The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation was established in 2012 to build a community of support for this unique and remote public resource. We fulfill our mission by raising funds from private and public sources that supplement, not replace, necessary state and federal funding. Our major areas of interest include access by young people, from the St. John River Valley and throughout the northeast; acquisition of critical lands and/or easements along the watercourse; necessary capital improvements and infrastructure development and restoration; natural, historic, and cultural interpretation and public educational programming; and research, planning, and demonstration projects to strengthen the management, use and experience of the Waterway.
Current Board Members
Bob McIntosh
President, Beverly, Massachusetts
Bob McIntosh is a retired National Park Service senior executive and recipient of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Distinguished Service Award. Since retirement Bob has focused his volunteer efforts on the Allagash and as a board member of the Mongol Ecology Center. MEC is a Mongolian NGO providing assistance to protected areas in Mongolia and the Lake Baikal region of Siberia; and fostering the development of a Mongolian youth sustainability corps. Bob’s first visit to the Allagash was in the early 1950’s and decades later he served as a charter member of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Council.
Peter Sirois
Treasurer, Fort Kent, Maine
Peter Sirois is the President and CEO at Northern Maine Medical Center. He began his career with NMMC in 1981. Throughout his professional career, Peter has worked as Associate Administrator at NMMC, Administrator of the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough, Maine; Administrator of Borderview Manor in Van Buren; Controller for NMMC; and COO of NMMC. Peter is a trained paramedic, registered Maine Guide and a Maine Notary Public. He has been a licensed Maine Nursing Home Administrator since 1990.
Paul Johnson
Secretary, Oakland, Maine
Paul Johnson worked as a fishery biologist in Maine’s Moosehead Lake Region for 35 years. His responsibilities included managing fisheries in the headwaters of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Throughout his career he strived to conserve Maine’s forested lands and their associated natural resources. In retirement Paul remains dedicated to maintaining these lands, their resources, and their traditional uses.
Agnieszka (“Aga”) Dixon
Clerk, Portland, Maine
Aga is an attorney at the Drummond Woodsum in Portland, Maine, with a diverse practice serving schools, municipalities, and tribal nations and focusing on land use, energy, and climate change issues. Aga served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ellen Gorman of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. While in law school, she was the recipient of the Edward S. Godfrey Leadership Award, the Maine Law Alumni Association Award, and the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation fellowship. As a former land use planner, Aga coordinated regulatory reviews of significant and controversial development projects for the Maine Land Use Planning Commission. When she is not lawyering, she enjoys spending time in nature – camping, biking, hiking, sailing, and paddling – with her wonderful children and husband.
Don Nicoll
Founding President, Portland, Maine
Don is one of the few people alive who has been directly involved with the Allagash Wilderness Waterway since it was envisioned during the great debates over the construction of the Dickey-Lincoln School Dam on the St. John River. Don worked as a staff member in the United States House and Senate and he was a policy planner in government, health care, and education. His Allagash ties date from work as Senator Edmund Muskie’s administrative assistant. Later, Don was the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Working Group chair, Advisory Council founding chair, and AWWF founding president.
Dick Barringer
Portland, Maine
Dick served in the administrations of three Maine governors as Director of Public Lands, Commissioner of Conservation, and Director of State Planning before founding the Muskie School of Public Service at USM, where he taught public policy and community planning for 25 years. He is author or editor of numerous books and publications on Maine and its economy and natural resources. Since leaving full-time public service, he has chaired or served on various boards and commissions of the New England Governors’ Conference, the State of Maine, and the City of Portland.
Scot Balentine
Falmouth, Maine
Scot is a Senior Product Developer for Equipment at L.L. Bean Inc.. In this role he creates gear that helps people enjoy their time outdoors. Scot is a Registered Maine Guide, Wilderness First Responder and a former Baxter State Park Ranger. He has led paddling, backpacking and backcountry ski trips all over North America. A Maine native he enjoys exploring remote corners of the state. Scot also serves on the Steering Committee for the Maine Outdoor Coalition, The Great Maine Outdoor Weekend Board and the Winterkid’s Board of Directors.
Kaitlyn Bernard
Gray, Maine
Kaitlyn, originally from Fort Kent, is the Natural Resources Policy Advisor for The Nature Conservancy in Maine. In that role she is responsible for leading federal policy strategies and covering a range of state policy issues to advance land and water protection and sustainable fisheries. Prior to joining TNC, she served as the Maine Policy Manager for the Appalachian Mountain Club. Kaitlyn graduated from Colby College in 2013 with Honors in Environmental Policy and is an award-winning Nordic Ski Coach for Falmouth High School. She also serves on the board of Teens to Trails.
Emma Carlson
North Conway, New Hampshire
Emma is an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for getting kids outside. She has led trips in all seasons including canoeing, backpacking, skiing, and sea kayaking. Professionally she has worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club in Gorham, NH, the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine and St. Lawrence University’s Adirondack Semester in Canton, NY. Personal pursuits have brought her down the Grand Canyon twice and along the entire 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a trail that ends with paddling the spectacular Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Emma graduated from Colby College with a degree in environmental education. She is a registered Maine Guide.
John J. Daigle
Old Town, Maine
Dr. John J. Daigle is Professor in Forest Recreation Management in the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Program at the University of Maine, Orono. Dr. Daigle received his Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Massachusetts with an emphasis on application of social science concepts and methods to outdoor recreation and natural resource planning and management. He has studied public access to private lands for recreation in the Northern Forest and non-timber forest products among coastal private landowners. Prior to accepting his present position with the University of Maine, he served approximately 10 years with the National Park Service as a Park Ranger and U.S. Forest Service as a Research Forester. John is a native of Old Town, Maine and received his Bachelor of Science in Parks and Recreation Management at the University of Maine, Orono.
Travis Duval
Fort Kent, Maine
Travis began his insurance career as a Commercial and Personal Lines producer for the Thibodeau Agency. Today he is a Partner, Account Executive and Producer for United Insurance in Fort Kent. Travis earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maine and is currently working toward his Certified Insurance Councilor Designation and Star Designation. He has served as treasurer, secretary, and president of his local Lions Club in Fort Kent with a membership of 100. Travis is married to his high school sweetheart, Kristal, and they have a son, Everett, and a daughter, Ella. He enjoys fishing, skiing, hunting, canoeing, and any activity having to do with the outdoors.
Tom Gerard
Madawaska, Maine
A University of Maine, Orono graduate Tom had a career with Fraser Papers for over 25 years. Tom gained a second degree from University of Maine Fort Kent and a Master’s Degree from Fresno Pacific University and began a second career as a Health and Physical Education at Madawaska Middle High School. He has coached a variety of sports continuously and participated in various staff roles for the past 15 years. Tom is also a 2001-2002 Iota Class member of Leadership Maine; Registered Maine Guide; and Board President of St. John Valley Associates that serves adults with intellectual disabilities. Hobbies include enjoying the woods and waters of this great State year-round, reading and enjoying time at home.
Alec Giffen
Chelsea, Maine
Alec serves as representative in Maine for the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) and also works on a number of specific projects; for example, efforts to accelerate the pace of conservation in Maine, efforts to define “exemplary forestry” and increase the use of wood in construction. Alec serves as a Senior Science and Policy Fellow for the Clean Air Task Force and heads up their efforts to capitalize on the role that forests can play in reducing global warming. He previously served as Director of the Maine Forest Service and has over 40 years of experience in natural resource planning and program administration.
Don Hudson
Arrowsic, Maine
Don Hudson led wilderness expeditions, taught natural history, and directed Chewonki over more than four decades. He was presented with a Lifetime Merit Award by the U.S. EPA, the Espy Land Heritage Award of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and the L.L. Bean Outdoor Hero Award when he retired in 2010. Along with Don Nicoll, Don Founded AWWF in 2012. Don served on the Founding Board of Directors of the Friends of Baxter State Park, the Governor’s Working Group on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and served as Chair of the AWW Advisory Council. Don was also a Founder of the International Appalachian Trail, which extends across the arc of the North Atlantic Basin from Maine’s Katahdin to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Chace Joe Jackson
Allagash, Maine
Chace lives in the valley opening where the Allagash and St. John Rivers meet. Allagash has been his family’s home since the early 1800s and their identity is intertwined with it. He managed the Allagash Historical Society Museum, was involved in efforts to preserve cultural uses and resources of the Allagash River, and was an assistant ranger at Michaud Farm. His professional career has since been in electoral politics, government affairs, and now external affairs. However, Chace’s primary interests lie in Allagash where he is committed to documenting, studying, exploring the Moosetowner culture and identity. This identity is associated with the modern town of Allagash but historically referred to the people who live along the lower Allagash, upper St. John, and Little Black Rivers. As such, Chace believes interpreting and understanding the Moosetowner perspective is an integral part of preserving, protecting, and promoting the Allagash River in the future.
Jana L. Caty
Westbrook, Maine
Jana is an attorney at Bernstein Shur in Portland. A native of central Maine, Jana graduated from the University of Maine and is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, where she was an editor on the Maine Law Review. Jana is passionate about both natural resource protection and elder advocacy. In her free time, Jana is most likely found hiking and climbing in Maine and New Hampshire.
Leslie Marquis
Fort Kent, Maine
Leslie is a wife, a mother of two boys and a high school science teacher. She graduated from the University of Idaho with a Master’s Degree focused in Reproductive Biology and is the Head Alpine Coach position for our high school ski team, an officer for the Lonesome Pine Trail board of directors, and a volunteer for the Can Am Crown sled dog race and biathlon ski races. She is one of six owners who manage the Too Far North Fit gym where she also coaches CrossFit classes.
Jason Perkins
North Yarmouth, ME
Jason is the Brewmaster/VP of Brewing Operations at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland Maine. He began with the company in 1999, as the third full-time employee (including the owner). He has watched the brewery and craft beer grow greatly during that time. Prior to Allagash, Jason graduated from Bates College is currently on the board for the national trade organization for Craft beer, the Brewer’s Association as well as the Economic Development and Sustainability Committee for North Yarmouth. He enjoys hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, playing hockey and spending time with his family.
Betta Stothart
Falmouth, Maine
Betta Stothart (President, Betta Stothart Consulting) is a writer, editor, and public relations consultant with 20+ years of experience in the fields of sustainability, conservation, and Maine food and lifestyle brands. She started her career as a journalist and was director of marketing for two natural food companies before moving into the nonprofit sector. Betta’s professional work has focused on high-quality public relations campaigns for large and small Maine brands, such as Maine Coast Heritage Trust, The Ecology School, blueshift Aerospace, New England Outdoor Center, Saddleback, Maine, Grandy Oats, Thos. Moser, Gifford’s Ice Cream, the Wild Blueberry Association of North America, and many others.
Jenny Ward
Greenville Junction, ME
Jenny is the Business & Community Relations Manager for the AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative. A graduate of the University of Maine and Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program, she was instrumental in the successful launch of AMC’s Medawisla Lodge & Cabins and the current effort around creating the Maine Woods International Dark Sky Reserve. She is a Registered Maine Guide and serves on the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, First Light Learning Journey, coordinator for Moosehead Trails and is currently a County Advisor for the Maine Community Foundation. She also volunteers for numerous conservation and community projects. In her free time she loves to trail run, cross country ski and explore the landscape of her life.
Advisors to the Board
Alexandra Conover Bennett
Willimantic, ME
Alexandra is a Master Registered Maine Guide and co-owner of North Woods Ways with Garrett Conover since 1978, leading year round canoeing and snowshoeing trips in the wildest regions of Maine and Labrador. She has snowshoed the length of the Allagash upriver and down twice and guided our guests on summer and winter camping trips there for decades. Alexandra is currently on the Advisory Board of Friends of Baxter State Park and has served in an advisory capacity on a variety of the State’s Bureau of Parks and Lands committees over the decades.