Category Archives: Executive Committee

Alan Bellows

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Director
Boothbay, ME
EMAIL: bigelow2@matc.org
A lifelong hiker and backpacker, Alan began his trail work experience in college with week-long AT work trips with the Bates Outing Club (BOC), and two summers as a YCC crew leader at Mt Blue and Baxter state parks.  After retiring from a career in applications development and IT management,  he resumed helping the BOC with their AT section on Bemis Mountain.  That quickly snowballed into becoming a maintainer (Wyman to Hall Mountain), sawyer, corridor monitor (Moxie Bald Mountain,) helping with privy builds and lean-to sill replacements, and most recently he was appointed assistant overseer in the Bigelow district.  He’s lived for over 35 years in Boothbay with wife Wendy on their hobby farm (horses and chickens) where he’s been chair of the town planning and appeals boards, board member and president of the Boothbay Harbor Opera House, and is a volunteer and stewardship committee member for the local land trust.

Sasha Nyary

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Director
New Gloucester, ME
EMAIL: sashanyary@gmail.com
Sasha is a writer, editor and copy editor currently working in higher education marketing and communications. A journalist by training and experience — she began her career at Sports Illustrated and Life — Sasha has also worked in communications and fundraising for nonprofits, schools and community groups. She co-founded Katharsis Theater Company with Portland’s Henry Wishcamper, and served as an Equity stage manager on Off-Broadway.

Janice Clain

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Recording Secretary
Levant, ME
EMAIL: jclain@midmaine.com
Janice grew up in Piscataquis County, not far from where the A.T. passes through the Hundred Mile Wilderness. She has degrees in World Languages and Education from the University of Maine, and has been teaching for nearly 50 years. She came to MATC after advising a high school hiking club for several years, as a way to give back to Trail and to give her students an example of community service and involvement. She has enjoyed her role as supervisor for the Gulf Hagas Ridgerunner since 2004.

Rick Ste. Croix

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Katahdin District Manager
EMAIL: katahdin@matc.org
Rick has hiked all of the A.T. in Maine and New Hampshire as well as trails in Baxter State Park, Acadia N.P. and the White Mountains. Rick became a member of MATC in 1989 and shortly thereafter became a Trail and Campsite Maintainer. In 1997, Rick became the Overseer of the Katahdin District. Over the years he has also volunteered with the FORCE Crew, the Maine Trail Crew, the Baxter Park Trail Crew, the Campsite committee and he is certified in chain saw use on the A.T. He lives in Augusta, Maine. Rick is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with an associates degree in forestry.

Audrey Laffely

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Director
EMAIL: alaffely05@alumni.unity.edu
Audrey’s love of the Appalachian Trail started as a child hiking Katahdin with her family. It continued into college, with her love of the outdoors influencing her undergraduate degrees in Maine at Unity College in Parks, Recreation, and Ecotourism and Landscape Horticulture. After completing a thru-hike of the AT, she served as the Gulf Hagas Ridge Runner for a season. Since then, she has been active in the MATC serving as an Executive Committee member, site supervisor for the Horn’s Pond Caretaker, maintainer of a section around White Cap, and has served on the CARE, Finance, and Nominating Committees as well as doing member mailings. She has also earned a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems, completing a project on AT view-sheds, and a Master of Science in Plant Soil and Environmental Science focusing on Carbon release of rewetted soils, both at the University of Maine. She currently works as a Research Scientist at the University of Maine.

Mike Stillman

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Director
Farmington and Hamdpen, ME
EMAIL: poepaddy@hotmail.com
Mike has a long history in conservation and trails: he served on the National Park Service Historic Landscape Preservation Team from 1990-1992; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Wetland Restoration Service, 1990-1992; as a crew leader for Baxter State Park, 1988-1990; a crew leader for the Maine Conservation Corps, 1993-1994, and a crew leader for the MATC’s Maine Trail Crew, 1995-1996; he has also served as a board member for the Friends of Baxter State Park, 2012-2015. Mike is a fly fishing guide and maker of bamboo fly rods.

Tom Gorrill

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Vice-President
Port Clyde, ME
EMAIL: tgorrill@matc.org
Tom retired as President of Gorrill Palmer Consulting Engineers, Inc. in 2015, after a 37-year career in Civil Engineering. Tom is a former Baldpate District Overseer for the MATC and currently serves as its VP and chair of the Governance Committee. He is also a Board member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust. Tom lives in Saint George where he serves on the Conservation Commission and oversees town trails, volunteers as a driver for Neighbor to Neighbor, and is a volunteer at the Marshall Point Lighthouse. Tom is a graduate of the University of Maine

Doug Dolan

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Corresponding Secretary
Hollis, ME
EMAIL: info@matc.org
Doug recently retired after 37 years in the semiconductor industry, with the last 20 years as an Intellectual Property Engineer. He recently termed out after 6 years from the Apex Youth Connection (formerly Community Bicycle Center) in Biddeford which provides barrier free opportunities for area youth to develop career and life skills. He is also working with 19th Century Curran Village to build out their expanding campus in Orrington.  An avid cyclist, he regularly participates in local group rides and organized fundraisers. Giving back to the trails in Maine is important to him, and keeps him focused on staying fit and healthy. Doug holds an ASEE from Eastern Maine Technical College and a BSBA from Husson University.

Ron Dobra

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Director
Shirley, ME
EMAIL: ghsron@gmail.com
Ron is a retired Greenville schools music teacher currently living in town. As a 30-year member of MATC, he has served as a section maintainer, district overseer, committee chair, and EC director. A backpacking nut, he topped 15,000 miles last summer, and hopes to finish the 2,000 miles remaining of the 4,600-mile North Country National Scenic Trail this summer.

David Field

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Manager of Lands
Trail Champions Honorary Committee Chair
Hampden, ME
EMAIL: meeser3@roadrunner.com
Dave has 65 years of volunteer Trail maintenance experience on the Appalachian Trail. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club for 54 years, including 10 years as President. He served on the Appalachian Trail Conference Board of Managers for 26 years, including six as Board Chair. From 1970-1990, MATC relocated more than 170 miles of the Appalachian Trail to place it in more scenic and protected locations.  Dave designed, laid out and led the work crews to build about 115 miles of those relocations.  In 1984 he designed the original corridor to be purchased by the National Park Service to protect the A.T. in Maine. He is an honorary life member of both the MATC and the ATC, and was inducted, in 2013, into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame.  Dave holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Forestry from the University of Maine and a PhD from Purdue University.  He taught forestry at Purdue, Yale University, and the University of Maine, where he retired in 2006 after 30 years on the faculty.