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.
Mark Doty, Madison
Mark Doty earned his BS degree in Forest Engineering from the University of Maine. His career started as a forester with Scott Paper and he retired in 2018 from Weyerhaeuser as Public Affairs Manager. He now works as a forester. He served as President of the Maine Forest Products Council, as well as Vice President of the New Hampshire Timber Owners Association and Vermont Woodlands Association. He has also served as a board member of the Vermont Forest Products Association, Maine SFI Implementation Committee, Cooperative Forestry Research Unit, and Sportsmen/Forest Landowner Alliance. He and his wife Lilly live in Madison.
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.