Events

1-2 pm

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Drawing from her recently published book, Loving the North Woods: 25 Years of Historic Conservation in Maine, Karin Tilberg, the past-president and CEO of the Forest Society of Maine, will outline the difficult challenges to conservation during a remarkable period of activity from 1990 to 2015. During this time of tremendous forest ownership changes, Maine went from about 5% of the state having some form of conservation, to having 20% being conserved in some manner. Seven major conservation initiatives in the North Woods were significant factors in this tremendous outcome. Karin will discuss the forces behind this seismic change and share untold stories of conserving Maine’s North Woods. She'll explore how people’s love of a place brought about action leading to these historic achievements in American conservation and how these stories could guide us now and far into the future.

Karin Tilberg has a BS in Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont and a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. A strong advocate for the conservation of the North Woods, for decades Tilberg has provided guidance on environmental and natural resource law and policy matters to individuals and organizations, including the Maine Audubon Society and Northern Forest Alliance. She served as Deputy Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation from 2003 to 2007. From 2007 to 2010, she was Senior Policy Advisor to Governor John E. Baldacci. Most recently, Tilberg was the president and CEO of the Forest Society of Maine, where she worked from 2011 until retiring in November 2024. 

1-2 pm

Register HERE

While Aldo Leopold’s impact on the conservation movement is broad and deep, he is best known as the author of the now classic book A Sand County Almanac. Translated into sixteen languages, it is one of the foundational texts for those around the world who care about people and places. But becoming a classic doesn’t happen overnight; it requires great writing, and often a few twists of fate. Buddy will introduce Leopold’s writing and publishing journey as well as the online archival resources at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere available to do your own deep dive into the making of an American classic.

Buddy Huffaker has served as Executive Director at the Aldo Leopold Foundation since 1999. During his tenure the foundation has grown the Leopold Community by protecting the Leopold Shack & Farm (the inspiration and setting for much of the A Sand County Almanac) as a National Historic Landmark, constructing the LEED Platinum Aldo Leopold Legacy Center out of trees planted by the Leopold family, producing the Emmy Award–winning documentary GreenFire, and supporting ten different foreign translations of A Sand County Almanac. The foundation continues the Leopold family’s commitment to stewardship through the restoration and management of the 4,400-acre Leopold-Pines Conservation Area and by using this experience to inform and inspire other landowners to adopt and implement their own land ethic.