Saturday Workshops and Events – 2019

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Land Fair Exhibits and Breakfast in the Gym 8 – 8:45 am

Plenary Session in the Orion Performing Arts Center Auditorium 8:45 – 10 am

Keynote Address “Building Proud Communities” by Majora Carter

When New York City wanted to bring 40% of its trash to her neighborhood in the South Bronx, Majora Carter pushed back. Her goal of building a prouder community grew to include more than just green space. In partnership with local government, businesses, and neighborhood organizations she has improved opportunities for transportation, fitness and recreation, nutrition, and economic development. Majora’s lessons learned will remind us that environment is just one component in building a stronger, healthier community.

Majora Carter is a leading urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She has been responsible for the creation and implementation of numerous green infrastructure projects, policies, and job training and placement systems. A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and Wesleyan University, her long list of awards and honorary degrees includes accolades from groups as diverse as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, and Goldman Sachs. Majora has also received a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship.

Presentation of Espy Land Heritage Award

Workshop Session A 10:30 am – 12 pm

A1: Using Data to Explore Carbon Pools on a Forested Acre

Forests are the reverse lungs of the earth, taking in Carbon Dioxide and then through photosynthesis releasing Oxygen and storing Carbon within the tree. But the largest carbon pool is not the tree or its components of branches and foliage. Attend this session to understand carbon pools and how they change, on average, over time on a forested acre. At the Friday session we’ll set up a permanent forestry research plot and explore ways to measure carbon within the plot; at our Saturday session, you’ll be ready to create a carbon cycle illustration and take away an MS Excel Spreadsheet that calculates carbon storage.

The complexity of the movement of carbon and its influence on climate are important issues. See how Project Learning Tree’s new e-unit, “Carbon and Climate” in conjunction with outdoor activities can be used to enhance the learning of the carbon cycle for high school students, and provide important data for your woodland. By the end of our sessions, you’ll have tapped into your inner artist by illustrating the Carbon Cycle. These hands-on data explorations and discussions may lead to a greater understanding of carbon & climate and can create an avenue for sharing this awareness with your wider community.

Level: Intermediate
Presenters: Laurie Haines, Lewiston High School, and Ken Laustsen, retired Biometrician

A2: Joining Historic Preservation and Land Conservation

Instead of choosing between competing priorities, Mainers can preserve historic buildings while enhancing natural areas, outdoor recreation and arts and culture. Four case studies illustrate successful partnerships between the land conservation and historic preservation. In Buckfield, owners seek to preserve both their historic home and the adjoining 19 acres with easements. A late 18th century homestead in South Thomaston is surrounded by 200 acres of conservation land. A unique partnership resulted in the restoring Bernard Langlais’ Home and Studio and creating an art walk in Cushing. A broad-based partnership is preserving Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village and 1,700 acres. This interactive session will discuss identifying historic buildings, strategies for minimizing conflicts and how conservation and preservation easements can work in concert.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Presenters: Lee Dassler, Western Foothills Land Trust; Annette Naegel, Georges River Land Trust; and Greg Paxton, Maine Preservation

A3: Peering Under the Hood: Amending Older Conservation Easements

Maine is fortunate to have been at the leading edge of the land trust movement, with lots of conservation easements dating back to the 1980’s and 90’s. The flip side of this good fortune is that we have our fair share of outdated easements from the Dark Ages. This workshop will follow the odyssey of one land trust’s valiant effort to dust off their older easements with a view toward amending them. Presented by a humble stewardship man and his sidekick attorney. You will laugh. You will cry. You will laugh while crying.

Level: Advanced
Presenters: Rob Levin, Attorney, and Joe Anderson, York Land Trust

A4: Invasive Plant Management: Strategies, Resources, and Creative Examples

Invasive plants threaten conservation lands by crowding out native plants, taking over important wildlife habitat, diminishing scenic beauty, and encroaching on trails. Some also harbor increased numbers of disease-carrying ticks. Many land trusts are aware of the problem but aren’t sure what to do. Where do we start? Which plants should we target, and where? In this workshop, we will discuss ways to think strategically about invasive plants, including prioritization strategies and resources to assist with taking action. Several land trust volunteers will also share examples of current invasive plant projects.

Level: Any/All
Presenter: Nancy Olmstead, Maine Natural Areas Program, Maine Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

A5: Getting There from Here: Land-use Decisions to Expand and Support Local Food Systems

Emerging evidence demonstrating multiple environmental, public health, and economic development benefits of re-localizing Maine’s agricultural economy and food system has begun to catalyze lively conversations about land use among those in the working-landscape-protection community. The New England Food Vision (NEFV), for example, calls for setting a goal of 50% regional food self-reliance by 2060; and estimates that Maine will need to convert an additional 10% of its land to agricultural

production to achieve this. This means that many hundreds of thousands of acres could undergo land use change, most likely from forest to field, with potential ecological implications for aquatic systems, greenhouse gas cycles and fluxes, and wildlife habitat. At the same time, the NEFV goals are set against a background goal identified by the Harvard Forest’s Wildlands & Woodlands report that New England should remain 70% forested, recognizing the ecological and economic benefits of maintaining both conserved and working forestland.

As an agricultural land trust whose mission includes not only land conservation but “advancing the future of farming” and “revitalizing Maine’s rural landscape by keeping agricultural lands working,” Maine Farmland Trust is implicitly supportive of agricultural land reclamation, or “re-farming.” Through participatory, interdisciplinary research, we have recently undertaken a project that aims to better understand current reclamation practices and their impacts on ecological and economic systems, with the goal of establishing guidance and resources on best practices for Maine farmers, landowners, and land managers undertaking re-farming.

This workshop will provide conservation professionals with an introduction to MFT’s work on re-farming, and an opportunity to hear from a farmer with extensive experience in ecological land reclamation. It will also be a forum to discuss these issues, confront the potential conflicts inherent in them, and provide insights and feedback to the working-landscape-protection community in a productive and collegial atmosphere.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: Graham Mallory, Pastures of Plenty Farm, and Andrew Marshall, Maine Farmland Trust

A6: Working in Contested Landscapes: How Community Forests Can Bridge Gaps and Strengthen Community Cohesion

The community forest is a unique, long-standing tradition in New England: for centuries, communally owned land has brought communities together, fostering connections to the land and to each other. However, in some communities there has also been disagreement about conservation, outdoor recreation, and access. In Bethel, Maine a heated public debate over access to public land spurred a collaborative approach to conservation. The process of creating Bethel Community Forest has intentionally brought individuals and groups, previously at loggerheads, together to create a shared vision for the land. This session explores how the community forest model bridges gaps and strengthens community. Participants will be provided with tools to facilitate community-wide planning processes for land and will engage in related participatory activities.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: Betsy Cook, Trust for Public Land, and Gabe Perkins, Mahoosuc Pathways

A7: How to Run a Successful Land Acquisition Campaign

This interactive workshop will address the best practices and guiding principles of launching and running a land acquisition fund raising campaign. Such topics that will be covered include campaign management and leadership, if and when a feasibility study is required, developing a case for support, prospect development and campaign communications.

Level: Intermediate
Presenter: Peter Jones, JWP Fundraising

A8: Kiosks, Waysides, Brochures – Sharing Your Mission Effectively

Most land trust preserves across the state are unstaffed. Guided interpretive and educational programs are important, but you are missing most of the folks who visit your property. Developing engaging and interesting waysides/exhibits/literature are crucial for reaching your organization’s members and user groups. Utilizing foundational interpretive techniques, participants will learn how to create brochures, waysides, and exhibits that share their story in the most effective manner. Non-personal interpretive products can be incredibly effective in protecting the resource as well as supporting long-term stewardship of the land. Takeaways for participants will be an understanding of the materials and ideas for fabrication, installation and creation of interpretive products at your preserves.

Presenter: Tom Mullin, Unity College
Level: Beginner/Intermediate

A9: Succession Planning for Stability & Sustainability

Many land trusts are not prepared for what is truly inevitable – a passing of the guard. As the old saying goes “stuff happens” – and often when you least expect it. Will you be prepared? Have you got a new generation of leaders ready to step up when your current leadership steps away? If a key leader was lost, would you be scrambling? Succession planning provides stability when leadership is lost unexpectedly and contributes to the sustainability of your organization in perpetuity. It ensures a transfer of critical knowledge and organizational history and in doing so, protects the legacy of current leaders. In this session, we’ll unpack planning – discuss why succession planning is so important for any land trust, explore different types of succession one needs to plan for, and offer a variety of planning models to keep your organization moving smartly forward – whatever the circumstances.

Take-aways:

Understand the potential consequences of not planning for succession
Know how to create succession plans for Board or staff that contribute to stability, sustainability and organization renewal
Have a framework to plan for emergencies or “disaster recovery”

Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Presenter: Nancy Moore, Conservation Consulting Group

A10: Measuring the Unmeasurable: Selecting Community Conservation Projects

How do you compare one community conservation project with another? Or know which land protection project(s) are the best fit for your community? As a three- month project, Allison Smith interviewed land trust professionals and consultants across the country to help Maine Coast Heritage Trust answer these questions. Working with MCHT staff, she created a tool to measure how well community conservation projects align with the land trust’s mission and goals. The tool is simple, user- friendly, and most importantly, adaptable. Over the last year, MCHT has been adapting the tool, using it to prioritize possible projects, and incorporating it into the board approval process. In this session, we discuss the findings of Allison’s research, MCHT’s process for developing and implementing this tool, and how to adapt this process for your own land trust.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Presenters: Jeremy Gabrielson, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and Allison Smith, Building Excellent Schools

A11: Building a More Inclusive Environmental Sector Through Multi-Generational Collaborative Leadership

Is your organization interested in engaging more effectively with young people? The Maine Environmental Education Association is collaborating with conservation, agricultural and environmental education organizations and youth ages 15-30 from diverse backgrounds to build a statewide, intergenerational environmental youth empowerment network. The Maine Emerging Environmental Changemakers Network connects youth from across Maine with the training, skills, and mentors they need to lead forward environmental action in their home communities. In this workshop youth presenters will highlight strategies they use to foster innovation around a shared vision of building more equitable, civically engaged, and sustainable communities. Participants will explore effective pathways to youth engagement and empowerment, consider strategies for building equity in conservation and environmental education, practice listening across age and difference, and think together about how to build powerful, innovative, multi-generational gatherings.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: A team from the Maine Environmental Changemakers Network

Lunch in the Cafeteria 12 – 1 pm Workshop

Workshop Session B – 2:30 pm

B1: Lo-cost Hi-impact Practices for Stellar Community-Based Stewardship Collaborations

Come learn about a unique collaboration of Kennebunk High School, University of New England, the Gulf of Maine Institute and Kennebunkport Conservation Trust that has proven to be a great model for community engagement. Learn the tools this dual-credit class uses, has students collecting real data, and engaging in real community conversations to try to solve a real problem facing their town. Get some hands-on experience with the low-cost instrumentation the students use to collect data, and participate in a “community conversation” that can be student led. Learn how simple ideas are empowering students to engage with a community to create real action, connecting the Land Trust to the community in a new way, and allowing new voices to be a heard. No tricks here, your Land Trust can do the same thing!

Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Presenter: Leia Lowery, Kennebunkport Conservation Trust

B2: Protecting Maine’s Drinking Water Sources

Much of Maine’s drinking water is filtered by forests that land trusts help to protect from development. This session will provide insights to foster collaboration between land trusts and water utilities through a case study of collaboration, the Sebago Clean Waters (SCW) initiative. Presenters will provide a utility perspective on source water protection and the benefits as well as the barriers to collaborating with key partners; present SCW’s strategy to protect over 25% of the watershed for Sebago Lake, Maine’s largest water utility; and discuss the Sebago Community Forest project, where partners are working with SCW and Portland Water District to protect headwater streams to Sebago Lake, conserve priority habitat, provide local economic benefits, and build community cohesion around a shared resource.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: Betsy Cook, Trust for Public Land; Martha Sheils, University of Southern Maine; and Karen Young, Sebago Clean Waters

B3: Building and Using Preserve Management Plans

Management plans for fee-owned properties are an essential stewardship tool and a component of LTA Standards & Practices. This workshop builds from those standards and practices to explain what is useful to include in a management plan, where to find needed information, how to guide staff or volunteers in creating the plans, and how to stay on top of updating. Use of the management plan as a working document will also be emphasized. Participants are welcome to bring examples to share and compare.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Presenters: Cheri Brunault and Anna Christie-Carnicella, Kennebec Estuary Land Trust

B4: Putting a Climate Change Filter on Conservation and Stewardship

Land trust activities are constantly changing to accommodate new challenges and issues, and it’s becoming increasingly important to develop and implement conservation activities that consider the challenges of a changing and uncertain climate. This fast-paced, dynamic workshop will lead participants through a five-step process to consider how climate change will affect their lands and their conservation goals. This “climate change filter” will then be used to identify actions that enable ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions and address conservation priorities. The session will also include discussion regarding climate change communication to key audiences and stakeholders.

Through this workshop, participants will be better able to:

Identify climate change impacts, challenges, and opportunities for achieving current conservation goals
Evaluate stewardship practices to determine whether they are robust to climate change
Better communicate with stakeholders about key climate change impacts, challenges, and opportunities

Level: Any/All
Presenter: Amanda Mahaffey, Forest Stewards Guild

B5: Conservation Burial Grounds: Conservation Opportunities, Site Location, Legal Issues & Best Practices

Join us for a panel discussion to learn about Kennebec Land Trust’s (KLT) conservation burial initiative and successful conservation burial projects across the country. KLT staff, attorney and board member Howard Lake, and Maine State Soil Scientist Dave Rocque, will be joined by Jeff Masten, from Land Matters in North Carolina. Panelists will discuss governance, stewardship, legal, technical, and financial issues. Jeff, a national conservation burial expert and land conservation professional, will highlight successful initiatives across the country and the community rewards that are associated with these projects.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: Theresa Kerchner, Kennebec Land Trust; Howard Lake, Kennebec Land Trust General Counsel; Jeff Masten, Landmatters; Dave Rocque, Maine State Soil Scientist; and Jean-Luc Theriault, Kennebec Land Trust

B6: Ask the Experts about Land Protection

Could you use some assistance with negotiation strategies, technical details, fundraising or big picture planning for a complex project? Join Karin Marchetti-Ponte, MCHT’s General Counsel, Betsy Ham, MCHT’s Director of Land Protection and the rest of your colleagues for a round table problem-solving discussion designed to help you get your land acquisition and conservation easement projects moving again. We can’t provide legal advice, but we will otherwise do our best to answer your questions with help from all participants!

Level: Advanced
Presenters: Betsy Ham and Karin Marchetti-Ponte, Maine Coast Heritage Trust

B7: Think Millennial: Leaders, donors, volunteers, the future of our work

Chrissy Allen from Blue Hill Heritage Trust will outline their new strategies for creating an organization that not only invites but supports millennial leaders on the staff and board level. Learn how they are working with millennials in the media and tech industry to court the next generation of donors. This presentation will outline case studies from around the country on these topics, and participants will be invited to take the newly created quiz “Are You a Millennial Friendly Land Trust?”. Join Chrissy and her panel of millennial guests for a lively presentation and discussion on this important topic.

Level: Intermediate
Presenters: Chrissy Allen, Blue Hill Heritage Trust; Samantha Haskell, Independent Book Shop Owner; and Tate Yoder, Blue Hill Heritage Trust Board member, Freelance Filmmaker & Photographer

B8: How to Build Your Personal Brand and Network Online and In Person

In this 75-minute presentation, attendees will hear from Nancy Marshall, The PR Maven® about branding, including personal branding, with tips and techniques to improve your own personal brand and how to best represent yourself, as well as the organization you represent. As part of the presentation, Nancy will share what a message map is and how to use it. She will also share the importance of listening to your audience and provide advice for individuals and organizations that want to communicate their messages more effectively. The session will include a networking opportunity for the attendees to apply the information from the presentation and a 15-minute interactive Q&A session. Portions of the presentation will be recorded for use in a future episode of The PR Maven® Podcast.

Level: Intermediate
Presenter: Nancy Marshall, Marshall Communications

B9: Policy Foundations for Building Endowments

Gift acceptance, investment and spending policies are a critical foundation for encouraging and facilitating gifts that are either restricted or other than cash or marketable securities. Learn about the opportunities, risks, board engagement and marketing aspect of these organizational prerequisites to build your land trust’s financial sustainability for the long-term

Level: Intermediate
Presenters: Abraham Dugal and Sarah Ruef-Lindquist, Allen Financial Group

B10: Native American Rights to Clean Water to Eat Fish for Sustenance

This workshop will describe actions that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken to recognize and ensure that clean water sufficient to support fish of a quality and quantity sufficient to sustain sustenance in Maine waters where Native Americans have sustenance fishing rights or historic sustenance fishing practices. EPA has reaffirmed this position under both the Obama and Trump administrations. EPA’s actions are currently being challenged in federal court. Participants will leave with a better understanding of the water quality rights attendant to Native American sustenance fishing practices in Maine, and how such rights can be used to achieve positive water quality outcomes in the State.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: John Banks, Department of Natural Resources & Penobscot Indian Nation; Corey Hinton, Drummond Woodsum & Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point; and David Kallin, Drummond Woodsum

B11: Beginning Matters: Working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Are you or your organization starting an inquiry into what equity, inclusion, and diversity mean, how they might apply or show up in your own organization and community, and how they connect with conservation in general? Or maybe you are well on the path. No matter where you are in the process, your participation is encouraged! This workshop will help you recognize sign posts and way points, and slow down the conversation, providing simple exercises for thinking about this topic and examples of how others in conservation are exploring these topics. You will step away with resources and references for further exploration. For those interested in continuing the conversation and sharing, a roundtable discussion following the afternoon break offers an immediate opportunity to stay longer and dive deeper into this space.

Level: Any/All
Presenters: Jessica Burton, Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative, and Stefan Jackson, Natural Difference LLC

Afternoon Break outside the cafeteria 2:30 – 3 pm

Round Table Discussions 3 – 4:15 pm

Executive Directors

Join fellow Land Trust Executive Directors for a conversation on trends and challenges faced by you and your colleagues across Maine.

Facilitated by Gary Stern of Stern Consulting

International Finance/Treasurers

Land trust treasurers won’t want to miss this opportunity to share your experiences and learn what others are doing to keep up with latest best practices in organizational finance.

Facilitated by Nancy Moore of Conservation Consulting Group

Environmental Educators

You are invited to participate in this session to discuss successes, challenges, and opportunities for engaging the public through nature-based learning and exploration.

Facilitated by Becky Kolak of Kennebec Estuary Land Trust

GIS/Data Collection Tools

You’re invited to share your tricks of the trade and learn how others are using GIS though web mapping tools, smartphones, and other data collection technology to further their conservation objectives.

Facilitated by Brent West of Georges River Land Trust

Passing LMF Bond and Other Task Force Recommendations

Discover how you can support efforts to revive the LMF program and implement other recommendations offered by the Conservation Task Force.

Facilitated by Jeff Romano of Maine Coast Heritage Trust

Getting Started with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This will be an opportunity to gather with others who have a desire to think about what diversity, equity, and inclusion means in the context of land conservation in Maine. We’ll invite attendees to share their ideas, experiences, lessons, and questions about this focus and talk together as a group about tools and information.

Facilitated by Jessica Burton of the Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative, and Stefan Jackson of Natural Difference LLC

Donor Cultivation

Gather with fundraisers from other organizations for a discussion on donor cultivation and think together with your peers about how to keep supporters engaged in your work.

Facilitated by Peter Jones of JWP Fundraising

Events, Field Trips, and Outings

Land trusts around Maine are employing a diversity of events, field trips, and other community outings to motivate friends old and new to engage with the land, and to demonstrate the impact of donor gifts. Share your experiences and bring home new ideas for your next gathering.

Facilitated by Ceci Danforth of Maine Coast Heritage Trust

Citizen Science

Provide insights into your experiences and hear how others are engaging their communities through citizen science to track the changing climate, invasive species, and other aspects of your protected lands.

Facilitated by Maine Audubon

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