He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”

A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books,National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors . In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat— Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.

Terry Tempest Williams has been called “a citizen writer,” a writer who speaks and speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, she has consistently shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. “So here is my question,” she asks, “what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?” Williams, like her writing, cannot be categorized. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, been a guest at the White House, has camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda.

Known for her impassioned and lyrical prose, Terry Tempest Williams is the author of the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Desert Quartet; Leap; Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert; The Open Space of Democracy; and Finding Beauty in a Broken World. Her next book, When Women Were Birds, was published in Spring 2012 by Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She is also a columnist for the magazine The Progressive. Her new book is The Story of My Heart by Richard Jeffries, as rediscovered by Brooke Williams and Terry Tempest Williams(Torrey House Press), in which she and Brooke Williams expand upon the 1883 book by Richard Jeffries. Williams is also currently working on a new book titled The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The book will be published in 2016 to honor the centennial of the National Park Service.

In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. In 2009, Terry Tempest Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series on the national parks. In 2014, on the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Ms. Williams received the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award honoring a distinguished record of leadership in American conservation.

For years, he has been creating curricula and leading learning experiences designed to help people transform their lives and work to better fit their values and to build professional relationships across divides of class, race, profession and ideology.  He co-created a specific curriculum called Whole Thinking, which combined reflective practices, working with difference, story, dialogue, and visioning.  For 15 years he worked in conservation for the Trust for Public Land, first serving as New England regional director, then vice-president, then their first fellow, and finally the inaugural recipient of their Land and People Award.  In the 1990s, he was among the first to bring together and create dialogue between rural, lower-income, blue collar logging communities and the urban, white collar advocacy community in the northeast.  In 2005, he worked with the Kellogg Foundation to convene farm and restaurant workers and labor rights activists with policy experts and food security advocates.  In 2009, he conceived of and launched a new program, 2042 Today, that calls upon the conservation community to recognize the emerging population of color in our country and creates space for young conservationists, both whites and people of color, to re-imagine conservation and how best to be in relationship in order to realize that future.

In recent years, Dana has been a strong advocate for protection and restoration of the Penobscot River, on which his people have depended for food and medicinal plants for 10,000 years. Dana is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono with a bachelor’s degree in education and an associate’s degree in forest management.

McNair has held grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller grants for study at the Bellagio Center in Italy, two NEA fellowships, and a United States Artist Fellowship as one of American’s “finest living artists.” He has twice been invited to read his poetry by the Library of Congress, and has served four times on the Pulitzer jury for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Other honors include the Robert Frost Award, the Theodore Roethke Prize, an Emmy Award, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal, for his “distinguished contribution to the world of letters.” His poetry has been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and 22 times on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared in the Best American Poetry and over sixty anthologies and textbooks. He was recently named as the 2015 recipient of the PEN New England Award for Poetry, for his latest collection, The Lost Child: Ozark Poems.

Acadia received more than 2.8 million visitors in 2015, making it one of the busiest national parks in the United States.  Saint Croix Island, also in Maine along the Canadian border, commemorates the beginning of a permanent French presence in North America.  

Before his current post at Acadia, Kevin was the deputy superintendent at Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway (2011-2016), located in Wyoming.   Kevin also served as the Acting Superintendent at Grand Teton from November 2013 to March 2014.  Kevin was also the superintendent of White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico (2008-2011). While serving as superintendent at White Sands, Kevin held a detail assignment in 2010 as Yellowstone National Park’s acting chief of natural and cultural resources. He worked at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as management assistant (2005-2008) and again at Yellowstone National Park as a park planner and in communications (2000-2005).  From 1998 to 2000, Kevin worked in the NPS Office of Communications in Washington, D.C. He began his National Park Service career maintaining backcountry trails at Rocky Mountain National Park (1996-1997). In addition to his federal employment, Kevin worked as a Student Conservation Association volunteer at North Cascades National Park.

In recognition of his NPS service and accomplishments, Kevin earned an honor award for outstanding service from the Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General in 2005. He also received a Department of the Interior Superior Service Award in 2004. Kevin graduated cum laude from Colorado State University and received a Master of Public Administration degree from Montana State University.

Kevin and his wife, Cate, have two young children.

His work focuses on historic and present-day innovations in the field of conservation that are marked by novelty and creativity, strategic significance, measurable effectiveness, transferability, and an ability to endure.  Levitt has been the editor for multiple books on the topic of conservation innovation, including The Academy as Nature’s Agent and Conservation Capital in the Americas.  He also serves as a fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Bilmes is widely considered one of the leading experts in US budgeting and public finance. She has held senior positions in government, including Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the US Department of Commerce during the Clinton administration, and has served on a number of high-level national commissions. She is one of four individuals selected by the US Congress in 2010 as a candidate for Comptroller General of the United States.

Bilmes currently serves on the US Department of Interior National Park System Advisory Committee and the US Department of Labor Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment, Outreach and Training.  She runs an innovative program to assist cities and towns in Greater Boston with their financial health, leading teams of Harvard student volunteers who work in the communities.  She also leads budgeting and appropriations workshops for newly-elected Mayors and Members of Congress.  Earlier in her career, she worked as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in London, Madrid and Moscow.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a BA and MBA from Harvard University.  

For more information about Bilmes’ work visit her website

He was the cochair of Hoover’s Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force.

Anderson is the author or editor of thirty-seven books. Among these, Free Market Environmentalism, coauthored with Donald Leal, received the 1992 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award. A revised edition was published in 2001.

His most recent publication is Tapping Water Markets (RFF Press, 2012). Other books include Greener Than Thou: Are You Really and Environmentalist (Hoover Institution Press, 2008) and Property Rights: A Practical guide to Freedom and Prosperity (Hoover Institution Press, 2003), both coauthored with Laura Huggins. His book, with Peter J. Hill, The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier(Stanford University Press), was awarded the 2005 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award. Anderson’s research, which has also focused on Native American economies, recently resulted in a coedited volume, Self-Determination: The Other Path for Native Americans (Stanford University Press, 2006). He has published widely in both professional journals and the popular press, including the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and Fly Fisherman.

In March 2011, Anderson received the Liberalni Institute Annual Award in Prague in the Czech Republic for his “Contribution to the Proliferation of Liberal Thinking, and Making Ideas of Liberty, Private Property, Competition, and the Rule of Law Come True.” Previous recipients include Nobel laureates Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and Vernon Smith.

Anderson received his BS degree from the University of Montana in 1968 and his PhD degree in economics from the University of Washington in 1972, after which he began his teaching career at Montana State University, where he won several teaching awards.

Anderson is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys fishing, hiking, skiing, horseback riding, and archery hunting, especially in Africa.

Prior to joining MCHT, Tim led the Land for Maine’s Future Program from 2001 to 2011 during a period of unprecedented success in the State’s land conservation. With his earlier work at the Natural Resources Council of Maine and as the Principal Analyst for Natural Resources at the Maine Legislature, Tim has been a participant and close observer of Maine’s environmental scene longer than he cares to confess. He graduated from Colby College and received a Masters in Forestry Sciences from Yale in the last century. Born in Texas and raised in New England, Tim has lived in every spruce-fir state in the region. He is a sailor and a volunteer steward for the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust.

 

He has also worked as an instructor with National Outdoor Leadership School and served a term on the school’s Advisory Council. Originally from New York State, Pete holds an MS in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana School of Forestry and a BS in Geology from St. Lawrence University. He is active in his community having served as a director of the Bozeman Amateur Hockey Association, the Gallatin Valley Ice Foundation, and as a trustee of the Sourdough Volunteer Fire Department.

Based in Augusta, NRCM is actively involved in policy making and works with citizens across the state to advocate for the environment and sustainability at the local, state, and federal levels. Lisa has a PhD in public policy and has led nonprofit advocacy organizations for 35 years in Maine. She has had a lifelong love of the outdoors and regularly kayaks, hikes, skis, and camps across Maine.

As a reflective practitioner, Mr. Amundsen has created national curriculum for a wide range of topics including: bridge financing, strategic conservation planning, and negotiation skills. Ole is the author of Strategic Conservation Planning, published by the Land Trust Alliance, the definitive guide to conservation planning efforts. Ole has served on the faculty of Cornell University, the National Conservation Leadership Network and the Land Trust Alliance, helping people find their path into conservation. He holds a BA in Government from Colby College and a MS degree in City and Regional Planning from MIT.

Rob’s background is in cultural anthropology, and his research focuses on informal science education, science technology and society, and the cultural politics of natural resource management. He has conducted research on these topics in Maine; the Rocky Mountain states; Quepos, Costa Rica; and Yunnan, China.

He’s been with The Trust for Public Land for 15 years, first starting as a project manager in Ohio and then joining the Maine office in 2004. Wolfe is a graduate of Kenyon College and earned a Master’s degree from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Formerly, as Langlais Curator for Special Projects at the Colby College Museum of Art, she organized a major retrospective on Bernard Langlais and was the lead author of the first scholarly monograph on the artist. She also oversaw the exhibition The Lunder Collection: A Gift of Art to Colby College, the inaugural installation in the museum’s Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Boston University and a B.A. from Davidson College.

Noteworthy projects include the 20,000-acre Nicatous Lake easement, the campaign to acquire Big Spencer Mountain and six miles of Moosehead Lake shore, the 329,000-acre West Branch project, the Amherst Mountains Community Forest, and most recently the 360,000-acre Moosehead Region conservation easement.

Alan has more than 40 years of experience in land conservation and natural resource management. Educated in both wildlife ecology and forestry, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Maine. Before joining FSM, Alan worked for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for 24 years. He is a past associate faculty member at the University of Maine, a past trustee of the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and an author of books on loons and eagles.

She served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1976-1982.  She ran for Governor as an Independent in 1986. 

She is a past President of the Forest Society of Maine and a current member of their Board.  She also serves on the board of the Maine Conservation Voters, the University of Maine School of Law Board of Visitors and is a member of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Leadership Council.  She is a member of Maine Audubon’s Advisory Board, the Land Trust Alliance Council of  Advisors and the Strategic Advisors Council of NatureServe.  She is a Trustee Emerita of Waynflete School. 

She was a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy, Maine Chapter, from 1983-1993, Chair of the Board from 1987-90, and served again from 1996-2006.  She served on TNC’s national Board of Governors from 1987-1997.  She served as a Trustee of the College of the Atlantic from 1994-2009, chaired the Mainewatch Institute Board from 1988-2012, was a Director of the Land Trust Alliance from 2007-2016 and was a Director of NatureServe, formerly the Association for Biodiversity Information, from 1999-2011. 

Sherry received her B.A. with honors from Smith College in history and was the recipient of the Down East Magazine Environmental Award in 2002.

Today, as a Millinocket resident, Registered Maine Guide and passionate supporter of natural and economic sustainability in the region, Matt’s commitment to promoting responsible shared use of the area’s natural resources goes well beyond his business. It is a personal mission for Matt. His focus remains soundly on using nature, adventure, and cultural and heritage-based tourism to create memorable experiences and educational opportunities for guests.

 

From 1998-1999, Mr. Doran worked as a political appointee for then President William Clinton in the United States Department of Labor. From 1999-2001, he served Governor Angus King as Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs for the Maine Department of Labor. In 2001, Mr. Doran joined Central Maine Power Company as their Director of Business Development, acting in this capacity until 2003. From 2003-07, Mr. Doran taught social studies and coached varsity basketball at Gardiner Area High School.  His most recent position was as Director of Energy and Paper Programs at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield, Maine.  Mr. Doran held this position since 2010 and also served as Director of Resource Development for the college from 2007-10.

Mr. Doran is a 1996 graduate of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a B.A. in History/Government and Law. He was awarded an M.P.A. with a focus on Public Administration from the University of Connecticut in 1998. He and his family currently reside in Belgrade, Maine.

Prior to his 2014 appointment as head of Schoodic Institute, he spent eight years as Executive Director of Downeast Lakes Land Trust, where he led landscape scale forest conservation projects, managed a 34,000-acre Community Forest, and implemented a model carbon offset project.  Before joining DLLT, he managed Oregon’s 33,000 acre Pine Creek Conservation Area.  Mark has conducted field ornithological and botanical research, served as naturalist on Antarctic expedition cruises, and developed and taught field classes for schools and camp groups on a wide variety of natural science topics.  He currently serves on the Board of the Frenchman Bay Conservancy.

In 16 years of operation, the center has captured media attention by helping 15 biathletes and cross country skiers onto Olympic and Paralympic teams, and hosting the state’s first World Cup Biathlon in 2004. What’s often overlooked though is the center’s community programs, which support programming in over 140 communities throughout Maine, engaging thousands of people in year-round outdoor activities.

The Maine Winter Sports Center has won awards around the globe, for its innovative and effective approach to youth and community development. Andy was named the Outstanding Non-Profit Business Executive for Maine in 2010, recipient of the Russell Wilder Award by the US Ski and Snowboard Association in 2009 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Maine in 2005. The MWSC was also named one of the top youth development programs in the world by the FIS in 2007.

Andy is also co-founder, Vice Chairman and trustee of the United States Biathlon Foundation and past trustee of Carrabassett Valley Academy and Pineland Farms.

Her edited books include Photography, History, Difference (2014), Photography and Its Origins (co-edited with Andres Zervigon, 2015), and the forthcoming Grove Guide to Photography (2016). Tanya Sheehan currently serves as editor of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Journal and organizes the Photography and Migration Project based at Colby College.

His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are held in many permanent collections including those of the Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Portland Museum of Art, ME; and Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby College Art museums in Maine. His artist book After Morandi will be published this spring by L’Artiere in Bologna, Italy. He recently curated the re-exhibition of Robert Adams’s “Turning Back: A Photographic Journal of Re-exploration” for Colby College.