The Damariscotta River Association bids farewell to our Director of Lands and Stewardship of six years, Steven Hufnagel. Steven will be moving on from DRA to Maine Coast Heritage Trust, completing six years of service to the Association.
Steven was hired as DRA Director of Lands and Stewardship in October of 2003. His prior experience supported the directions that DRA was heading with cooperative initiatives like River ~ Link and an increased focus on public involvement.
He had recently completed a master’s degree at the University of Michigan, where his project work and research focused on organizational collaboration for conservation success, following several years of project management and public outreach experience as an environmental consultant in Seattle.
Steven’s tenure at DRA focused on making DRA’s preserves more visible and accessible to the public, strengthening relationships with local towns, especially through his leadership on the Damariscotta Planning Advisory Committee (DPAC), raising funds for land acquisition, carrying forward several easement and land acquisition projects in target areas, and building a cadre of Trail Tamers to support DRA’s growing trail system.
He worked closely with numerous federal, state and local agencies, enhancing DRA’s already strong reputation among our partners.
Steven will be joining Maine Coast Heritage Trust at their Topsham office, working on land and easement acquisition as a project manager for the southern region as well as leading a coast-wide effort to more fully incorporate community priorities into land protection planning.
He will continue to reside in Damariscotta where he will remain active in DPAC, and he looks forward to keeping in touch with the many wonderful members and volunteers he got to know during his tenure at DRA.
When we first hired Steven, we knew we had someone with energy, insight, the ability to learn quickly, and a real interest in conservation. We had no idea how quickly Steven would find his pace and bring our Lands and Stewardship program to an entirely new level of performance and professionalism.
Because of Steven’s work, our membership grew, grant writing became more successful, press coverage more frequent, our volunteers became numerous, our land protection efforts increased and we were able to tackle more complex projects and partnerships and we entered the world of planning for more livable communities.
Perhaps even more important, we had fun doing all of this and yes we even pulled a few pranks along the way like the day we convinced Steven that there was an error in the spelling of the Marsh River Bog sign, which we showed was true with our very own Photoshopped picture. We salute Steven’s work and wish him well on his next career move.
Mark DesMeules
DRA Executive Director
(The Damariscotta River Association is a non-profit membership supported organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural, and historical heritage of the Damariscotta River, its watershed, and adjacent areas for the benefit of all.
The Association has active programs in the areas of land protection, stewardship, community education, water quality monitoring, marine conservation and cultural preservation. The DRA is headquartered at the Salt Bay Heritage center at 110 Belvedere Road in Damariscotta. For more information call 563-1393, email dra@dracltorg, or view the web page at www.draclt.org.)
