Bar Harbor, ME
Since 1981, Ron Beard has had the good fortune to paddle the Allagash annually, with family and friends, and for thirty years as a volunteer trip leader for College of the Atlantic students. Favorite early trips included his daughter, son, and their grandfather. Ron is an emeritus professor, University of Maine, where he focused on community development through his work with Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. Ron was recognized as a Gulf of Maine Visionary in 2013. As part of his work, he created (and continues to produce) Talk of the Towns, a monthly public affairs program for WERU FM, over the years interviewing hundreds of community and organizational leaders about topical concerns and opportunities. In retirement, Ron serves as Secretary on the Board of Trustees for College of the Atlantic. He chairs the Board of Directors for Jesup Memorial Library. He and his wife Sandi live in Bar Harbor.
Willimantic, ME
Alexandra is a Master Registered Maine Guide and co-owner of North Woods Ways with Garrett Conover since 1978, leading year round canoeing and snowshoeing trips in the wildest regions of Maine and Labrador. She has snowshoed the length of the Allagash upriver and down twice and guided our guests on summer and winter camping trips there for decades. Alexandra is currently on the Advisory Board of Friends of Baxter State Park and has served in an advisory capacity on a variety of the State’s Bureau of Parks and Lands committees over the decades. These days she can be found sharing adventures instructing Traditional Travel Skills on the waterways, both winter and open water seasons, with College of the Atlantic students.
Harpswell, ME
Born in the Shenandoah Valley, Brownie came to Maine in 1965, graduating from Bowdoin and the University of Maine School of Law. He served in the Marines in Vietnam, 1968-69. After practicing law with Pine Tree Legal Assistance for six years, he joined the staff of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, becoming executive director in 1984. He retired from NRCM in 2011, and continued environmental work on the boards of Maine Conservation Voters and Friends of Acadia. In 2016, he was elected to the Maine State Senate, representing five towns in the mid Coast for four years, and co-chairing the Environment Committee in 2019-20. Brownie lives with his wife, Dana, in Harpswell.
Weston, ME
Dave Conley, Master Maine guide and owner of Canoe the Wild has been paddling the rivers of Maine and Canada for over 35 years. During the school year, Dave teaches an outdoor education program at East Grand High School in Danforth. In the fall, he offers guided Maine moose hunts from remote wall tent camps in northern Maine. Dave is passionate about sharing his knowledge of the outdoors while guiding canoe trips on the Allagash.
Houlton, ME
Albro Cowperthwaite was born in Houlton, Maine and graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a B.S. Degree in Parks Management. Upon graduating, he began employment with North Maine Woods. In 1977, he was promoted to Field Manager and from 1982 to 2021 he served as Executive Director. Albro helped create the Sportsman's/Forest Landowner Alliance and served on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Council for many years. His work has been widely recognized including the Honorary Lifetime Guide Award from the Maine Professional Guide Association.
Lille, ME
Don has taught and continues in the History and Art Department at the University of Maine at Presque Isle for 42 years. He has taught at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics for 20 years. Don is the President of the Association culturelle et historique du Mont-Carmel (the capitalization IS correct) in Lille, Maine. He has been restoring a former church that is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. Don has served on the Boards of the Maine Humanities Council, Maine Arts Commission, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Maine-Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission, Maine State House and Capitol Park Commision, and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Council. He has served as a U.S. Park Ranger for the Maine Acadian Culture Project managed by Acadia National Park. Don has won numerous awards, including the Phoenix Award of the North American Travel Writers Association, and the Maine Preservation Award for the restoration of the church in Lille. I reside in Lille, a village in Grand Isle Township.
Woolwich, ME
Tim has designed, taught, implemented, and administered educational programs which provide opportunities for participants to grow In their sense of self and an understanding of how they relate to others and the rest of the natural world. He has utilized concepts of global, environmental, experiential, place-based, and affective education. He served as Director of the Chewonki Foundation for 25 years. He then founded and directed GlobalQuest, and was Director of the Prem International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He has served on the Boards of many non-profits including Maine Audubon, NRCM, National Audubon( Merrymeeting Chapter) and many state, regional and national youth camping and educational associations. His passion for the Allagash comes from leading many youth, family, and Elderhostel Trips on the waterway as a Registered Maine Guide.
Topsham, ME
Tim has had a long career in Maine land conservation, environmental advocacy, and natural resource policy. He has degrees in Environmental Studies from Colby College and Forestry Science from Yale. Since working on the original zoning of Maine’s Unorganized Territory in 1974, Tim led a multidisciplinary team to develop a reforestation program for the Government of Pakistan, served as Principal Analyst for Natural Resources at the Maine Legislature, Deputy Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Director of the Land for Maine’s Future Program and most recently as the President of Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Tim loves to sail and paddle. He lives with his wife, Kathy Lyon, and looks forward to introducing two grandsons to the joys of the Northwoods and Maine Coast.
Bar Harbor, ME
Ted was introduced to the North Woods during camping trips on Moosehead Lake in the 1950s. As an administrator at College of the Atlantic, he led Allagash trips for entering students for 33 years. He created the “Family Nature Camp” for parents and children to enjoy field trip experiences in Acadia. In the 1990s, Ted developed “Eco-Eco”, a statewide civic forum focused on ecology and economy in Maine’s future. Elected to the Legislature from 2000-2008, Ted chaired the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. He was Executive Director at Maine Audubon from 2009-2014. Now retired, he serves on the Island Housing Trust board, Zero Waste Committee; Friends of Acadia Advocacy Committee; and the Bar Harbor Conservation Commission.
Wallagrass, ME
Melford Pelletier, son of game warden Leonard Pelletier, spent his youth upriver from the Town of Allagash in the woods, lakes and waterways of the Allagash and St. John Rivers. A resident of Wallagrass, he still, with his brothers, canoes and fishes in these areas today. Melford is a Vietnam Era, US Army veteran and with a Master’s Degree in Education he taught in the Fort Kent schools for 30-years. In addition to a past time of restoring old canoes, Melford has volunteered as an ATV Safety Instructor and a selectman in the town of Wallagrass; and at the Allagash Historical Society, the UMFK Board of Visitors, the Board of Environmental Protection, and the Tri-County Veterans Memorial Committee. He served on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Council, worked on the Taylor Camp Restoration Project, and was a founder and president of the Friends of the Allagash, a predecessor organization of the AWWF
Orono, Maine
Darren J. Ranco, PhD, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Programs at the University of Maine. He has a Masters of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School and a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. His research focuses on the ways in which indigenous communities in the United States resist environmental destruction by using indigenous science, diplomacies, and critiques of liberalism to protect natural and cultural resources. He teaches classes on indigenous intellectual property rights, research ethics, environmental justice and tribal governance. As a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, he is particularly interested in how better research relationships can be made between universities, museums, Native and non-Native researchers, and indigenous communities.
Bangor, ME
Karin joined the Forest Society of Maine (FSM) in 2011 and became President/CEO in 2017. She brings her decades-long interest in and experience with Maine’s North Woods to this position as well as a strong commitment to rural economic health and connecting conservation with community prosperity. Karin has a B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont and a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. Before joining FSM Karin worked for decades in both the public and private sector focusing on conservation law and policy. In her free time Karin enjoys fly fishing, hiking, canoeing, Nordic skiing, and artistic pursuits. She has helped lead FSM’s efforts to bring permanent conservation to Maine’s North Woods using conservation easements as a primary tool. To date FSM has helped conserve a million throughout Maine – making it one of the nation’s largest land trusts as measured by acres conserved within one state.
OUR MISSION IS to enhance the wilderness character of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, protect its environment, and preserve and foster knowledge and understanding of its natural, historic and cultural values. In close collaboration with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, we serve as the Friends of the Allagash.
- Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation
