On a cool, sunny morning in early May, Director of Monitoring Programs Tony Williams pulled up to a section of the Acushnet River flowing through a farm in rural Acushnet.

At its 26th Annual Meeting in Falmouth on May 15, the Coalition recognized individuals and groups from across the Buzzards Bay watershed for their contributions to protecting and restoring the Bay during the last year.

The Weweantic River is home to the United States' southernmost population of rainbow smelt: a small, silvery fish that lives its entire life in Buzzards Bay. But smelt appear to be dwindling in the Weweantic.

The Coalition recently worked with the Wankinquoah Rod and Gun Club, the town of Middleborough, and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game to protect more than 350 acres of woods, wetlands, ponds, and cranberry bogs.

At three salt ponds in Dartmouth and Falmouth, the Coalition is leading a project to restore wetlands infested with Phragmites, an invasive plant that is taking over salt marshes across Buzzards Bay.

The Buzzards Bay Coalition has unveiled "Habitat," a celebration of clean water at the Buzzards Bay Center in the heart of downtown New Bedford.

The Coalition recently partnered with the Lloyd Center for the Environment and the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust to protect one of the last pieces of unprotected, undeveloped land on the Little River.

The Coalition has acquired for conservation 10 acres of valuable waterfront land spanning both sides of the Weweantic River to permanently safeguard the land from development.