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Chuck Dinsmore

Professor (ret.); biologist; certified master naturalist


Born and raised in Maine where he learned early on to love and value wild places, Chuck graduated from Bowdoin College (A.B., biology) and Brown University (Ph.D., biological sciences). He began his career as a college professor in Boston (1974-76), then accepted a position on the faculty of Rush University at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago.

Chuck returned to Maine in 2000 where he taught high school biology at Lincoln Academy for eight years and at the same time began volunteering on projects with the Pemaquid Watershed Association. Upon the founding of Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in 2009, he started participating on many of its projects and engaging in its further development, joining its Board in 2013 and becoming its president in 2015.

During that time Chuck also completed the Maine Master Naturalist Program and regularly shares his enthusiasm for the outdoors by leading educational tours on the trails and waters of HVNC. He and his wife, Megan, have two grown children and two grandchildren, and reside in Damariscotta.

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Brent Douglass

40 year career in operations, maintenance, planning & construction; volunteer; docent


Brent Douglass is graduate of Dartmouth, where he is on the Alumni Council.  He was chief facilities officer at 4 universities over a 40 year career (operations, maintenance, planning & construction) overseeing staff's ranging from 40-200 people.  Also was VP for Development and Facilities at Wintergreen Resort, where he oversaw putting in a historic conservation easement. They put a conservation easement on their VA farm and implemented a Chesapeake Bay Foundation grant to plant 1,000 trees along a tributary creek of the James River that passes through their farm.

Brent is an active volunteer with our Lake Council, Courtesy Boat Inspector, Invasive Plant Patrol and they have done a YCC erosion control project on the land on Damariscotta Lake where they own a house. Brent is also a docent for CMBG. Brent and his wife Carter live in Virginia for half the year and the other half on Damariscotta Lake.

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Buck O’Herin, Board President

Educator; wilderness guide; traveler

Buck O’Herin has worked in the education and conservation fields for more than 35 years. He was a board member of the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance beginning in 1999 and was the group’s first executive director. He taught semester-long environmental field study programs with the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute and Sterling College, and environmental and outdoor recreation courses at Unity College. From a young age he was drawn to the wild fringes of the built environment and has continued these sojourns in widening circles that eventually included the Arctic and deserts of the American southwest.

For ten years he ran a guiding business that offered wilderness canoeing and backpacking trips around the U.S. and Canada. He is a founder of the Waldo County Trails Coalition (WCTC) that in 2016 completed the 46-mile Hills to Sea Trail from Belfast to Unity and he is currently the part-time coordinator. Buck has a M.S. in Environmental Education and a B.S. in Secondary Education. He lives in Montville with his partner Lisa Newcomb and daughter Zaela.

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Joanne Steneck, Vice-President

General Counsel, Maine Public Utilities Commission (ret.)


Joanne graduated from the University of Maine School of Law in 1987 and spent her legal career with the state regulatory agency, the Maine Public Utilities Commission. She was an attorney with the Commission until 1997 when she became General Counsel. As such, she supervised the legal division and was a member of the senior staff advising the three member commission on gas, electric and telecommunications matters. She oversaw the connection to the internet of Maine’s schools and libraries and was the manager of the first in the nation project providing laptops to all Maine seventh and eighth graders. She retired from the Commission in October 2014. Joanne has lived in Whitefield, Maine along the Sheepscot River since 1981 with her husband Robert, a professor of marine science at the University of Maine. She was a board member of the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, a Midcoast Conservancy legazy organization, since 2008 and served as the Chair of their Lands Committee.

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Justin Ward, Treasurer

International conservation leader; outdoor enthusiast


Justin Ward worked for more than 35 years with two leading environmental organizations – Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Conservation International. With NRDC, he was deeply involved in successful efforts to reform U.S. Forest Service timber sale policies, and to promote enactment of landmark soil and wetland protection provisions in the federal farm bill. At Conservation International, he helped to launch the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, which engaged with major corporations to promote best practices for conservation. During the 1990s, Justin served on the international Board of the Forest Stewardship Council. He is the recipient of an American Farmland Trust Conservation Award for National Public Education.

Justin has a BA in Geography from the University of Montana, and an MA in Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota. He regularly takes advantage of the abundant opportunities in Maine for activities such as skiing, hiking, kayaking, and live music. Justin lives in Edgecomb with his wife, Anne Carver, and their energetic border collie named Dusty.

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Chris Kenoyer

Interpretive naturalist and guide; angler; restorer of old things


Surrounded by large tracts of forests and alluring waterways in Maine, Chris developed a strong love of the natural world at an early age. During his college years, he led weekend canoeing and hiking trips for the University of Maine and upon graduating with a BA in Natural Resource Management, worked for both private and public sectors as an interpretive naturalist and guide in New Mexico, the Everglades and New Zealand.

Returning to Maine, the purchase and restoration of his first home, an aging colonial in Machias, evolved into an appreciation and passion for old things and a decades long business re-acquisitioning American antiques from the Canadian maritimes. In 2004, Chris and his partner Bridget bought an old farmstead in Alna and embarked on a lifelong restoration of their fields and forests, primarily to benefit wildlife.

Chris has served as an active council member, steward and property monitor for Midcoast Conservancy in Sheepscot Valley for over 20 years and was a key member of the town committee to address the aging and beloved Head Tide Dam to ensure safe passage of anadromous fish and preserve the history and vested interests of the community. When not working in the garden or woods, Chris is often exploring the wilder areas of Maine & Canada, seeking out forgotten portage trails and tuck-away trout ponds.

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Sally Butler, Secretary

Past business owner of the Jojoba Company; landscape designer; wildlife conservationist


Sally Butler was a frequent visitor to Maine before moving to Waldoboro along the Medomak River in 2005.  A childhood in the English countryside gave her a life-long appreciation of animals and the natural world. She completed a three-year certification program for landscape design at Radcliffe; Sally chaired her town’s Open Space Committee and served for ten years as a Conservation Commissioner upholding the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. Since settling in Waldoboro, Sally has been especially active in Medomak Valley Land Trust and has served on the board and the majority of the committees.  Conserving land for wildlife habitat is of particular importance to her.

For over 24 years she and her husband, Bob, owned The Jojoba Company where they worked together until the end of 2018 when they sold the company.  They traveled extensively for their company and now look forward to enjoying some personal travel adventures, as well as having more time for gardening.

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Liz Petruska

Land preservation expert; former Executive Director of the Medomak Valley Land Trust


Liz enjoys blending her love of the outdoors with her day job, where she currently serves as a National Program Specialist for the USDA Forest Service Forest Legacy Program. She has worked in the land conservation field for more than 20 years, with 12 years spent as staff for the Medomak Valley Land Trust, a Midcoast Conservancy legacy organization. In recent years Liz worked as Director of Planning and Acquisitions for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, and as co-coordinator for the Maine Land Conservation Task Force. Working locally, statewide, and now nationally has given her a great appreciation of both the vast natural resources of the state and country and the importance of community-based projects. 

Liz received her B.A. in Government and Public Service from the University of Notre Dame, and a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Liz enjoys baking, hiking, boating, golfing, and time at home in Waldoboro with her husband and two cats.

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Kathy Stevens

Fundraiser; lawyer; community organizer and trained mediator


Kathy Stevens has over 20 years in the non-profit and education sectors. Since 2012, she has served as executive director of the Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL), following career stops in higher education and an international nonprofit. Kathy is a fundraiser, lawyer, community organizer and trained mediator. As a consultant, Kathy has provided strategic planning facilitation and board development to local nonprofits since 2018. Kathy has served on several boards and led a Montgomery County (Maryland) collective impact initiative, Montgomery Moving Forward, and currently serves on the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming board in Silver Spring, MD.

A graduate of Swarthmore College, Kathy also holds a EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a J.D. from the University of Richmond. When not at work or a board meeting, Kathy loves a good hike with her black lab, Blair, finding live music, bringing people around a table, for a home cooked meal and conversation, being near water, especially Damariscotta Lake, and travel.

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