2026 Workshop Descriptions
This page includes descriptions for all workshops and meetings throughout the full two days of the Conference.
Tuesday, April 28 – All events except the Bird Walk take place at the Augusta Civic Center
$55 covers registration for all daytime activities and events (participant limits may apply). The evening social gathering is an optional add-on; tickets for the social gathering are $30 with a cash bar.
Early Morning Bird Walk
7:30-8:30am
- Limited to 25 people
- Location TBD
- Please arrive no later than 7:25am.
Description: A number of early season migratory species should be arriving to the Augusta area by late April. We’ll choose a location close to the Augusta Civic Center and see what we can find!
Leaders: Jeff Romano, author of several popular hiking guides and Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s Public Policy Director; and Kirk Gentalen, creator and editor of the Vinalhaven Sightings Report and Maine Coast Heritage Trust regional steward
Yoga with Amelia
7:30-8:30am
- Limited to 40 people
- Augusta Civic Center
- Please arrive no later than 7:25
- BRING YOUR OWN MAT!
Description: Join Amelia Nadilo, Executive Director of York Land Trust, for a yoga experience focused on Connections: People, Land, Breath. Amelia enjoys sharing her yoga practice and guiding participants through breath, movement, and stillness in order to deepen the connection to self and environment. This will be an all levels vinyasa flow class; beginners welcome. Please bring a yoga mat.
Leadership Strategies for Navigating (Bumpy, Sometimes Thorny) Change Leadership for Resilient Conservation
9:00am-1:00pm
We know that complex, necessary change in conservation requires new learning, adaptation and experimentation – but, seriously, who has time for that? Yet we know if we don’t pause and make at least a little time for it, we find ourselves employing the same limited tools, struggling with the same problems, and avoiding the harder and more complicated conversations.
This half-day session is an invitation to pause, learn, adapt and experiment. Participants – regardless of their role in their organization – will learn leadership strategies to help themselves and others face and move through necessary change. Interactive and engaging, participants will practice applying the tools and frameworks of adaptive leadership and managing transitions to some of the current questions and thorny conversations in conservation.
Topics will include:
- Why it is essential to distinguish between technical and adaptive challenges – and what happens when we fail to do that
- The challenges and opportunities of leading without authority
- Growing individual and group capacity for both learning and ambiguity while still moving forward
- Understanding why exploring and honoring values and identity are key to forwarding sustainable change
- Why it is essential to distinguish between technical and adaptive challenges – and what happens when we fail to do that
Presenter: Cathy Kidman
Trail Project Success: Life Cycle, Contracting, and Maine Trails Program Strategies
9:00am-12:00pm
This workshop will provide a comprehensive overview of the trail project life cycle, guiding participants from initial concept through long-term stewardship. Using industry best practices outlined by the Professional TrailBuilders Association (PTBA), participants will explore how successful trail projects move through phases of planning, design, environmental review, permitting, funding, construction, and maintenance.
In addition, the workshop will discuss the contracting and bid process, offering practical guidance for land managers and nonprofits.
Participants will gain insights into program priorities, application strategies, and the role of the Maine Trails Advisory Committee in evaluating and recommending projects, helping attendees position their projects for success within this new statewide funding landscape.
Presenters: Erin Amadon, Town4Trails; Doug Beck, Maine Bureau of Public Lands; Jed Talbot, OPB Trailworks; and Adam Fisher, Maine Trails Program
Tuesday Afternoon Topical Cohort Meetings
Informal networking and discussion forums
2:00-4:00pm
We are dedicating this time at the Conference to bringing together groups of people from land trusts and other sectors, and providing space for them to get to know each other, share ideas, and problem solve together. Choose one cohort to join – you’ll sign up during registration – and come with an open heart and mind!
- Executive Directors Meeting
Description: This meeting is limited to land trust executive directors and those serving in a similar role, such as board presidents of all-volunteer groups.
- Regional Conservation Partnerships
Description: Are you a part of a Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP) in Maine? Interested in learning more from people who are working together on landscape conservation across boundaries? Join us to learn more about ongoing collaborations happening across Maine. This two-part session will include an interactive panel of RCP leaders and an activity in which participants are invited to bring a collaboration- or landscape-scale challenge and to provide peer-to-peer support and problem-solving.
Presenters: William Labich, Highstead, and Erin Witham, Downeast Conservation Network
- Giving Outdoor Learning a Place to LAND — Continuing the Conversation
Description: Building on last year’s session, we continue exploring the vital partnership between land trusts and environmental education in schools. Participants will examine the many ways land trusts can support outdoor learning — from education programming and conserving land near schools to strengthening partnerships that expand children’s access to natural spaces. This year emphasizes action: our team brings practical tools shaped by prior conversations. Through small-group work, attendees will explore program models, land-use agreements, and board-level frameworks that help assess and advance the educational value of conserved land. Join peers to share strategies and leave with concrete next steps.
Presenters: Anne Adams, MaineECO; Olivia Griset, Maine Environmental Education Association; Laura Newman, Nature Based Outdoor Play/Learning Space Consultant, Educator & Advocate, Leah Trommer, Coastal Mountains Land Trust; Carey Truebe, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.
- Approaches to Co-Stewardship of Conservation Lands with Wabanaki Communities: Navigating Intellectual Property and Building Right Relations
Description: What can and should Indigenous co-stewardship of conservation lands look like? What is Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and how does it relate to conservation? What are the challenges at the intersections of intellectual property law, conservation, and Indigenous Knowledge? What are approaches and key tools that nonnative land trusts can use in building relationships with Indigenous communities?
Presenters in this session will have conversations about a few examples of co-stewardship underway around Maine, with a focus on Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). The conversations will focus on helping landowners and or land trusts build respectful relationships to and with Indigenous knowledge, communities, and their ICIP through the development of agreements or documents outlining co-stewardship.
Presenters: Nolan Altvater, Special Projects Cultural Coordinator for MCHT and the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum; Suzanne Greenlaw, Houlton Band of Maliseets, Schoodic Institute; Darren J. Ranco, PhD, Penobscot Nation and Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Native American Programs, and Faculty Fellow at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine; and Ciona Ulbrich, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
- Building Connections Between Land Trusts and Housing Trusts
Description: Join colleagues, including some from land trusts and some from housing trusts, to get acquainted and talk about areas of common interest.
- Conservation Easement Stewardship Roundtable
Description: Join your peers to discuss the fascinating, occasionally frustrating world of stewarding land conservation easements in Maine. Trade stories, ask for input, and share your thoughts with others. You are invited to bring an easement victory or defeat to share with the group, and one easement administration tool or technique (e.g. recording notices of violation/project approvals at the registry) you are interested in learning more about and/or have implemented.
- Building Momentum for Conservation in Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance
Description: Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance include some of the most critical places for conservation in Maine. The Beginning with Habitat Program at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has recently updated maps and outreach materials for Focus Areas, and is now exploring ways to share these resources and engage with partners to advance conservation outcomes (land protection, restoration, land-use planning, and others). In this interactive workshop, participants will work collaboratively with the Beginning with Habitat program to identify priorities, opportunities, and vulnerabilities at Focus Areas around the state. Participants will learn about key ecological features of Focus Areas in their service area and help to identify collaborators and next steps to advance conservation of biodiversity and landscape resilience.
Presenters: Corinne Michaud-LeBlanc and Justin Schlawin, Beginning with Habitat Program
- Mission Maturity: A conversation about conservation work through the lens of community, equity, inclusion, and justice (A Brave Spaces Conversation)
Come for conversation with other folks interested in exploring how our current organizations can meet the emergent needs of our communities. What might need to shift in our ecosystems (organizations, relationships, thought patterns, etc.) to support community care and kinship for all? This session is an open design meant for peer-to-peer conversations prompted by questions from participants and ceded by facilitators.
Facilitated by Stefan J. Jackson and Lindy Magness from Momentum Conservation
Tuesday Night Social
A casual celebration with refreshments sponsored by The Nature Conservancy in Maine
4:00-7:00pm
Cost: $30
Come join fellow conference participants for this casual meet-up with a taco bar, cash bar, a raffle, and plenty of time to chat with colleagues!
Wednesday, April 29
$110 covers registration for all Wednesday activities. When you register, you will automatically be signed up for the plenary session and the closing session and you will choose one workshop to attend during each of the two concurrent workshop sessions before and after lunch. All events take place at the Augusta Civic Center.
Conference Plenary Session
8:30-9:50am
This year our plenary session will feature Forrest King-Cortes, Director of Community-Centered Conservation at the Land Trust Alliance. Forrest and his co-presenters will discuss the evolution of conservation and how land trusts around the country and in Maine continue to change to meet the needs of local communities – their people, plants, wildlife, and environment. Together they will pose the question, What type of movement do we want to build together?
Panelists: Forrest King-Cortes, Land Trust Alliance; Matt Markot, Loon Echo Land Trust and Maine Land Trust Network Chair; and Ciona Ulbrich, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Session A Concurrent Workshops
10:30am-12:00pm
A1 Community Forests: A tool for strengthening community cohesion and civic engagement
This session will help land trust and local and tribal government professionals learn how community forest creation can be a tool to strengthen social cohesion and civic engagement, promote economic growth, and strengthen community health and wellbeing. For more than two decades, Trust for Public Land (TPL) has been a leader in the community forest movement, collaborating with local partners, communities, and tribes to establish enduring, protected open spaces that are managed by the community, for the community.
In this session, participants will learn and engage with TPL’s Community Forest Training Program which includes a seven-step process for creating and managing community forests. This process specifically highlights participatory planning and design tools and tools for building and maintaining community cohesion and empowerment.
Presenter: Betsy Cook, Trust for Public Land
A2 Crafting a Compelling Conservation Story
The conservation world is rich with storytelling opportunities! These stories want to be told, and people want to hear them. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore the elements that make for powerful storytelling, practice crafting stories together, and discover ways to create a culture of storytelling within your organization. You’ll walk away with practical tips and templates that you and your team can put to work right away.
Presenter: Linda Lidov, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
A3 The Crisis of Public Funding and What It Means for Nonprofits
Public funding for conservation is becoming more competitive, more restrictive, and more unpredictable, especially for organizations working across rural and coastal regions. This workshop helps nonprofits navigate these pressures while protecting their mission and long-term goals. Participants explore how to identify opportunities that create a more diverse and sustainable funding model, reducing dependence on volatile funding sources and building greater confidence among donors. This session is ideal for organizations new to major gifts or those seeking to build a stronger, more intentional fundraising program from the ground up.
Presenter: Maribeth Canning, Maribeth Canning Consulting
A4 Funding Stewardship – Is It Time for Your Land Trust to Embrace Transfer Fees?
We’ll focus on how to fund sustainable stewardship when acquiring land or a conservation easement. We’ll go over the basics and what most Maine land trusts do. Then we’ll turn to the transfer fee tool, which has been successfully implemented in certain states, but so far has not been used widely in Maine. We attended a session at Rally about this and thought it would be useful to bring to a Maine audience.
Presenters: Venessa Bailey, Drummond Woodsum; Stacey Caulk, Drummond Woodsum; and Rob Levin, Rob Levin Legal and Consulting Services
A5 Re-examining your mission, vision & values as the building blocks to strategic planning
Strategic plan on the brain? Start here! In this interactive session, participants will explore the critical role that mission, vision, and values play in setting a strong foundation for strategic planning. Through practical frameworks, simple exercises, and guided discussion, attendees will learn how to develop a clear, inspiring vision, articulate a unifying statement of values, and assess and refine their organization’s mission.
Presenters: Karen Grey, Wildlands Trust, and Jennifer Plowden, Land Trust Alliance
A6 75,000 Hours of Trail Work in One Year: Lessons in Trail Maintenance and Construction from AMC’s Professional Trail Crews and Volunteer Trails Programs
The trails of the northeast are rugged and can be challenging to maintain! In the 150 years of the Appalachian Mountain Club, trails and trail maintenance have always been central to the organization. This presentation will discuss how AMC leveraged 75,000 hours of trail work in 2025, using techniques new and old, with volunteers and staff, on a variety of trails throughout the region.
Nora Sackett will share how the AMC supports 1,100 volunteers contributing more than 25,000 trail volunteer hours annually, and Matt Moore will share projects that AMC’s professional trail crew has worked on, from bridges to staircases to all persons’ trails.
By the end of this workshop, participants will have lessons to bring back to their trails communities to engage volunteers and approach common trail issues. Participants will gain insight into what trail issues are best suited for volunteers and when you might hire professionals.
Presenters: Matt Moore and Nora Sackett, Appalachian Mountain Club
A7 From Landscape to Local: Web Tools for Conservation Planning in Maine
Effective conservation planning requires tools that can operate at multiple scales—from broad regional assessments to site-specific actions. This 90-minute workshop introduces three web tools designed to support decision-making for conservation practitioners and partners.
- Conservation Dashboard: Explore a national-scale dashboard that provides access to conservation-relevant statistics to help users quickly assess trends and opportunities across multiple themes. After an overview presentation, users will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the tool.
- Maine Aquatic Barrier Prioritization Tool: Dive into the new Aquatic Barrier Prioritization tool which provides information about surveyed road-stream crossings and prioritizes these aquatic barriers, and dams, based on their impact to fish passage and ecological connectivity. Learn how this tool supports restoration by identifying projects with the greatest ecological benefit.
- Biodiversity Early-Detection Tool: Site-Specific Monitoring via Citizen Science: Discover a flexible, site-level tool designed to help collect, manage, and communicate citizen science observations of species to stewards with the overall goal of increasing early detection of invasive plants and forest altering insects. This platform empowers local communities and conservation organizations to improve detection, engage volunteers, and integrate field data into broader conservation strategies for a low operating cost.
Presenters: Dan Coker, TNC in Maine; Hadley Couraud, TNC in Maine; Kyle Lima, Schoodic Institute; and Erik Martin, TNC Center for Resilient Conservation Science
A8 Wabanaki and Salt Marsh Restoration
Salt marsh restoration is rapidly expanding as a coastal resiliency strategy in Maine, yet most projects have developed without meaningful Wabanaki leadership or engagement. Although marshes hold deep cultural, ecological, and historical significance for Wabanaki communities, restoration often proceeds within conservation frameworks shaped by legacies of exclusion that limit safe Wabanaki access and shared decision-making.
This session will examine the structural and relational barriers that contribute to this gap. Presenters will share reflections from recent efforts to form a collaborative team focused on strengthening Wabanaki engagement in salt marsh restoration, highlighting challenges, lessons learned, and emerging pathways toward more authentic co-stewardship.
The second half of the session will shift to facilitated discussion. Participants will reflect on how Wabanaki engagement and co-management currently occur — or do not occur — within their own organizations. Together, we will explore obstacles across land trusts and conservation institutions and explore opportunities and strategies to consider co-stewardship in land management and restoration.
Learning objectives: History of Wabanaki exclusion on salt marshes, need for restoration in Maine, opportunities for co-stewardship and relationship building, group discussion of obstacles and barriers to co-stewardship
Takeaways: co-management practices are feasible through relationship building and connection to land and each other; authentic Wabanaki engagement is a critical component of resilient land management strategies
Presenters: Tatia Bauer, Maine Coast Heritage Trust; Genevieve Doughty, Passamaquoddy, Sipayik Resilience Committee; Suzanne Greenlaw, Houlton Band of Maliseets, Schoodic Institute; Kiwenik “Kyle” Lolar, Penobscot, Kiwenik & Kasq Indigenous Knowledge Institute; and Helena Tatgenhorst, The Nature Conservancy
Session B Concurrent Workshops
1:30-3:00pm
B1 Cultivating Connection
Connection driven spaces have been in rapid decline as far back as the 1950s. National trends for social connection show loneliness is increasing and social engagement is decreasing. Our mental health, physical health, and society are directly and significantly impacted. Learn about the decline of community spaces, the public health epidemic of loneliness and isolation, and how we can collectively revitalize opportunities for affirming, inclusive social connection to improve societal well-being. Due to the scope of Queerly ME’s work, this training will in part focus on the LGBTQIA+ community and outdoor equity.
Presenter: Lydia Coburn, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, and Kyle Warnock, Queerly ME
B2 Digging Deeper into Your Land
Workshop participants will learn about two stories focusing on the land:
MCHT’s Danielle Arroyo will share the story of MCHT’s stewardship of Malaga Island, the 42-acre island at the mouth of the New Meadows River that has played a significant role in Maine’s history. The island was home to a mixed-race fishing community from the mid-1800s to 1912, when the state of Maine evicted 47 residents from their homes and exhumed and relocated their buried dead.
The 244 acres of Viles Arboretum was once part of the working farm for what was called the Maine Insane Hospital. Between 1840 and sometime in the 1960s, the property was an active farm growing fruits and vegetables, grains, and raising chickens, cows and pigs. The history of the farm is an unsettling one as the patients from the Insane Hospital (later the Maine State Hospital and eventually the Augusta Mental Health Institute) were required to provide the labor for the farm. A research grant from the The Maine Semiquincentennial Commission is being used to uncover stories of the workers on the farm and their families which be included in signage on the trail. New trail-based programs are being developed in conjunction with area health care agencies to support people with mental illness and the kinds of conditions that might have resulted in institutionalization in the 19th century.
Presenters: Danielle Arroyo, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and David Greenham, Viles Arboretum
B3 Bridging the Gap: Exploring Financing for Rapid Response Land Conservation
This session offers a practical, accessible introduction to how conservation organizations can leverage financing tools to move quickly when critical properties come on the market. Participants will learn what bridge financing is, how it works, and the various types of financing commonly used in conservation deals. We’ll discuss how to assess whether a financing opportunity is viable, what to consider when choosing a lender, and how to evaluate alternatives when borrowing isn’t the right fit. The session will also highlight steps land trusts can take to be “deal-ready,” including strengthening internal policies, building board fluency around financing, and cultivating relationships with funders and community partners. We’ll wrap up with guidance on where to start: essential questions to ask, partners and advisors who can help, and relationships worth fostering so your organization is poised to act swiftly and confidently when the next opportunity arises. The session will include an overview presentation by TCF and MCHT, an interactive small group case study, and a panel that will share first-hand experience of working with financing. Participants will come away with a clearer understanding of when and how financing can be used to strengthen their work—and how it can ensure they don’t have to carry a conservation project alone.
Presenters: Aaron Dority, Frenchman Bay Conservancy; George Fields, Blue Hill Heritage Trust; Liz Petruska, The Conservation Fund; Heather Rogers, Coastal Mountains Land Trust; and Ciona Ulbrich, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
B4 Climate Adaptation Planning for Land Conservation: A Tool for Building Resilience
As the impacts of climate change become increasingly visible, climate adaptation planning, a focused framework for addressing climate impacts, can be a useful tool to help maintain protected lands, spur conversations with landowners, and align organizational decision making.
Maine Farmland Trust and American Farmland Trust invite non-agricultural land trusts to learn about how these organizations have used adaptation planning to improve farm resilience and viability in a changing climate. During this workshop, we will:
- Discuss the fundamentals of climate adaptation planning
- Present the frameworks and tools we use to advise on climate adaptation planning in a process of risk assessment, identifying potential adaptation strategies, and evaluating practices for implementation.
- Learn about climate adaptation plans developed for farm operations to address hydrology, soil health, ecosystem concerns
- Invite conversation and dialogue – how might this process work for other land trusts in stewarding land? How are non-agricultural land trusts currently thinking about climate impacts, risk, and future changes to the land so both the land and the land trust can be more resilient?
The presenters will use slides to present case studies before breaking up into small group conversation to discuss tools land trusts are already using and their effectiveness, and then looking at how adaptation planning might apply to land projects participants are familiar with in their own work.
Presenters: Sean Hagan, Maine Farmland Trust, and Sara Keleman, American Farmland Trust
B5 Organization Charting: Mapping Relationships for Positive Change
This interactive workshop explores two questions: 1) How do we draw org charts that better demonstrate the complexity of power and collaborations within organizations? and 2) Are there collaborative staffing models that can be thoughtfully integrated to improve conservation outcomes (and employee/board/stakeholder satisfaction)? The workshop will begin with a short presentation and then move to breakout group exercises and full group discussion.
Presenter: Sam Deeran, Shoebox Collaborations
B6 A Systems Thinking Approach to Invasive Plants
This workshop is geared towards land trusts with at least some forested properties which are not yet experiencing a severe and widespread invasive plant issue. Invasive plant management can seem like a daunting task, especially when considered along with invasive pests/pathogens and climate change. This session will ground the problem in a systems thinking framework while also providing practical, actionable management recommendations. Systems thinking allows land managers to apply the concepts of resistance, resilience, and tipping points to the ecosystems under their care. After presentations from a disturbance ecologist and a licensed forester, break-out groups will work through what steps they would follow, and what questions they would need answered, in order to guard against their conserved Maine forests morphing into Eurasian-shrublands-in-Maine over time.
Presenters: Dr. Mila Plavsic, Falmouth Land Trust, and Paul Larrivee, 207 Forestry
B7 Everyone Can Play a Role in Planning for and Mitigating Wildfire Risk
Wildfire risk is an emerging and growing concern across Maine, and landowners (private, municipal, and conservation) play a critical role in reducing that risk. While responsibility for wildfire mitigation is shared across many entities, landowners often ask the same questions: What can I do on my land? Where do I start? And who can help? This interactive workshop will focus on practical, actionable steps landowners can take to reduce wildfire risk, and how those actions are supported by planning, partnerships, and funding at the local and state level. Presenters from consulting, local government, land conservation, municipal, and state forestry perspectives will share real-world examples from Maine and the Northeast that translate wildfire planning concepts into on-the-ground actions.
Participants will learn:
- Specific actions landowners can take to reduce wildfire risk on conserved, municipal, and private lands
- How land management, vegetation treatments, and site design influence wildfire behavior
- How municipalities, land trusts, consultants, and state agencies support and coordinate landowner action
- Planning tools, technical assistance, and funding opportunities available to landowners
- How to start productive wildfire risk conversations with landowners and community members
The session will combine a short presentation with facilitated discussion and Q&A, emphasizing clear takeaways landowners can act on and resources participants can bring back to their organizations and communities.
Presenters: Addison Davis, Town of Chebeague Island; Alex Drenga, Island Heritage Trust; Allen Kratz, Blue Hill Peninsula Community Wildfire Protection Plan; Kent Nelson, Maine Forest Service; and Arianna Porter, SWCA Environmental Consultants
B8 Co-stewardship of Wabanaki Cultural Sites on Conservation Lands
Wabanaki have been in relationship with the lands and waters of what is now called Maine since time immemorial, leaving connections to their lifeways through archaeological materials. Because many of these archaeological sites are on conservation land, there is a necessity to take care for these cultural places in the best way possible using a Western lens; but this isn’t the only way forward. You will learn about purposes and approaches to collaboration and co-stewardship with Wabanaki Nations, as well as current and evolving concerns around archaeological and cultural sites on conserved lands.
Presenters: Deirdre McGrath, PhD Student UMaine; Isaac St. John, Maliseet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer; Deirdre Whitehead, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Closing Session
3:30-4:30pm
Closing Session
with graphic notetaker Karyn Knight Detering
We will come back together for a collaborative work session expressed through graphic notetaking with inputs from throughout the two days of the conference. As a group, we will consider answers to key questions raised during the presentations, and identify steps we can take to move this work forward.
Facilitated by: Cathy Kidman