NEWCOMB — The nonprofit Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve recently announced that its annual meeting will be held on Oct. 6.

The meeting will begin at 11 a.m. at Newcomb’s Visitor Interpretive Center, which is operated by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Newcomb campus, located at 5922 state Route 28N in Newcomb.

The event in the VIC auditorium runs until 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available. Advance registration via email, to krimany@adirondackwild.org, is requested.

The meeting will include presentations from Adirondack Wild’s staff and board members, a question and answer session, and conversation with the audience. There will be a one-hour break for lunch at noon.

At 1 p.m., SUNY ESF Newcomb campus Associate Director Paul Hai will speak about progress made during the first year of the Timbuctoo Climate and Career Institute involving students from the City University of New York’s Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.

Executive Director of ANCA’s Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, will speak about initiatives and projects ADI is pursuing during 2023 and beyond. Adirondack Wild is a partner with ADI.

At 2 p.m., the public is invited to help Adirondack Wild celebrate its two awardees. The 2023 Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award will be presented to the Hon. Steve Englebright, former chair of the New York state Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, for his 30 years of leadership to improve New York state’s environmental quality and quality of life of all New York’s residents and visitors. The 2023 Wild Stewardship Award will be presented to the staff and board members of the Northeast Wilderness Trust, headquartered in Montpelier, Vermont, for the organzation’s 20-year record of negotiating, acquiring, preserving and connecting wildlands throughout the Adirondacks and the Northern Forest.