The People Behind the Land Trust

MJ Blanchette joined the KLT board in 2008 and also serves on the Town of Kittery Parks Commission. As a painter and organic gardener living in Kittery Point, MJ is an avid naturalist with a keen appreciation for wildlife and the preservation of natural habitat and open spaces.

Gillian Carter, Secretary, is a librarian and retired as Manager of Information Systems from New York University. She moved to Maine in September 2003 and lives in an old home by the water in Kittery, which she has remodeled. She joined KLT and RESTORE: The North Woods years before she moved to Maine. She is thrilled to be in Maine and she hopes she can make a difference. She has served on a number of Boards including the NJACLU, her congregation in NYC, professional, and socially active organizations. She is currently on the board of CWC and serves her church as an Outreach Associate and co-chair of the Peace and Justice Task Force. She is on the Kittery Energy Advisory Committee. She sings in the Funky Divas of Gospel and volunteers for AARP processing tax forms for the elderly and low-income people. Gillian is secretary of the board.

Tim Case began his excitement for land trusts as a college intern at Maine Coast Heritage Trust where he created their first conservation database using geographic information systems (GIS). He went on to be the first GIS manager for the Maine Natural Areas Program, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, and worked in state government helping to establish Maine's GIS community. He joined the KLT board in 2008 and has been active in the Stewardship and Development committees since 2006. When not running or biking around Kittery, Tim is renovating an old home and gardens. He is a regional manager with Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global planning and engineering consulting firm. He teaches and writes on 3D and GIS technologies, and chairs an international standards committee that fosters better data sharing among public and private organizations.

Alex Dearborn joined KLT in 2004, after moving to Kittery Point with his wife, Danna, and hosted KLT's first gala celebration in June 2006. Alex brings years of entrepreneurial and business experience to the board, having run his vintage Mercedes restoration and sales business, as well as other small start-ups, since the 1970s. As a hiker and kayaker, he is passionate about preserving open land and has helped preserve serveral thousand acres of private lands in New York and Massachusetts.

Richard Emery, Treasurer is a lifelong resident of Kittery and worked for 37 years in Portsmouth, NH as a middle school teacher and school administrator. He joined the KLT board since 2000 and currently serves as its treasurer.

Ken Fellows, President, was elected to the board in 2001 and has served as vice president from 2004 to 2009. He retired from a distinguished career in academic medicine to live full-time in Kittery. He and his wife have lived for 30 years in a house in Kittery Point on Chauncey Creek (a tidal river). In that period, Ken says, "I have come to love the natural beauty of the surrounding marshes and the diverse ecosystem existing within these tidal waters. I want to do all I can to help preserve some of this, and similar areas in Kittery, for future generations."

Bill MacDonald joined the board in 2009. He is a CPA and Certified Financial Planner. He and his wife Janice have lived in Kittery Point since 1990. Bill’s practice, which is based in Portsmouth, services clients in income and estate tax planning as well as investment advisory services. “I am really excited to be able to help folks learn about how donations to the Kittery Land Trust work to benefit both themselves and their community”.

Bob Newman joined the Board in 2009. Bob grew up in Western Canada where he developed an early and life long love for the outdoors and for conservation.  He studied animal biology in college and his working life has been primarily focused on the development of new medicines for the treatment of cancer.  He is an avid outdoors person with a particular love for kayaking, biking and hiking in and around Kittery.  He has lived in Kittery Point since 2006 and has been active on the Stewardship Committee since early 2009.

Rob Nichols joined the KLT Board in 2001, served as the vice-president from 2003 to 2004, and is currently the chair of the acquisitions committee. Rob is a Certified Financial Planner and has run his own advisory business since 1995. Rob is "delighted to be a part of protecting the forests, wetlands, and coastal areas which make up the southern Maine landscape.

Bill Paarlberg grew up in Hampton, NH, and has lived in Kittery since 1982. He does freelance editing, design and illustration. A member of the KLT board since 1998, he served as Secretary in 1999, and as President from 2000 to 2004.

Melissa Paly, Vice President, runs Cross Current Productions, a production company that specializes in the development of innovative media about environmental challenges for. television broadcast and targeted education, outreach and training. She is currently in production on Now or Never, a series for broadcast and the web about climate change solution stories in the Northeast, and a media campaign about new approaches to fisheries management She moved to Kittery Point with her family in 1997, and is an avid outdoors-person and gardener. She has served as a member of the board of directors of the Kittery Land Trust since 1999 and was President from 2005-2009.

Cameron Wake is a Research Associate Professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, and the Department of Earth Science, University of New Hampshire, where his interests center on the recovery and analysis of ice cores. In addition, he is leading an integrated assessment to improve our understanding of the human health effects of air pollution in New England. Over the past decade he has also been president of Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes (SABR), an organization that promotes safe and effective bicycle transportation. He has lived in Kittery for 12 years and joined the KLT board in 2003.

Karen Young has 16 years of professional experience working to protect natural resources in coastal environments, most recently as Director of the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership in Portland. She is currently a Foundation Officer for the Maine Community Foundation (MCF) working with community volunteers and donors to build community through grants and outreach in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin and Oxford Counties. Karen enjoys kayaking, surfing and other outdoor activities and loves sharing her passion for the outdoors with her children. Karen served on KLT's board from 2003-2006 and re-joined the board in 2009.

KLT has one part-time paid staff person who helps to support the Board and KLT's mission. Kelsey Woodward has been the part-time coordinator of the Kittery Land Trust since September 2007. For seven years, she worked for Dartmouth College as a fundraiser for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and from 1984-1994 for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as Director of Volunteer Services. Joining Kittery Land Trust was one of the first things she did after moving to Kittery Point in 2001.