2025 Conference Presenter Bios
The Maine Land Conservation Conference brings together talented speakers from across the country with those from right here in Maine. We are so grateful to be working with all of them to bring you this year’s Conference!
Our Plenary Session Panel
Hannah Pingree, Director, Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future
Hannah Pingree was appointed as director of Governor Mills’ Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) in 2019. As director, Hannah leads cross-agency efforts to develop innovative policy solutions that address pressing long-term challenges for Maine, such as climate change, energy, housing, workforce and economic development, coordinating federal infrastructure investments, and supporting children and older Maine people. She was also appointed by Governor Mills in 2019 to co-chair the Maine Climate Council, which leads climate planning for the state. Hannah served four terms in the Maine Legislature from 2003 to 2010, and served as both Speaker of House of Representatives and House Majority Leader.
Dan Burgess was appointed as Director of the Governor’s Energy Office by Governor Janet Mills in 2019. As Director of GEO, Dan advises the Governor, leads the state’s energy office and its dynamic team, represents Maine in regional and national forums, and serves on the board of the Efficiency Maine Trust as well as the board of the National Association of State Energy Officials. Born and raised in Central Maine (Newport), Dan returned to his home state of Maine to build upon eight years of leadership experience in clean energy development. Prior to his current role at GEO, Dan served as Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, in Boston, MA and prior to that as Acting Commissioner. Before that, he worked as Legislative Director for Energy at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in Boston, MA. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Maine and a Master of Public Administration from Northeastern University.
Jeremy Gabrielson is the Associate Director of Planning at Maine Coast Heritage Trust. After college, he earned a master’s degree in community planning and development from USM’s Muskie School for Public Service. A fellowship with the Island Institute brought Jeremy and his family to the down east community of Machias, where he worked as a regional planner with the Washington County Council of Governments. In addition to conservation of natural places, Jeremy has a strong interest in coastal resiliency, coastal access, and locally driven economic development in rural communities. He works closely with partners to provide and interpret scientific and spatial data from state and national sources to inform local decision making and serves on the Beginning with Habitat Steering Committee.
Governor Mills appointed Samantha Horn as Director of the Maine Office of Community Affairs in October 2024. Horn has three decades of experience in policy, planning and science, including consulting on public stakeholder engagement, policy work, and planning and siting for development projects. Prior to starting her consulting business, she was the director of science for The Nature Conservancy in Maine and worked in state natural resource agencies for nearly 20 years, including more than a decade in leadership roles at the Maine Land Use Planning Commission. Horn has a Master’s Degree in the Human Dimensions of Fish and Wildlife Conservation from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Bachelor’s degree in biology and English literature from Washington University in St. Louis. Her interests include rural community capacity, renewable energy siting practice, and integrated policy development. Horn was formerly on the boards of directors of the Maine Association of Planners, GrowSmart Maine, and the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.
Amanda Rector is the State Economist for Maine. In this capacity, she conducts ongoing analysis of Maine’s economic and demographic conditions to help inform policy decisions. Amanda is a member of the State of Maine’s Revenue Forecasting Committee and serves as the Governor’s liaison to the U. S. Census Bureau. She started working for the state in 2004 and has been State Economist since 2011. She earned a BA in Economics from Wellesley College and her Master’s in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Amanda is originally from mid-coast Maine and now lives in Union with her family.
Our Other Esteemed Presenters
Sulwan Ahmed
Sulwan is a first-generation Sudanese-American from Portland, Maine. Sulwan graduated from Bowdoin College in 2022. Sulwan fled the Darfur genocide with her family in 2001, relocated to Egypt, and eventually settled in Portland, Maine in 2003. Her passion for environmental justice is deeply connected to her identity as a displaced person, she is feeding this passion through her work as the 2024-2026 Community Initiatives Resident for The Nature Conservancy and Maine Environmental Education Association. Through her work, Sulwan hopes to deepen her understanding of the intersections of environmental justice, migration, and community health. She aims to apply her insight to cultivate practices that positively impact communities in Maine.
Nolan Altvater
Nolan Altvater (they/them) is Passamaquoddy from Sipayik currently working as the Special Projects Cultural Coordinator, a shared position for the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum and MCHT. They work in the areas of interdisciplinary approaches to Cultural Preservation and supporting the collective processes of Land access and Land return to Wabanaki communities. Nolan additionally sits on the board for Wabanaki REACH and is part of Sunlight Media Collective.
Karen Beeftink
Dr. Karen Beeftink is an associate professor in Outdoor Recreation and Leadership at the University of Maine at Machias where she coordinates the Outdoor Recreation and Leadership, and the Conservation Law and Outdoor Management programs. She teaches courses focused on outdoor recreation programming and management, outdoor leadership, and nature-based tourism. She is a registered Maine Recreation Guide, registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide, and a Leave No Trace Master Educator. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Downeast Coastal Conservancy (DCC), and is active in outreach, education, and stewardship.
After earning a B.A. in Music Theory/Composition, a M.S. in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources, and a Ph.D. in Leisure Studies, Karen searched for a way to combine her various interests and passions. Thankfully, she discovered the niche of soundscape research! In 2019, she began collaborating on projects focused on the role of soundscapes in visitor experiences and management of natural protected areas in Patagonia, Chile. She became involved with the Island Soundscape Project (ISP) in fall, 2022. She is excited about working with the group to continue helping connect people with natural environments through the practice of active listening.
Gamma Bellenoit
Gamma Bellenoit is a recent graduate of the University of Maine at Orono, where she studied Kinesiology and Physical Education with a concentration in Outdoor Leadership. In 2023, she was introduced to The Island Soundscape Project team, with whom she worked to complete her Senior Project. Her research involved long-standing community members and their perception of changes in the soundscape over time. Currently, Gamma works in childcare in Massachusetts when she is not doing soundscape research.
Kelsie Bouchard
Kelsie Bouchard is the Interim Senior Director of Lending Operations, Credit & Risk at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a Maine-based community development financial institution (CDFI) with a mission to build just, vibrant and climate-resilient futures for people and communities in Maine and rural regions across the country. Kelsie is responsible for loan underwriting and portfolio management and analysis, engages in department strategy development and implementation, provides risk management oversight, and manages the lending operations team. Kelsie also leads fundraising and operations of CEI Notes an investment product available to mission-aligned investors. Kelsie grew up in Aroostook County and is a graduate of Syracuse University.
Gayle Bowness
Gayle Bowness manages the Municipal Climate Action Program through the Climate Center at Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which engages coastal communities in better understanding local sea level rise impacts and provides them with knowledge, skills, and tools to develop community-focused and data-driven resilience plans for coastal flooding. Gayle joined the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in 2005 with a passion to meld science and education. She has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia and a bachelor’s degree in Science Education from Unity College, Maine. She received a Master of Science degree from Lesley University, Massachusetts in Ecological Teaching and Learning.
Stacey Caulk
Stacey Caulk is an attorney and Co-Leader of the Land Use & Conservation Practice Group and Leader of the firm’s Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group at Drummond Woodsum. She is an experienced practitioner of conservation law and frequently advises clients about legal strategies to preserve land in perpetuity, ongoing stewardship obligations, and enforcement of conservation easements and deed restrictions. Stacey also specializes in the multitude of environmental regulations governing different industries, works to understand clients’ objectives, and delivers strategic, practical advice on matters such as permitting and approval of construction and clean energy projects, remediation plans, and compliance efforts. She is particularly adept at handling environmental issues facing tribal nations, and frequently provides guidance about NEPA compliance.
When not working, Stacey can be found hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing on conserved lands across the state. Stacey serves on her town’s Open Space Planning Committee and is dedicated to increasing access to the natural environment.
Adriana Cavalcanti
Adriana Cavalcanti is an environmental artist with a science background. Cavalcanti’s artistic practice focuses on the paradoxical relationship of dependency and detachment with the natural environments. Through a multitude of mediums, shapes and forms, Cavalcanti’s art communicates, teaches and engages with society about environmental issues and related social concerns. The sound investigations became a new subject of study for Adriana and a great way to explore the cross-disciplinary qualities of our acoustic environment and its potential to raise ecological awareness. Since her early participation on the Island Soundscape Research team in 2022, Adriana’s interest in soundscape investigations has grown exponentially. Adriana social drive is currently in action as a community outreach coordinator for the Soundscape research where she works in collaboration with Nate Aldrich and Steve Norton.
Hannah Chamberlain
Hannah is the Stewardship Program Manager at Maine Farmland Trust and has over a decade of land management and stewardship experience. She has worked with a range of land trusts and conservation-oriented nonprofits from the municipal to national level. In her work with Maine Farmland Trust, Hannah focuses on working lands conservation easements and enjoys the challenge inherent in striving to unite conservation goals with the needs of working farms.
Betsy Cook, Trust for Public Land
James Corbett
James Corbett is LegacyWorks Group’s Financial Analyst a CFA level 2 candidate. He holds a B.A. in environmental studies from Brown University as well as a doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Northeastern University. His dissertation research, which focused on adaptation to changing environments, has been published in the journals Ecology and Proceedings of the Royal Society B. While he’s led projects ranging from crowd-sourced water quality monitoring to field experiments capturing rapid evolution, his work has always been underpinned by data science and management skills. James has planted roots in New England and currently resides in Marblehead, MA. In his free time, he can usually be found fishing, surfing, or paddling.
April Costa
April Costa (she/her) brings over a decade of land management and natural resources expertise to her role as a Farmland Protection Project Manager at Maine Farmland Trust. She has a background in supporting, protecting, and stewarding rural working landscapes. In her work as a Project Manager, April makes connections and builds partnerships with farmers and others in the community through a communication and trust-based approach.
Cheryl Daigle
Cheryl Daigle is the Executive Director of the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust. For the past 30 years, her work has focused on the conservation, restoration, cultural vitality and economic health of communities in Maine and throughout New England. Her communications and outreach work with Northern Woodlands magazine, Maine Lakes Society, Penobscot River Restoration Trust, Maine Sea Grant, and The Nature Conservancy has impressed upon her the importance of community in crafting sustainable conservation initiatives.
Adam Daigneault
Dr. Adam Daigneault is the Director and EL Giddings Associate Professor of Forest Policy and Economics in the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources. He is a natural resource economist who develops quantitative models to assess the socioeconomic impacts of land use and environmental policy on the natural resource sectors. His research focuses on estimating the benefits and costs of climate change, forest management, conservation lands, and ecosystem services. Prior to UMaine, Adam was at Landcare Research New Zealand and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he worked extensively on environmental policy analysis. Dr. Daigneault received his PhD in Environmental and Resource Economics from The Ohio State University in 2006.
Aaron Dority
Aaron is the Executive Director of Frenchman Bay Conservancy, overseeing all aspects of the organization since 2014, and growing the staff from two to ten. Under his leadership, the FBC team recently completed a comprehensive capital campaign, raising $14 million for land protection, stewardship, and outdoor education. During the past ten years, FBC has more than tripled the number of acres conserved, launched an outdoor education partnership that reaches all 11 public elementary and middle schools in its service area, and completed one, soon to be two, significant wetland restoration projects. Previously, Aaron was the Federal Policy Director for Penobscot East Resource Center, now Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington. Aaron is the board president of the Blue Hill Food Coop. He lives in Blue Hill with his wife and their children.
Peter Dugas
Peter is the Northeast Regional Director for Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), a nonpartisan grassroots organization focused on effective and equitable climate solutions. He serves as the liaison to the office of Senator Angus King (ME-I), is an ENROADS Climate Ambassador and a long-time advocate for finding climate change solutions for which he won the 2021 Maine Sunday Telegram Source Award. He earned a degree in Physics and Engineering from Brown University and lives and works in Portland, Maine. Peter is an avid skier and professional musician.
Gary Fish
Gary Fish has been Maine State Horticulturist since 2015. He earned his B.S. in Forest and Wildlife Management from the University of Maine, College of Forest Resources in 1982, and a Master of Policy, Planning, and Management in 2023. Gary has also been Manager of Pesticide Programs for the Board of Pesticides Control for 28 years. Off and on, he has been a practicing Licensed Professional Forester since 1985, through Kents Hill Forestry Services. He is also the former chair of the Arborist Board and was a horticulturist for ChemLawn Services Corporation for 5 years, 1983 – 1988.
Gary grew up in Farmington, Maine. An entomologist from birth, he was inspired to love plants by his Mother, who always grew beautiful roses and rock gardens. Gary is also a landscape and nature photographer. https://www.etsy.com/shop/phishphotography
Nicole Francis
Nicole Francis, Mi’kmaq, is a Co-Director of Niweskok, a Wabanaki-led organization restoring the Penobscot region as a Wabanaki food hub. As part of Niweskok’s leadership, she helped secure Niweskok’s historic 2025 land return, ensuring full and clear ownership. She develops land-based, culturally relevant curriculum and events, organizes Indigenous food sovereignty summits, and leads workshops on plant knowledge and identification. A food justice organizer, herbalist, and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), she is dedicated to reclaiming traditional foodways and strengthening kinship connections.
Rose Gellman
Rose Gellman is a Masters of Forestry student at the University of Maine. She has a BA from Johns Hopkins University in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology and an interest in historical ecology and community resilience. Her first (and forever) career was in outdoor education. Rose’s graduate work focuses on translating the basic science of the collaborative Coastal Spruce Project into concrete, practical, and financially viable management strategies for conservation landowners. The concrete deliverables include a magazine-style outreach publication on Coastal Spruce Forests, and a forest management plan for an MCHT preserve in Washington County, and a future field tour. Rose is interested in the role that conservation organizations can play in supporting rural economies while improving the ecological function of their woodlands.
Rebecca Graham
Rebecca joined the Maine Municipal Association’s Advocacy team in 2017 and is the Senior Legislative Advocate with a public policy portfolio focused on land use, housing, transportation, and public safety. As a Maine native, Rebecca received her BA degree from the University of Southern Maine in Humanities with an anthropology focus and Master of Laws, (LL.M) from the University of Ulster’s Transitional Justice Institute in Belfast Northern Ireland, in International Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice post-conflict. As a global and local systems public policy expert, Rebecca often works in international democratic governance evaluation in former Soviet states and is currently an adjunct lecturer for the University of Maine Augusta’s Justice Studies program, teaching Safe and Resilient Communities. With more than 30 years in various public service roles, she also serves as the chair of her local planning board and election clerk and represents municipal government interests on the Abandoned and Discontinued Roads Commission (more thrilling and public trail related than it sounds) and the County Corrections Professional Standards Council.
Karen Grey, Wildlands Trust
Elizabeth Hall
Elizabeth Hall (Liz) has been working as a nonprofit consultant since April 2017 when she joined forces with Gary Stern of Stern Consulting International (SCI) to apply her broad experience as a nonprofit professional to assist organizations with strategic research and planning, executive/staff searches and transitions, organizational evaluations, meeting and retreat facilitation, fundraising, event coordination, and volunteer and project management. In her consultancy, Hall Collaborations, Liz has served dozens of nonprofits in Maine and the Northeast, including four Maine land trusts. Prior to becoming a consultant, Liz assumed multiple roles at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, DC. Liz has served as a volunteer and board member for nonprofit and community organizations, and has been on the board of Friends of Woodfords Corner since 2019. When she’s not working, she loves being outdoors, hiking, swimming in lakes, gardening, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Reggie Hall
Reggie Hall is the Chief Program Officer of the Conservation Loan Collaborative at LegacyWorks Group. Reggie has extensive conservation leadership experience and a remarkable network of trust-based relationships with conservation leaders across the country. He served as the lead for a multi-state region for The Conservation Fund and developed and led the organization’s highly successful national Conservation Loan program that provided technical support, capacity building and conservation financing to conservation organizations and agencies across the country. Under Reggie’s leadership, the program facilitated several hundred loans that provided almost $250 million in financing for local partners to complete conservation projects in 40 states and five Canadian provinces. So far in his career, he has worked to conserve nearly 300,000 acres and received numerous awards for his work. He attended Williams College and Vermont Law School, where he received his JD and MSEL degrees. He serves on several non-profit boards and resides with his family on the seacoast of New Hampshire. When not financing the conservation of special places, he’s out exploring them—often on a bike, in running shoes, or otherwise suited up for adventure.
John Harriman
John “Jw” Harriman is Blue Hill Heritage Trust’s Conservation Forester & Land Manager. He is a 2021 graduate of the University of Maine’s Forestry program. Previously, Jw has worked as an Operations Forester in Northern Maine managing large-scale client ownerships including timber harvest administration, yearly planning and land management. At BHHT Jw oversees the trust conservation properties entailing managing their large woodlands for long-term conservation value, forest health and multi-use objectives. Additionally he assists on conservation easements, stewardship tasks including trail work and overseeing the trust blueberry lands.
Laura J. Hartz
Laura is an attorney at Drummond Woodsum who advises businesses, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and individuals on a wide range of issues, including land use, real estate acquisitions, project development, due diligence, site control, nonprofit governance, and general business matters. Laura has expertise in energy and natural resources, as well as agriculture and food systems, and guides clients on opportunities related to these areas. She regularly represents land trusts, landowners, municipalities, and businesses.
As a business and real estate attorney, Laura is able to combine her passion for helping clients and her interest in energy, food, agriculture, and land use. Recent examples of her work include serving as transactional counsel for a large land trust, guiding a solid waste client through emergency local permitting in the aftermath of a facility fire, leading the acquisition of a boutique hotel for a regional developer, and assisting a nonprofit with organizational issues.
Meggie Harvey
Meggie Harvey, Curriculum and Instruction Program Manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute(GMRI), works with GMRI’s Science Instruction Team and educators from across the Northeast to create opportunities for youth to engage in learning, research, and action related to local impacts of climate change. These opportunities include participating in community science research related to changing ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine, learning about climate impacts on local food systems, and publishing findings in a peer-reviewed journal of environmental and ecological science for and by youth. Meggie brings experience implementing problem-posing science curricula as a 7th grade science teacher in Chicago Public Schools to her current role developing learning experiences for youth and educators that build the skills, knowledge, and relationships that support the next generation of climate stewards.
Laura Hatmaker
Laura Hatmaker is an Associate Project Ecologist at SWCA Environmental Consultants. Since joining SWCA, she has worked on projects across New England from ecological restoration to climate resilience to natural resources. Currently, she is working with Midcoast Conservancy on an MNRCP grant wetland creation and restoration site on one of their protected lands. She is a graduate of the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program and completed her Masters’ project with Maine Coast Heritage Trust analyzing a coastal plateau bog Downeast. Laura’s favorite native species in Maine are the alewife floater, crowberry blue, and ghost pipe – representatives of the three taxa in which she specializes.
Shannon Hill, Mi’kmaq Nation, Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship
Ruth Indrick
Ruth Indrick is the Project Director at the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) in Bath and is in her 14th year at KELT. Ruth coordinates KELT’s community science programs, which engage more than 150 volunteers each year. She also leads KELT’s projects focused on increasing climate resilience and habitat restoration in tidal marshes, collaborating with a wide variety of local, state, and federal partners to carry out work that supports people and habitats in the Kennebec Estuary region.
Nancy Kennedy, Chewonki Foundation
Jason Latham
Jason Latham is a Natural Resource Specialist with Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust (RLHT). Jason grew up in New Hampshire and moved to Rangeley in 2019. He attended Unity College and Antioch University of New England where he studied wildlife conservation and environmental science. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and exploring with his wife and daughter. Jason oversees RLHT’s 35 miles of recreational trails, easement monitoring, and much, much more!
Cathy Lookabaugh
Originally from New Jersey, Cathy first came to Maine to attend college where she earned a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and a B.A. in Mathematics. After graduating, she spent several years studying sea turtles along remote beaches on Hawaii Island before returning to Maine where she then gained experience with volunteer management and youth programming. Prior to joining MCHT, Cathy worked for a small local land trust, Downeast Coastal Conservancy, as the Education and Outreach Director. Cathy enjoys spending time outdoors camping, hiking, and paddling. She is a Maine Master Naturalist, a Registered Maine Guide, and passionate about sharing nature with others.
Chuck Loring, Penobscot Indian Nation
Laurie Manos
Laurie started her environmental journey analyzing water samples in the Androscoggin River in the 1970’s. She moved into a corporate career which included working on sustainable footwear for Converse sneakers. Today, she is leading the MidCoast Maine Chapter of Citizen’s Climate Lobby, where she brings local volunteers together via education, community, and nonpartisan climate advocacy. Laurie earned her degree in Chemistry and Philosophy from Bowdoin College and an MBA from The Wharton School. She lives in Harpswell and enjoys sailing and skiing.
Karin Marchetti
Karin Marchetti has been general counsel to Maine Coast Heritage Trust for 40 years, focusing on easement design and stewardship, and other land trust legal matters. She is the founder of Land Conservation Legal Services, begun in 1991, providing counsel to land trusts and government agencies on the creation, acquisition and management of conservation easements and preserves. She is a frequent presenter at Land Trust Alliance’s National Rally on conservation easement drafting and stewardship, including amendment. She wrote the Conservation Easement Drafting Guide as a co-author of The Conservation Easement Handbook, Second Edition, published by Land Trust Alliance in 2005, Protecting the Land, Island Press, 2000. She sits on the Claims Committee of Terrafirma Risk Retention Group, the land trust defense insurance company.
Matt Markot
Matt is the Executive Director of Loon Echo Lands Trust based in Bridgton, Maine. Matt holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Prior to Loon Echo Matt worked for the Nature Conservancy in Maine as their Northern Maine Lands Steward, served as an AmeriCorps Environmental Steward with the Maine Natural Areas Program, and as an environmental educator at Kieve-Wavus. Matt has worked in a variety of roles for Loon Echo since 2017 and as Executive Director since 2019. Matt lives in Bridgton and enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and paddling.
Norma Randi Marshall
Norma Randi Marshall is a Passamaquoddy artist with an interdisciplinary fine art Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maine at Machias. She is a painter and digital illustrator with cultural heritage themes that sometimes crosses into conservation and science realms. She draws inspiration from the rich heritage of her parents, who come from the Passmaquoddy Tribe of the Wabanaki people and the MHA Nation in North Dakota. She is also inspired by life adventures with her partner in the beautiful Wabanaki territory of what is now called Maine. Combining adventures with exploring her ancestral cultural history, language, and stories brings her delight where she then creates art and shares with the world. One can follow her art journey on her website normarandi.com and on instagram @emerald_forests.
Claudia Mendoza, SWCA Environmental Consultants
Ray Mills
Ray Mills (she/they) is primarily of Wabanaki (Penobscot and Abenaki) and Franco-American descent and currently serves as a Climate Adaptation Resident in a joint position with the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) and The Nature Conservancy in Maine (TNC). At MEEA, she currently focuses on data analysis for The Listen Project, a participatory, youth-led research project examining Maine’s youth climate movement. At TNC, her work centers on strengthening community resilience through the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions to climate change. Additionally, Ray is a Member and Mentor for the National Wildlife Federation’s Education and Engagement Youth Advisory Council, where they contribute to shaping professional development workshops for young and emerging professionals.
Alivia Moore
Alivia // kinalkwiwat “they open eyes wide” (she/they) is Co-Director of Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds. They are a Two-Spirit citizen of the Penobscot Nation, parent, auntie, and mover & shaker in community. They are committed to restoring balanced relationship with the earth and deepening interdependence. They have a special passion for reinvigorating: food forests, canoe routes, and sustenance from apetelmewiminal.
Living in her traditional territory she strives to be a conduit for traditional knowledge mobilization. Alivia is dedicated to child welfare system abolition and dreams of living collectively on the land.
Otto Muller, First Light
Steve Norton
Steve Norton is a sound artist, musician, researcher and educator living in Orono, Maine. He is focused on understanding the world by listening to it. His practice is focused on field recording and soundscape composition, tapping into his life-long interest in biology, ecology and the outdoors. His field-recorded materials are used in soundscape study, electroacoustic composition, and performance and presentation contexts. Steve is co-founder of the Island Soundscape Project and a board member of the Bangor Land Trust.
Ellie Oldach
Ellie (she/her) has been a core staff member with First Light for 3 years. She supports First Light organizations in collectively relearning the history of these lands, working in solidarity with Wabanaki people, returning land, and shifting conservation culture. Ellie’s time at First Light was sparked by living and working in marine science for a year in Aotearoa/New Zealand, where she got to know intertidal snails and seaweeds but also experienced a place where Indigenous-led land care is widely upheld and protected in state policy. That year fundamentally reshaped her view of what’s possible, and her work since (at First Light, in graduate studies, and life in general) carries forward that hope.
Nancy Olmstead
As a Conservation Ecologist, Nancy helps take care of land that The Nature Conservancy owns in Maine. This includes coordinating ecological monitoring, management of invasive species, helping with prescribed fire, and supporting regional land managers as they address ecological management challenges. She also supports the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program (MNRCP), a grant program administered by TNC to conserve and restore wetlands. Nancy has previously worked as an educator and a field scientist. Most recently, she led the state of Maine’s terrestrial and wetland invasive plant program at the Maine Natural Areas Program. She also taught ecology and environmental science labs at Bowdoin College, was a research technician on the Chesapeake Bay, led youngsters outdoors at Maine Audubon, and helped volunteers monitor lake watersheds with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Nancy studied ecology at Cornell University, and later received her MS from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont. She lives in Portland with her spouse and enjoys yoga, reading, cooking, thrifting, and spending time outside; trail-running, botanizing, hiking, bird-noticing, snowshoeing, and mountain biking are favorite outdoor activities.
Christine Parrish
Christine Parrish is the Western Maine Project Manager at New England Forestry Foundation. Christine and her team works with forest landowners and their foresters to integrate habitat planning for native fish, bird, and wildlife species on family forests and other non-industrial private forests and provides access to landowner cost-share in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This project also supports/provides training to licensed professional foresters and local loggers on how to integrate wildlife habitat planning aligned with forest management goals and available cost-share, leads a study on the impact of NEFF forest and habitat practices on bird habitat with Maine Audubon, and works with private landowners to establish demonstration teaching forests. Christine has a degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University and a graduate degree in writing and communication theory. Prior to joining NEFF in 2019, Christine spent a decade as a field-based biotech with assignments in marine fisheries, forestry, birds, fire, wilderness and wildlife from Maine to Alaska and 20 years as a journalist. She is based in rural Maine.
Adam Pereira, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Jennifer Plowden
Jennifer Plowden oversees program and service delivery to over 250 land trusts in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont through her role as New England Senior Program Manager at the Land Trust Alliance. At the Alliance, she builds relationships with land trust practitioners, partners, donors and funders to understand and respond to the pressing needs of land trusts. Her work centers on fostering a sense of community for land trust practitioners, building the capacity of land trusts, and ensuring the protection of lands that are essential to our natural and human communities.
Prior to joining the Alliance in 2021, Jennifer worked as a Senior Conservation Economist at The Trust for Public Land where she led economic research on the economic benefits of land conservation, parks, and trails—helping over fifty communities measure and communicate the value of these lands. Jennifer also researched conservation awareness and forest ecology at Boston University, served on the board of the all-volunteer Orono Land Trust, and worked in membership and development at Blue Hill Heritage Trust. Jennifer holds a M.S. in Resource Economics and Policy and a B.S. in Resource and Agribusiness Management from the University of Maine.
Jen is a mother to two school-aged children and enjoys spending time outside with her family and dogs. Outside of work, she volunteers on the Development Committee of her local land trust, Essex County Greenbelt Association and on her city’s Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
Kristen Puryear
Kristen Puryear is Chief Ecologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program, Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. She is a wetland ecologist with significant experience in habitat restoration, landowner technical assistance, coastal resilience and monitoring, ecological inventory, and natural community classification. She helped lead a recent update of the Focus Areas of Statewide Significance, and served on the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Maine Climate Council.
Kaethe Rice
Kaethe Rice (she/her) is a senior at Waterville High School and co-lead of MYCJ’s High School Support Cohort. As a youth representative on the Maine Climate Councils Natural and Working Lands Working Group, Defend our Health’s C4 Board, and as the president of her high school’s Green Team, Kaethe combines her passion for human ecology and all things nature with policy and community engagement to elevate the voices of young people on a local and state level.
Malcolm Richardson
Malcolm Richardson is the Land Manager for Great Pond Mountain Trust where he has worked for the last five years. He has been taking the forestry reins from GPMCT’s long term Forester, Roger Greene as he embraces actual retirement. Malcolm’s favorite word is culvert.
Heather Rogers
Heather (she/her) is the Land Protection Program Director at Coastal Mountains Land Trust. Heather has worked at CMLT for over 12 years, and has a Masters Degree in Community Planning with a focus on Land Use from the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Policy.
Nicole Rodgers
Dr. Nicole Rogers is the Landowner Outreach Forester with the Maine Forest Service. She oversees the Maine Forest Service’s WoodsWise cost-share program and organizes statewide education and outreach efforts. She has a BS in Forest Ecosystem Science from the University of Maine, an MS in Forest Biometrics from Oregon State, and a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the Maine Forest Service, Nicole worked in forestry research with expertise in how we manage forests to meet diverse human goals and objectives. She grew up in Lincolnville and now lives with her family in Hampden.
Erika Rowland
Dr. Erika Rowland is the Executive Director of Greater Lovell Land Trust in western Maine. She has worked in the field of conservation across North America, focusing for many years on climate change adaptation with the Wildlife Conservation Society before returning to Maine a decade ago. Erika’s perspectives are anchored in training in climate-vegetation dynamics and applied resource management at the University of Alaska (MS) and the University of Maine (PhD) and shaped by the numerous planning and decision-making approaches for climate change, in which she has engaged. Erika lives in western Maine where just about any outdoor activity keeps her content and connected with the natural world.
Susie Salois
Susie Salois is the Office Director of the SWCA’s Maine Office located in Scarborough. She has 12 years of technical and managerial experience in environmental consulting and 6 years of education and public sector outreach experience. Her academic background includes a B.S. from Cornell University in climate science and an M.S. of Biology with focus on marine and aquatic ecosystems he recently has been focused on increasing her restoration and climate resiliency experience, including participation in restoration projects for Maine’s in-lieu-fee wetland program and climate action planning with regional planning groups and local land trusts. She has lived in Maine for 10 years, now raising her 1.5- and 3.5-year-old to enjoy the Maine environment as much as she does.
Justin Schlawin
As Program Coordinator for Beginning with Habitat, part of the Maine Department of Inland Fish & Wildlife, Justin Schlawin supervises staff, promotes collaboration with steering committee members and partners, advances landscape-scale initiatives, and facilitates the delivery of technical assistance on habitat conservation and management to municipalities, conservation partners, and private landowners.
Gary J. Stern
Gary J. Stern is president of Portland, Maine-based Stern Consulting International, providing organization development, strategic planning, and project management services. He is author of Marketing Workbooks for Nonprofit Organizations Volume I: Develop the Plan and Volume II: Mobilize People for Marketing Success. Both are in circulation around the world. Gary edited the 2nd edition of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation Strategic Self-Assessment Tool, led the Drucker International Training Team and co-developed the Foundation’s Meeting the Collaboration Challenge Workbook: Developing Strategic Alliances between Nonprofits and Businesses. From 2018 – present, he has been Elliotsville Foundation’s project manager and owner’s representative for construction of Tekαkαpimək contact station in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Gary is well-known to the Maine land trust community having facilitated strategic planning with Maine Coast Heritage Trust and numerous others. The Stern Consulting team worked with MLTN staff to conduct the current MLTN Census as well as previous rounds in 2015 and 2019..
Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart is the Executive Director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust, based in Camden, Maine. He joined the organization in 2002 and led its stewardship program through mid-2015, when he became the organization’s third Executive Director. Prior to joining the Land Trust, Ian received a BA from Bowdoin College and then earned a master’s degree in Forestry at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. A native of Seattle, Ian first came to Maine to study Biology and Latin American Studies at Bowdoin College. He lives in Appleton with his wife, two daughters and mischievous rescue dog, Fern.
Amelia St. John
Amelia St. John (They/Them) is a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseets and currently works as the Ancestral Knowledge Institute Program Coordinator (“AKI” — Aki translating to “Land” in Abenaki) for Bomazeen Land Trust, a Wabanaki-owned and operated land trust that enables Wabanaki people to renew and resume their land caretaking and stewardship roles in our homelands. Previously, Amelia worked as the Food Sovereignty Coordinator for Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness where they built the Wabanaki Mobile Food Pantry. In that position, they delivered tens of thousands of pounds of traditional Wabanaki foods, common grocery staples, as well as community education about traditional food and land practices directly to the five Wabanaki communities. Before returning to Maine, Amelia received a degree in Stage and Production Management from Emerson College in Boston and worked for years in theatre and live events in New York City. They are currently pursuing a degree in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Maine. Amelia is a self-proclaimed Professional Community Member whose ultimate goal is to encourage and support the notion that generational Wabanaki land stewardship, indigenous restoration practices, and reconnecting Wabanaki people to our inherent metaphysical relationship with our homelands will solve many of the issues that the world faces today.
Steve Tatko
Steve Tatko led creation of Land Department for the AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative (MWI) and oversees MWI’s forestry operations, conservation acquisitions and finance, carbon credit sales, habitat restoration, watershed restoration, and recreation objectives on AMC’s 114,000 acres in the 100-Mile Wilderness region and other lands owned by AMC. Steve also oversees AMC’s northeastern Research and Trails departments to steward the complex landscapes of the region, protecting ecology while empowering people’s relationships to the outdoors.
Ciona Ulbrich
Ciona (she/her) moved into the Partnerships & Public Policy department at Maine Coast Heritage Trust in 2025, with a focus on improving and expanding MCHT’s role in the collective work of conservation, of restoration, and of land return. Her new title is Associate Director of Partnerships. Ciona represents MCHT on multiple collaborations including on the Conservation Community Delegation and as a Catalyst for cultural access with First Light. Before her transition this year, she worked for over 26 years in the lands department at MCHT based in the Mount Desert Island field office, working with land trusts, local government, state and federal government agencies, and other organizations on conservation and restoration projects.
Edge Venuti
Edge Venuti is an undergraduate student at the University of Maine studying Ecology and Environmental Sciences. She has been part of various climate justice organizations since high school including JustMe for JustUs and Maine Youth for Climate Justice. She also served as a youth rep on the Maine Climate Council’s Coastal and Marine Working group.
Tony Ward, Town of Casco
Amanda Wheeler
This is Amanda’s fourth year as a Farmland Protection Project Manager, managing conservation easement acquisitions for Maine Farmland Trust. She recently moved to the midcoast team after managing projects in southern Maine since 2022. Her conservation work in southern Maine gave her experience in negotiating easement language on high-value land, and in navigating the inclusion of options to purchase at agricultural value in easements. One of her favorite challenges in this work is balancing the development of the relationship with the landowner, with arriving at easement language that both parties are comfortable with – understanding that the individuals on either side of the agreement will change many times during the lifetime of the document. Amanda also manages Maine Farmland Trust’s geospatial data and special projects, including the development a cluster-based easement outreach approach and a climate change impact assessment tool. Prior to joining Maine Farmland Trust, Amanda worked for an agricultural consulting company developing NRCS-funded nutrient management plans for large livestock-based operations throughout New England.
Kyle Winslow
Kyle grew up in southern Maine and moved to Brewer in high school. Kyle received his BS from the University of Maine at Machias in 2007 and has been working in the downeast region ever since. Much of his work has been focused on migratory fish population and habitat restoration but, in the last five years, he has shifted his focus to land conservation. Kyle lives in Whiting with his wife Samantha and two girls, Lily and Josie. When he’s not mucking around in the woods for work, you can find him mucking around in the woods, or in the garden with his girls. Kyle has been with MCHT since 2021.
Erin Witham
Erin Witham (she/her) serves as the coordinator of Downeast Conservation Network (DCN), a regional conservation partnership based in Hancock and Washington Counties. Erin is driven by DCN’s mission to strengthen communities and land conservation through collaborative action in Downeast, Maine and has worked for the Network for the past six years along with other regional conservation partnerships across the state and Northeast. Erin has a master’s degree in sustainability science from UMass-Amherst with a focus on water sustainability and climate change. Prior to joining DCN, she has worked for and with conservation organizations doing everything from bookkeeping to cartography, but found her passion working to develop and sustain collaborations and partnerships.
Carolyn Ziegra
Carolyn Ziegra is a Research Forester with the Appalachian Mountain Club and joined the organization in 2022. She is a graduate of the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine, where she contributed to research related to late-successional forest species in Maine’s Acadian forest type. Carolyn helps facilitate research projects with various regional partners on AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative project in Northern Maine. A large part of her position is also the implementation of early intervention silvicultural practices and oversight of land management activities on AMC’s 114,000-acre ownership in Maine. Her work helps achieve AMC’s land management objectives of creating more resilient forest structures that encourage the growth of late-successional species and stand characteristics.