Carole Cifrino

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Inspired by childhood summers spent exploring the woods and waters of Cape Cod, Carole’s life work has focused on environmental education and sustainability.  After spending time leading teenagers on backpacking trips in the Great Smokies and restoring trails and bridges in Baxter State Park, she has dedicated the bulk of her career to public service at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.  Working as an advocate for Maine’s people, communities and environment, Carole focused the majority of her career to conceiving, implementing and managing several first-in-the-nation programs designed to minimize the environmental footprint from the manufacturing and use of products.

Carole holds an undergraduate degree in education from the University of Connecticut, and a M.S. in Adult Education from the University of Southern Maine.  She lives in Whitefield where she served on the School Committee and the recycling committee, and assisted with the planning to establish a municipal fire department and build a new fire station.  She and her husband, David Wright, have two grown children and have turned their attention to Midcoast Conservancy in retirement.

Laurie Howarth

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Laurie Howarth has lived and worked  in Waldoboro, Maine since 1986. She is semi-retired from a 43+ year career in veterinary medicine.

She is new to the workings of Land Trusts having been a board member of MVLT for the past 2 years and part of the merger committee. The natural world with its animals, land, plants, and waters has always been the undercurrent of her life ever since her childhood. Her concern for the environment began as a teenager. Her choice of attending veterinary college in Ames ,Iowa was based on not wanting to live in a city for four years.

She has raised a son in Maine who recently returned from California to live and work in Maine. Her husband, Bill Chapman, is a retired boat captain. They both enjoy spending time with their 4 dogs and staying at their Island camp. Laurie is an avid gardener during good weather and a weaver during inclement weather.

Buck O’Herin, Board President

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.

Joanne Steneck, Vice-President

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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.

Sally Butler, Secretary

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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.