In My Words

Jane Arbuckle and Amanda Devine

For nearly three decades, Jane Arbuckle guided Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s stewardship efforts and a team that grew as the amount of conserved land in our care grew year after year—exceeding 45,000 acres as she wrapped her tenure with MCHT earlier this year. Jane’s love of land and easy laughter is infectious, and her knowledge of the Maine coast, our organization, and the work of stewarding land—including many dozens of far-flung islands—is staggering. Thankfully, she’s close by and continues to support MCHT in myriad ways. After a national search, we’re thrilled that Amanda Devine, who began at MCHT in 2010, has joined the leadership team as our new Director of Stewardship. At this significant moment of transition, Amanda and Jane have some questions for one another.

Amanda: Reflecting on your long career with MCHT and in land conservation, what stands out to you?

Jane: So much! Some first thoughts include the ongoing cooperative work, both internally and externally. The organizational commitment to a wholistic view of stewardship and its crucial value to land conservation—from the start of a project and long into the future. The Richard G. Rockefeller Conservation Internship Program—from its inception, through the planning, fundraising, and long-term commitment to bringing young people into the conservation world.

Amanda: Can you share one of your favorite memories from an MCHT preserve?

Jane: Seeing a property for the first time has always been exciting, and often left me in awe—Moose Cove, Mason Bay, Lookout Rock, Woodward Point, Gooseberry Island, Marshall Island…and on and on. Once while visiting Boot Head, I stopped to talk with some visitors who remarked that the trails were the finest they had experienced in Maine and wondered who was responsible for that, who maintained them. It was fun to be able to say, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and in particular, Melissa Lee! At an open house we hosted on Malaga Island, a woman shared that her grandmother had been born in her family’s home on Malaga. I was able to show her exactly where the house had been. We both burst into tears.

Amanda: What are your hopes for the future of Stewardship?

Jane: I hope that it remains a vital, respected component of the land conservation continuum. And by that, I mean that stewards continue to be key partners in conservation planning, in determining the best ways to manage land and engage with the communities and people with a connection to those lands.

Jane: Do you anticipate any major changes in the way MCHT stewards its lands?

Amanda: I believe MCHT’s Stewardship practices and policies will prove to be a useful framework into the future, but there are places where subtle course adjustments can be made. For example: anticipating that Maine’s climate will become suitable habitat for plant species currently to the south of us, could some of the areas we currently mow each year become places where we plant the forests of the future? We have been, and will continue to be, more discerning about where we create public access infrastructure. Leaving some conserved lands intentionally trail-less goes hand in glove with improving access for more people in other places. I am hopeful that these management strategies will allow us to serve human and non-human communities with greater equity.

Jane: What do you see as the challenges for Stewardship in the coming years?

Amanda: Impacts from climate change, including sea-level rise, increasingly severe storms, and the proliferation of non-native species… Perhaps the biggest challenge I see is a philosophical one, however. So much of our collective pain comes from our species’ perceived divorce from nature. How do we, with a global population of eight billion and rising, reintegrate with the natural world so that we all see the value in it? And how can land stewardship be part of that reintegration? I don’t have answers to those questions, but I am devoted to pursuing answers.