Celebrating 35 Years of Maine TREE

For 35 years, the Maine TREE Foundation has been a steadfast beacon of hope for Maine’s Forest Community, nurturing the roots of sustainable forest stewardship and planting the seeds of a forested future. Join us on a journey through time as we celebrate the illustrious history of the Maine Tree Foundation, a tale as vibrant as the forests it champions.

Rooted in Passion: A Humble Beginning

In the heart of Maine, a group of passionate individuals gathered with a shared vision. Founded in 1989 by a group of landowners, community members, and forest sector leaders, Maine TREE started to provide Maine people with information about Maine's forest resources. We started as an umbrella organization, serving as a home for groups like the Maine Tree Farm Committee, Project Learning Tree, and other forest-based initiatives. Our story is one of continuous innovation and dedication to promoting the sustainable management of the Maine forest and the use of its abundant natural resources.

Planting Seeds of Change

In 1995, Sherry Huber became our former Executive Director, which would inevitably cement her legacy as a leader and Hall of Famer of Maine's Forest Community. Under Sherry's leadership, we hosted our first Forests of Maine Teachers' Tour to provide Maine educators with a better understanding of our state's forests and provide resources to make it easier to implement forest-based education with students, which would soon become one of our most popular programs. Project Learning Tree and Teachers' Tours would become the staple of Maine TREE's educational programming, and in 2004, we launched another new program, the Forest Inventory Growth Project, where students collect overstory tree data from the woods around their schools. 

Also, in 2004, we created and presented the Austin Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award to Austin Wilkins himself in collaboration with the Maine Department of Conservation. 

Through educational programs, workforce development initiatives, research, and advocacy efforts, the Maine Tree Foundation began to make its mark. Throughout the 2000s, Maine TREE continued to serve as a home for many organizations, including Tree Farm, the Certified Logging Professional Program, and our Environmental Education Programming. 

From 2010 to 2012, Sherry secured her legacy by raising over half a million dollars in a capital campaign to establish Maine TREE's General Endowment to help support organization operations. 

In 2012, Keeping Maine's Forest, one of the many organizations that found its home at Maine TREE, was designated a keystone conservation and outdoor recreation project under President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Program to celebrate the program's partnerships and collaborations that resulted in significant fish protection and aquatic habitat restoration. That same year, Project Learning Tree celebrated its 35th Anniversary under Pat Maloney, Maine TREE's longest-serving Project Learning Tree Coordinator.

Moving forward, in 2014, we merged with Holt Woodland Research Foundation, our first and still the only property owned by the organization. The property had been the site of long-term ecological monitoring since 1983 and quickly cemented itself as the primary R in Timber Research & Environmental Education. Two years later, in 2016, we would construct an outdoor pavilion on the property to better integrate our education objectives into programming at Holt Research Forest. 

Then, in early 2018, Sherry Huber Retired as Maine TREE's Executive Director after more than 20 years of service, marking the end of an era. For the next few years, we focused on determining the organization's future direction. In 2019, we celebrated our 30th anniversary as an organization and rebranded to our current logo. This included rebranding the Forest Inventory Growth or FIG Project to the Forest Ecology Research Network or FERN to better integrate broader ecological concepts into our student-focused community science program. 

Weathering the Storms

While 2020 posed significant challenges for everyone, including Maine TREE, we are as resilient as our forests and quickly pivoted the Teachers' Tour Model to a virtual format called the Window to the Woods. The pandemic also led to the creation of our monthly electronic newsletter, 'seedlings,' and our increased presence on social media networks, which helped us reach and maintain engagement with a broader audience. 

In 2021, we practiced what we preach by conducting the first Timber Harvest under our ownership at Holt Research Forest. This was the first timber harvest in the Town of Arrowsic, a nearly 7,000-acre island, since 1988, and it also occurred at Holt Research Forest. Throughout the process, we conducted pre-harvest webinars and tours and hosted in-person harvest tours. We created a video titled "A Harvest at Holt" to raise awareness and ease concerns in a community that hadn't seen timber harvesting in over 30 years. 

Growing Stronger

Most recently, in 2023, we established a clear direction and expanded our forest-based education initiatives, making workforce development a central theme of all of Maine TREE's programs. This included bringing 3rd graders from Old Town and Milford to the Logging Expo in Bangor, establishing FERN plots with students, hosting our first green jobs fair, and piloting the Forestry Immersion program with the Brewer School Department.

That brings us to today. In the previous two years, we’ve doubled in size, adding three new staff members, reviving our Holt Research Forest Summer Research Technician positions, and exponentially growing our reach. Today, as we celebrate three and a half decades of championing Maine’s forests, this is just the beginning. The Maine Tree Foundation is a shining example of what can be achieved through passion, dedication, and a shared love for the natural world. With over a million trees planted, countless minds educated, and policies influenced, this organization's impact reverberates far beyond the borders of Maine.

Cultivating a Forested Future

As we look toward the future, the Maine Tree Foundation continues to sow the seeds of change, inspiring everyone to be stewards of the forest. With ambitious research goals, innovative educational programs, and in-demand workforce development initiatives, the Maine Tree Foundation's journey is far from over.  

Join us in celebrating 35 years of the Maine Tree Foundation, a journey of passion, resilience, and unwavering commitment to Maine’s forest communities by getting involved. Whether you're an individual looking to make a difference or a company seeking to contribute to our initiatives, there are various ways to get involved and help shape the future of Maine's forests.

Ways to Get Involved

Learn - Explore our current programs and sign up for our mailing list to be alerted to learning opportunities in the future! 

Connect - attend one of our events or any number of events hosted by other organizations throughout Maine to connect with the forest and others who care about its stewardship.

Support - Financial support from individuals and businesses helps sustain our diverse array of environmental education and workforce development programs for years to come. 

Purchase a limited edition 35th anniversary T-shirt to help us celebrate 35 years of forest-based education!