AWWF Presents Board Resolution Honoring Matt and Ruth LaRoche

On Sunday, April 11, 2021, AWWF President Bob McIntosh and Board Member Jenny Ward presented Matt and Ruth LaRoche a Resolution adopted by the AWWF Board of Directors on the occasion of Matt’s recent retirement as Superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

From left: Jenny Ward, Bob McIntosh, Matt LaRoche, Ruth LaRoche (Photo credit: Rachel Pohl)

RESOLUTION

Whereas, Matt LaRoche as a youth in the town of Lisbon Falls sought recreation in woods and waters as he set a course for a life and career in the forests, rivers and lakes of northern Maine; and

Whereas, Matt LaRoche broadened his knowledge at the University of Maine, added to his skills as a guide, logger, heavy equipment operator, snowmobile trail groomer and carpenter, and honed his talents as a working team member and communicator, while working as a seasonal park ranger and winter jack-of-all-trades; and

Whereas, Matt LaRoche demonstrated his management, leadership and diplomatic qualities as Manager of the Penobscot River Corridor and Superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway; and wisdom and winning ways in building a lifelong partnership with Ruth Scott LaRoche; and

Whereas, Matt LaRoche has proven a transformative leader of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, building a team of rangers and staff dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Waterway by maintaining and improving campsites, equipment, support structures, shorelines and trails, preserving and protecting historic sites and memorabilia, and serving as unobtrusive resources for visitors who come to experience the Waterway; and

Whereas, Matt LaRoche has been a skillful diplomatic representative of the Waterway with adjacent landowners and residents of the Allagash region, and an eloquent spokesperson informing state officials, legislators and the general public about the Waterway through his personal appearances, reports and articles;

THEREFORE,

Be It Resolved, That we, members of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation Board of Directors, having been privileged to observe, work with and learn from Matt LaRoche, do hereby declare that we consider him to be among the pantheon of outstanding leaders in the establishment and continuation of the Waterway as an unsurpassed source of a wilderness experience in the midst of a working forest; and

Be It Further Resolved, that we hereby declare that the team of Matt and Ruth Scott LaRoche is the very model of a partnership for all seasons in making the Waterway a welcoming and restorative place, even in these most challenging of times.

Adopted this Second Day of April 2021 in tribute and with thanks to Matt and Ruth Scott LaRoche following Matt’s retirement from 45 years of public service and 12 years as Superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Bob McIntosh, President, Scot Balentine, Richard Barringer, Kaitlyn Bernard, Emma Carlson, Jana L. Caty, John Daigle, Aga A. Dixon, Travis Duval, Tom Gerard, Alec Giffen, Don Hudson, Chace Jackson, Paul Johnson, Leslie Marquis, Don Nicoll, Jason Perkins, Peter Sirois, Betta Stothart and Jenny Ward, Alexandra Conover Bennett, Advisor to the Board, and Denise St. Peter, Coordinator