The public is invited to attend the annual meeting of the Damariscotta River Association (DRA) on Wednesday, Aug. 3, featuring award-winning author, journalist and 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist Colin Woodard. The meeting, a dessert potluck, will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Darrows Barn at DRA’s Round Top Farm in Damariscotta. RSVP by calling 207-563-1393 or emailing dra@damariscottariver.org.

Woodard will be speaking in part about a series of articles he wrote for the Portland Press Herald last fall entitled “Mayday – Gulf of Maine in Distress.” The series addresses the rapid warming taking place in the Gulf, and the effects this is having on the species that live there.

Woodard is author of “The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier” (2004) and “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America” (2011), which was named one of the Best Books of 2011 by the editors of The New Republic and The Globalist and received the 2012 Maine Literary Award for non-fiction. His most recent book, “American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good,” was published in March of this year.

Woodard is currently state & national affairs writer at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, where he won a 2012 George Polk Award, and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.

A native of Maine, Woodard is a contributing editor at Politico. His work has appeared in dozens of publications including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, The 
Washington Post, and Smithsonian.

The Damariscotta River Association is a non-profit, membership supported, and nationally accredited land trust and conservation organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural, and historical heritage of the Damariscotta region, centered on the Damariscotta River.

DRA has active programs in the areas of land conservation, stewardship, community education, water quality monitoring, marine conservation and cultural preservation. For more information, visit www.damariscotta.org. RSVP by calling 207-563-1393 or emailing dra@damariscottariver.org.