2024 NRCM People’s Choice Award finalists

• Madge Baker of Shapleigh
• Michael Dunn of Harrison
• Freeport Climate Action NOW
• Buck O’Herin of Montville

Madge Baker of Shapleigh

Nominated by Jean Noon

Madge has devoted her life to making sure future generations will enjoy the kind of Maine we know and love today. Her efforts leave a legacy of preservation, conservation, and reverence for the land. Madge is an inspiring mentor and example of how to live intentionally and simply, so others may simply live. She is a lawyer, member of Shapleigh Planning Board, founding board member and long standing secretary of Three Rivers Land Trust, and chair of Maine Land Conservation Attorneys’ Network. Madge was largely responsible for the formation of the Three Rivers Land Trust based in Alfred, Maine, to address the distress at the development growth rates of over 10% in several small rural communities. Since 2020, Three Rivers Land Trust has conserved around 2,200 acres of public and private lands with conservation easements, and now owns an additional 1,037 acres. Our most recent acquisition, the "Sanford Community Forest” is a 550-acre parcel in Sanford, and special attention is being given to the habitat for rare plants, birds, bugs, and turtles bringing in experts to identify the sensitive vital habitats.

Madge also worked with a property owner for almost 10 years to secure donation of 300 acres to Shapleigh, which is part of the Pump Box Brook watershed that feeds into Mousam Lake. It’s surrounded by 1,000 acres of nearly unbroken woodland, and its conservation meets a long-term goal of the land trust to “create a continuous wildlife corridor from Mt. Washington to the ocean.” In 2022, Madge hosted the first 3RLT summer intern through Richard G. Rockefeller Conservation Internship Program. Bringing up the next generation of land stewards.

Mike Dunn of Harrison

Nominated by Scott Vlaun

For the last seven years, Mike Dunn has been a bedrock volunteer board member for the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy (CEBE) in Norway. As a leader of CEBE’s Energy Working Group, Mike has spearheaded the group's efforts to build a community solar cooperative, bringing the idea forward when he first joined the board. Because of regressive solar policy at the time, the project was shelved. Mike worked hard for CEBE to help change that policy and has been a leader in CEBE’s efforts to secure federal assistance for the project, which has recently received a Federal 100K "Energizing Rural Communities" Prize and most recently a 3M U.S. DOE "Energy Improvements in Rural and Remote Areas" grant to make this project a reality. Additionally Mike has been instrumental in work to decarbonize the Norway, Maine, school district, attending regular meetings and doing countless hours of volunteer work to analyze the district's energy consumption patterns which have led to cost savings and robust planning to transition to non-fossil fuel energy. In many ways, Mike has contributed to CEBE's work as an additional unpaid staff member and I think it is safe to say the the organization, and certainly Maine Community Power Cooperative, would not be where it is today without his monumental volunteer efforts.

Freeport Climate Action NOW

Nominated by J. Mason Morfit

Freeport Climate Action NOW (FCAN) is a three-year-old, all-volunteer nonprofit whose mission is to combat climate change. It strives to inspire alarmed residents, immobilized by a sense of helplessness in the face of this existential threat, to realize they can do something about it. Accomplishments include:

• With the Freeport Sustainability Advisory Board (FSAB), provided information that inspired the Town Council to hire a Sustainability Coordinator who developed a Climate Action Plan.
• Organized a petition drive that led the Town Council to fund a municipal rebate program for low-income residents to afford electrically powered devices (e.g., heat pumps) and to weatherize their homes.
• With the FSAB, provided information that led the Town to adopt the 2021 stretch building code, the most rigorous available for reducing GHG’s from buildings. (Buildings =13% of GHG emissions)
• Created the Freeport Farmers Market, providing locally produced fresh food and reducing the GHG emissions of commercial agriculture. (Agriculture = 10% of GHG emissions)
• Created the Repair, Resale, Recycle Resource Guide, promoting the town’s six resale shops and mounted a used clothing fashion show. (The fashion industry = 10% of GHG emissions)
• Sponsored potluck suppers of vegetarian meals (meat and dairy consumption = 15 percent of GHG emissions)
• Sponsored a one-day expo promoting electric vehicles and other electrically powered equipment. Volunteer EV owners shared some 25 vehicles. (Vehicles = 28% of GHG emissions)
• Publishes a monthly email newsletter to its almost 900 subscribers advising residents on actions they can take to reduce their GHG emissions.
• Sponsors a bi-monthly Climate Support Group which helps people realize that personal agency is the antidote to despair.
• In March, Kathleen Sullivan, FCAN’s coordinator, was named Freeport’s 2023 Citizen of the Year for her work with FCAN.

Buck O’Herin of Montville

Nominated by Stephanie Hanner, Midcoast Conservancy

Buck O’Herin stands out among the multitude of dedicated conservation individuals in Maine, seamlessly integrating ecological principles into his conservation efforts, prioritizing collaboration, empowering individuals to fulfill their “ecological niche,” prioritizing conservation on all scales, and recognizing that humans are a part of the natural landscape who require connection to the earth. We are nominating Buck for his entire body of work, some of which has been completed, and some of which is a lifetime pursuit. We believe his story serves as a needed and wonderful example to the conservation movement and beyond. We especially hope it will inspire a new generation. The following is a representative list of Buck’s completed projects and initiatives:

• Successfully advocating for the identification of critical habitat for the federally endangered Atlantic salmon in the Sheepscot River.
• Dramatically increasing land conservation in western Waldo County, an underserved part of the state.
• Leading the charge to create the Hills to Sea Trail; 47 miles of public access from Unity to Belfast, which serves as a model in Maine for publicly accessible trails across private land.
• Spearheaded the merger of four separate conservation organizations to create Midcoast Conservancy, and a visionary leader since the merger, ultimately resulting in a merger with a fifth.
• Helping to move land conservation toward the mission of climate change resiliency in the midcoast Maine region through strategic conservation planning efforts.
• Successful acquisition and protection of Haystack Mountain.

Conservation of hundreds of acres of land as a private landowner and as a leader on Midcoast Conservancy’s Board of Directors.