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High Peaks Alliance

The Local Voice in Land Conservation | High Peaks Region Maine

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People

Active Board Members

Lloyd Griscom

President

Lloyd owns and operates Peace and Plenty Organic Blueberry Farm in Phillips Maine with his wife Hope. They live in Phillips. Lloyd is also a board member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust and Sandy River Land Trust. Lloyd is on the Conservation Alternatives Committee, Organizational Committee, and All Trails Committee.

Brent West

Executive Director

I am an passionate wildlife and natural resource professional that has dedicated my life to the protection and preservation of our natural resources. I not only devote my professional life but also my personal to spending time and learning about the great outdoors. I believe the intersection of people and science is where we need to focus our efforts. I envision an educated public will not only want to protect nature but will gain an ownership of it.

Scott Landry

Treasurer

Scott Landry is the current treasurer for the High Peaks Alliance. Scott lives and works in Farmington. He recently retired from owning and operating Shire town Insurance company and is the former president of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. Scott has worked tirelessly to ensure the sustainability of local businesses. He is an avid outdoorsman and nature photographer. He is a state legislator and serve as House Chair of the Inland Fishery and Wildlife Committee and also serves on the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.

Gina Oswald

Secretary

Gina Oswald is an Associate Professor at the University of Maine at Farmington in the Rehabilitation Services Department. She specializes in universal design for persons with disabilities. She is passionate about ensuring that community members of all abilities are able to enjoy the health and wellness benefits of spending time out in nature. If she isn't working, she's probably hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing or practicing yoga.

Peter McKinley

Vice President

Peter is a research ecologist and conservation planner with The Wilderness Society (TWS) Research Team based out of the TWS Northern Appalachians office in Hallowell, Maine. Peter works nationally for TWS but focuses on research, planning, and implementation in the northeastern U.S. with a particular focus in Maine with projects in Central and Southern Appalachians too. Previous employment includes Director of Forestland Conservation for Forest Society of Maine where he completed several large scale and numerous smaller conservation easement purchases or donations, and as Vice President of Operations for a land and timber management company operating in Western Maine where he oversaw their Forest Stewardship Council certification program and harvesting operations.

Kathy Houston

Kathy lives in Kingfield with her husband Bill, where she skis, bikes, canoes, snowmobiles, and enjoys walking in the woods. As an elementary and middle school teacher for 35 years, Kathy continually sought ways to help young people get outside and to appreciate the woods, rivers, and trails of their home. Kathy is a retired Maine Recreation and Whitewater guide who remains committed to helping others access and appreciate the wonders of the outdoors.

John Rogers

John retired as the Director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2020 after spending 43 years in various positions in law enforcement.  He lives in the western Maine town of Strong & has been an avid outdoorsman to include: hunting, hiking, canoeing & camping.  Most recently he has become very involved in snowmobiling & ATVing.   For the past 2 years, John has been building & clearing trails, & building bridges for both the local ATV & snowmobile clubs.  John is passionate to make sure that everyone has public access to the High Peaks Mountains and surrounding areas.  This means that we must work in partnership with all landowners so everyone is happy for hiking, biking, canoeing, ATVing & snowmobiling in Maine.

Ginni Robie

Ginni lives in Madrid where she operates her business, Star Barn Yoga. Ginni is a very active community member including volunteering many hours for the Reeds Mill Church and being president of the Madrid Historical Society. She has hosted many Fly Rod Crosby events and provides lodging at the trailhead in Madrid. Ginni serves on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail Committee.

Daryl Wood

In addition to being a HPA board member, Darryl is the Executive Director of LEAP, a non-profit supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities centered in Farmington Maine. As a dedicated sportsman and trail maker, the mission and vision of the High Peaks Alliance appealed to his sense of quality of place, now and into the future. Access to the outdoors in Maine means maintaining traditional uses to the greatest extent possible for future generations. Improving access so people of all abilities can partake is equally as important to him.

Dana Bowman

Roger Lambert - Past Director

Roger Lambert

Roger was one of the founding members of the High Peaks Alliance and served on its first board of directors. His family has inhabited Strong, Maine for six generations. He is an avid outdoorsman and sportsman and the owner of a local window and glass business. He became a Registered Maine Guide in 1997 and a Master Maine Guide in 2006. In addition to his time with the High Peaks Alliance’s Board of Directors, he served many years as a Board Member of the Maine Professional Guides Association (MPGA).

State Senator Tom Saviello has been a close friend of Roger for many years. The two of them were concerned with the subdividing and closing off of once publicly accessible land. They began discussing the possibility of starting a nonprofit to protect public access to outdoor sporting and recreation opportunities in the High Peaks Region. This brought him into contact with Lloyd Griscom, a current board member who shares Roger’s concerns and values. Their discussions ultimately resulted in the creation of the High Peaks Alliance in 2007. His involvement did much to nail down the fundamental objectives and structure of the alliance. Many of the current board members are friends or associates of Roger Lambert who were recruited into the organizationby himself and Lloyd.

Elizabeth Squibb

Elizabeth Squibb

Betsy is a retired professor at the University of Maine in Farmington, a registered Maine Guide, and lives in Madrid TWP with her husband Bud Godsoe. When she’s not teaching, Betsy enjoys skiing, mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking. She serves on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail Committee.

Past Board Members

Theresa York

Board Member
Donald Whitmore

Donald Whittemore

Board Member

Don is retired and lives in Farmington with his wife Donna. They lived in Phillips for many years and Don worked for Federal Express in the High Peaks Region. Don is an avid ATV rider, snowmobiler, and hiker. He is a lifelong hunter and fisherman. Don serves on the Conservation Alternatives Committee, Fly Rod Crosby Trail Committee, and All Trails Committee.

Donald Cutler

Board Member

Don lives in Freeman Township. Don is retired from Sugarloaf where he worked as a mechanical engineer for many years, most notably creating their current snowmaking system. Don is very active in the Mount Abram trail riders ATV club in Salem, where he serves as trail master He also enjoys dirt bike riding the local trails.

Jon Evans

Board Member

Tom Saviello

Board Member
Milt Baston

Milt Baston

President

Milt lives in Strong Maine. He is a registered Maine Guide and selectman in the town of Strong. Milt was named “Conventional Logger of the Year” in 2011 by the Certified Logging Professionals Association. He is a volunteer on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail, serves on the Conservation Alternatives Committee and helps out at the annual HPA “Moose Spaghetti Supper and World Famous Pie Auction (pictured below with Roger Lambert).”

Chris Beach

Chris Beach

Director

Chris Beach is a retired lawyer and history professor from Wilton. After joining the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust’s High Peaks Land Conservation Initiative in 2008, Chris and Lloyd Griscom recognized the hiking community needed more local allies to achieve success. The small local meetings previously held by Lloyd, Roger Lambert, and others, soon evolved into the public effort known as the High Peaks Alliance.

Early projects Chris recalls contributing to include: creating the first AmeriCorps position, held by Ben Godsoe; the 6,000-acre Orbeton Stream Forest Legacy conservation project in Madrid; the Moose Loop ATV Regional Trail System; the West Saddleback Multi-Use Trail Crossing of the Appalachian Trail Corridor; and the initial public forums on a possible new High Peaks National Wildlife Refuge.

Looking back, Chris believes the effort to form working alliances between motorized and non-motorized local trail groups produced solid initial results. Future successes will occur when the “4 Valleys” surrounding the high peaks backcountry better ally themselves to promote their mutual “backyard”- Maine’s priceless, unique High Peaks Region.

Jo Josephene

Jo Josephson

Jo Josephson is a somewhat retired journalist living in Temple. She is an avid hiker, snowshoer, sea kayaker and photographer. Before joining the board of the High Peaks Alliance, she was active in the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance’s efforts to raise awareness and funds to protect Tumbledown Mountain and surrounding lands in the area in and around Weld from development and to provide access to the existing trails.

Working with the Trust for Public Land, and the Maine Department of Conservation, the Alliance helped raise $8 million to protect 26,000 acres. Her work with the High Peaks Alliance focused primarily on supporting the work of the FlyRod Crosby Trail Committee; though she did serve for a while as secretary to the Board of Directors. In addition to participating in work days on the trail, she used her journalistic and photographic skills to prepare brochures, maps, press releases, walking tours and murals depicting the natural and cultural and economic history of the area in and around the trail.

Kirby & Elaine Holcombe

Board Members

Maine Guide, Fly Rod Crosby Committee, Rangeley. Elaine moved to the Rangeley area in 2003 following 35 years as a teacher. Since then she has revised the Junior Guide Program, is still active in that program, and was elected as a board member to the Rangeley Region Guides and Sportsmen’s Association where she currently serves as secretary. She is a Registered Maine Guide, a member of MPGA. She has had experience with stream restoration and initiating salmon. She coordinates the annual RRG&SA Outdoor Sporting Heritage Day. She serves as director on the Rangeley Friends of the Arts board and chairs the Development Committee. She sings in the December Community Chorus and sometimes plays in musical productions and church services. In her ‘spare’ time she enjoys biking, jogging, boating, fly fishing, tennis, shot gunning, and taking care of her two grandchildren.

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Gliding along the Center Hill trail in Weld

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