UMaine Doctoral Student Wins New England Wild Flower Society’s Maine State Award

The New England Wild Flower Society awarded Eric Doucette, a University of Maine environmental sciences doctoral student, with the 2013 Maine State Award.

The New England Wild Flower Society, originally the Society for the Protection of Native Plants, was founded in 1900 and is the nation’s oldest plant conservation organization. Each year, the society presents awards to organizations and individuals who have demonstrated vision and achievement in conserving native plants and their habitats.

Eleven individuals and organizations were recognized at the awards ceremony held Sunday, Oct. 27 in Framingham, Mass.

Doucette of Pittston, Maine, is a botanist, participant in the New England Plant Conservation Program and member of Maine’s Botanical Advisory Group. He is the president of the Josselyn Botanical Society and has assisted the Kennebec Land Trust with survey work, teaching and plant identification. In his botany career, he has discovered a population of large toothwort that is considered rare in Maine. His current studies at UMaine are focused on the systematics of shadbush.

For more information or to request a press release, contact Julia Homer at 508.877.7630, ext. 3503 or jhomer@newenglandwild.org.