Doug Baston, Gardiner
Doug Baston is a ninth-generation Mainer who lives in Alna, where he chaired the planning board for 20 years. He has woods in Jefferson and Vienna. He graduated from the University of Maine and the University of Maine School of Law, and works as a consultant in the energy efficiency industry.
Kyle Burdick, Brookton
Kyle is a licensed forester and the Vice President of Baskahegan Company. He is responsible for management policy, forest certification, land acquisitions, carbon offsets, wood sales, and general company administration. He grew up in Southeastern Connecticut and earned a forest management degree from the University of Maine in 2007 which was followeed by time as a forest manager in the Adirondacks. In 2009, Kyle came back to Maine to work for Orion Timberlands serving as, among other things, the forester for Downeast Land Trust. In 2014, Kyle became the Land Trust Forester for Downeast Land Trust. He started with Baskahegan in 2016.
Hannah Carter, Orono
Hannah Carter is a native of Caribou, Maine and is dean of University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Carter received her Ph.D and master’s degree in agricultural education and communication, specializing in agricultural leadership and Extension education, from the University of Florida. She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Jim Clair, China
Jim Clair is CEO of CSSHealth, a healthcare technology company based in Tampa, FL and Buffalo, NY and also owns or co-owns a number of companies in Maine under the umbrella, Clair Group of Companies. From 1984 to 2001, he served on the nonpartisan staff of the Maine Legislature. Jim holds master’s degrees from Syracuse University and the State University of New York, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts. Clair and his wife Jennifer split their time between China, Maine, where they own 155 acres of woods, and a home in Portland, Maine.
Chris Jackson, Bowdoinham
Chris is a principal and owner of the firm Mitchell Tardy Jackson Government Affairs, LLC, one of the premier lobbying firms in Maine. His passion for Maine, the future of its forests, and the health of the environment comes from his early experiences growing up in Presque Isle, where he spent a lot of time hunting and fishing in the North Maine Woods. Chris lives in Bowdoinham with his wife, two teenage daughters and their dog, Cabot. They spend their free time at Eagle Cove on West Lake in Hancock County.
John Melrose, Vassalboro
John Melrose and his wife Molly settled in Vassalboro in 1976 and live on about 135 acres of which about a third is rented as hay and corn fields and the remainder is woodlands. He holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration and a masters in Community Development from the University of Maine. John began his career at the Maine Municipal Association and then for 20 years owned and directed the private consulting firm specializing in government relations, association management and economic and community development. He served eight years as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation in the King Administration. For 16 years John served as steward for the Vassalboro Wildlife Habitat which is owned and managed by Kennebec Land Trust (KLT).
Richard Nass, Acton
Richard Nass and his wife Joan have been growing trees and living and exploring 135 acres along the Salmon Falls River in Acton for the past 45 years. He has a degree in Math from Union College and earned an MBA from University of New Hampshire. After military service and years working for General Electric and in the New Hampshire Legislature, Richard served eight years in the Maine House of Representatives and another eight years in the Maine Senate, followed by two years in the House Speaker’s Office. Richard served two years as Maine Woodland Owners President.
Paul Sampson, Lincolnville
Paul Sampson grew up on a 100-acre farm with a father who was an architectural woodworker. From an early age, he was taught to grow and harvest trees, saw and dry lumber, make cabinets, doors and moldings from that lumber. He and his wife, Jula, have run their millwork business, A.E. Sampson & Son, in Warren since 1987. Always willing to learn, Sampson attended his first Maine Woodland Owners event in the mid-1990s, and has been “hooked on the organization ever since.” After volunteering for the Midcoast chapter leader position, he joined the board of directors.