxbury watched two excavators dismantle the dam. What took over 10 years in planning, designing, permitting and fundraising, took less than 12 minutes to destroy. But the benefits of reconnecting 4.2 miles of river and tributaries and 6.5 acres of open-water wetland will last for generations to come.