My First 30 Years at NRCM

Earlier this month, on January 5th to be exact, I celebrated my 30th anniversary at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). I so clearly remember my first day at work. I was hired to be the receptionist at our former offices on State Street. At that time, there was no website. There was no external email. And there were phone books…lots and lots of phone books. Former Advocacy Communications Director Judy Berk and I would send out news releases by fax, typing in the number and hand feeding the pages through the fax machine, then doing it again each time we wanted to send it to a different media outlet. We also mailed our action alerts. Can you imagine? 

Shortly after my arrival, our then-Executive Director Brownie Carson, was losing his assistant as she was moving to Portland. I don’t know how it happened, but in September of 1996 I was hired to become Brownie’s new Executive Assistant. And the rest, as they say, is history! 

I could write pages and pages of stories about working for Brownie. But I will save that for another time. I will say that Brownie is one of the smartest, hardest-working people I have ever known, and I loved (almost) every minute working for him. (I just put that almost there to make Brownie laugh when he reads this.) 

During my early years at NRCM, I had a lot to learn (and still do). I had no environmental background. My Bachelors degree is in child development/family relations. I had no idea who NRCM was. I had NO idea of the incredible history of the organization, from its founding in 1959 until I arrived here 37 years later. NRCM worked to ban billboards on roadsides in the state of Maine; they helped to pass our incredibly successful Bottle Bill; they stopped the Dickey-Lincoln Dam and Big A Dam from happening. They helped to protect the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. You can read more about that history by visiting our Success Stories. 

A few years into my time at NRCM, we learned that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decided that the environmental benefits of removing the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River in Augusta outweighed the economic benefits (it produced very little power) – so the dam would come out! This was precedent-setting…that had never before been FERC’s decision.   

On July 1, 1999, after a benefit concert in Portland the night before by the incredible Bonnie Raitt (at which she gave us a shout-out for what would be happening the next day in Augusta), I sat alongside 3,000 people from all over the world, to watch the first water flow past the site of the dam in more than 150 years. I get choked up even as I type this. It was an INCREDIBLE day, for NRCM and our partners in the Kennebec Coalition who had worked to reach this moment for more than a decade. My job that day was to sit on the bank of the river and watch photographer Bill Silliker’s camera equipment to make sure it didn’t roll down into the river while he took amazing photos capturing images of people and the river. I remember the bell ringing, the speeches, and then the thunderous applause.  

I thought that would be a one-time event for me to witness. But I was wrong. I also thought I would be Brownie’s assistant forever, but that was also wrong. In 2008, Allison Wells, our Senior Director of Communications, asked me if I wanted to work in communications full time after several years of splitting my time between work for Brownie and being the webmaster of nrcm.org. I loved working for Brownie, but this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up. Allison was very patient with all of my questions and has been a mentor to me for most of my time at NRCM. And Allison, who came to NRCM in 2004, has given me some incredible opportunities thanks to her work. She created the People’s Choice Award in 2006, and I now manage that nomination and voting process. I have gotten to talk with and meet some incredible people making a difference for Maine’s environment because of that. An example of a People’s Choice finalist from several years ago was the nomination of Don Cote who ran the Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center in Vassalboro until his passing in December 2024. He was nominated by Jayne Winters, a longtime NRCM member. Jayne and I have gotten to know each other because after nominating Don, she began writing the Critter Chatter blog for us, a piece that ran in the local Town Line newspaper as well – a column that Don’s late wife Carleen had written for several years before her passing.  

I love meeting NRCM members. I have gotten to know several members because they regularly send us photos for our My Maine This Week feature. Those members have become friends and people with whom I communicate more than some of my non-NRCM friends. They are all so creative and talented, and super nice to boot!  

And, in 2014, Allison and I began our annual puffin cruise aboard the Hardy Boat out of New Harbor. Allison’s friend and recipient of an NRCM Lifetime Achievement Conservation Leadership Award, Dr. Steve Kress, has been our naturalist and narrator for the majority of our trips. He founded Project Puffin, now known as the Audubon Seabird Institute, and is responsible for the return of these summer visitors to Maine. I had never seen a puffin before, and now I have seen hundreds of puffins. That never would have happened had I not worked here. I love those trips because of the puffins but also, and especially, because of the people. One of my favorite memories from one of our trips was when a couple from Sangerville called to purchase two tickets. For those of you not from Maine, Sangerville is quite a drive from New Harbor. But, they told me that their granddaughter was a summer intern on Eastern Egg Rock, so they wanted a chance to see her as she was living on the island for the summer. When we approached the island, a raft full of interns came out to meet the boat. And grandmother and granddaughter greeted one another!

I was shy when I joined NRCM in 1996, and now, it’s hard to stop me from talking with anyone I meet at an NRCM function, talk to over the phone, or have email communication with. I think that is not going to surprise any one of you who know me…

Back to NRCM moments forever etched in my memory: Starting in 2003, the Penobscot River Restoration Trust (of which NRCM is a founding member) worked with the owner of dams on the Penobscot to increase energy at dams upriver so that there was no net energy loss, but that made it possible to remove two dams (Great Works in 2012 and Veazie in 2013) and create a nature-like bypass for fish to get around a dam further upriver. So, in 2012 and 2013, hundreds of us gathered again to cheer as water rushed past those dams, allowing sea-run fish 2,000 more miles of habitat. Incredible! 

What I learned from all of these victories is that protecting the environment doesn’t happen quickly. So many of these projects involved numerous organizations, state agencies, the Wabanaki nations, whole communities, and individuals who care about Maine.  

Along with these remarkable moments on some of Maine’s largest rivers, there have been other wins during my time at NRCM. Here are the ones that quickly come to mind:

• The establishment of the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument 
• Protecting the Moosehead Lake region from massive development by Plum Creek  
• Passing bills to ban single-use plastic bags and foam food containers statewide 
• Stopping a tar sands pipeline that would have run past Sebago Lake and through several Maine towns. (I now spend my summers on Sebago Lake enjoying time with my husband on our boat – so this victory is one I think of each time I jump into Sebago Lake to swim on a warm summer day!) 
• Passing a first-in-the-nation law that requires producers to help cover the cost of managing the packaging waste they create. Towns could receive reimbursements for their recycling efforts as soon as 2027.
• Helping to get Land for Maine’s Future funding replenished through bond issues Maine voters passed by overwhelming majorities. 
• Several product stewardship laws to safely recycle electronic waste, mercury batteries and thermostats, unused paint, and more.  
• Working with a coalition of more than 500 businesses, towns, and organizations to pass a $30 million Maine Trails Bond. Just this month, the first grants were awarded. See the full list of grants, given to groups in 15 of Maine’s 16 counties.

And the list goes on and on. 

I could write so much more about my experiences as an NRCM staff member, but as I told the staff as they celebrated my 30 years at a staff meeting earlier this month, I will save those stories for my tell-all memoir! 😊  

Thank you to my current and past colleagues and all of our NRCM board members, our members and supporters, our partners, and anyone whose path I have crossed since that first day. You have taught me so much. You have given your time and your talents and financial support to NRCM and other organizations to protect Maine’s clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and forested landscapes. I can’t imagine a better place to work or better people with whom to work. Thank you all. Here’s to 30 more! 

—Beth Comeau, NRCM Web & Communications Manager

 

Banner photo: Beth in sunflower field in Monticello, Aroostook County, Maine. Photo by Jennifer Dimond