Living with the Land: Exploring Relationships and Community

Momentum Conservation invites you to a conversation on Living with the Land: Exploring Relationships and Community. This will be an evening for connection and learning about how a variety of individuals and organizations around Maine are building community through creative projects and initiatives on conserved land that support community health and holistic well-being. There will be a panel discussion focused on four specific examples, moderated by Jess Burton.

And, we will be celebrating! At Momentum, we know the importance of centering relationships, and we have designed the evening with that in mind. Our panel conversation will take place from 5-6:30 pm, which means that before and after, we will create space for community. There will be delicious food, space to chat with panelists, and a community art project to participate in! Our gathering will be at the Smith Center for Education and Research, part of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment.

About our Presenters:

Jordan Kendall Parks will be sharing about the “Emergence: Art in a Free Surface” Project. Emergence temporarily installs environmentally conscious, minimal impact works of art within Portland’s many public green spaces and urban hiking trails. Visitors are invited to interact with natural and human history, while simultaneously viewing contemporary art as part of an intersection of art and the outdoors.

Jordan's work fosters conversations about climate and environmental impacts through the lived experience as a Black and Bi-racial femme. For Jordan, many spaces have never fully felt like they belonged. As she ages, explores connections with a Black paternal family, and investigates the patterns of a white maternal family, Jordan has begun to extensively question who she is, where and how she belongs to place, and what people she belongs to. Jordan’s passion for engaging communities with Maine’s coastal landscapes stemmed from experiences in environmental and outdoor education and engaging people who may not have otherwise connected with southern Maine islands and waters.

Through interactive outdoor exhibitions and site-specific installations, Jordan encourages people to engage with their surroundings, find a sense of adventure and discover art along the way. On a smaller scale, Jordan commonly uses woodcut and linoleum monoprint processes to create visuals that are heavily influenced by our relationship with the natural world and each other.

Maggie Lynn (she/her) is the Director of Partnerships with Loon Echo Land Trust where she is responsible for communications, organizing events, and cultivating partnerships with funders, communities and organizations. Maggie studied Geology at Yale University and holds a Masters Certificate in Community Planning and Sustainable Development from the University of Southern MainePrior to joining LELT in 2018, Maggie worked in a variety of conservation and outdoor recreation roles across Maine and served three AmeriCorps terms with Maine Conservation Corps. Born and raised in northern Maine, Maggie lives in Bridgton and enjoys playing ice hockey, gardening, and moving through the outdoors on skis, in boats, by bike & foot.

Last fall, LELT established the Lake Region Wood Bank, a firewood bank serving the Lake Region. The design of this program is rooted in the principles of mutual aid, and aims to provide opportunities for community connection and skill sharing in addition to serving the direct need for heating assistance in our region. The Wood Bank operates as a network of organizations, community members, and businesses who work together to ensure our neighbors stay warm by providing low-to-no barrier deliveries of firewood.

Andrea Francis (she/her) is a member of the Mi'kmaq Nation and the Elsipogtog First Nation. As the Executive Director of the Bomazeen Land Trust, she is committed to ensuring that the organization’s mission, vision, and values are effectively represented through the insights of the board. Bomazeen Land Trust enables Wabanaki people to renew and resume our caretaking and stewardship roles over lands and waters with historical, spiritual, and cultural significance to our communities. We work to uplift all aspects of Wabanaki stewardship, which includes facilitating land return, cultural teachings and activities, and community self-determination in food/health. Our primary focus is in the Kennebec and Androscoggin River watersheds, as these are areas where the Wabanaki Nations are not able to hold land as easily. As the first and only Wabanaki-led land trust, we are seeking to transform the current circumstances of Wabanaki dispossession and exclusion from our homelands, a process by which we will improve the health of our lands – which have been developed, desecrated, clearcut, and contaminated by corporations, or otherwise hoarded by conservancies and private landholders – and in turn improve the health of our communities. These transformations will take place through the return of lands back into tribal holdership and through Wabanaki-led restoration and reconnection programs. When we resume and renew our land caretaking relationships with our homeland, we heal the lands and ourselves from colonization.

Andrea earned a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management from the University of Arizona and a Master of Public Health from the University of Southern Maine. Andrea hopes that her work with Bomazeen will promote the connections she has identified between Wabanaki health and land and food sovereignty. Her dedication to the Maine community is also evident in her roles as a Niweskok and Maine Initiatives board member and as an advisor for the Indigo Arts Alliance and the Maine Community Foundation’s BIPOC fund.

Lisa Linehan is the Executive Director of the Kittery Land Trust and will be sharing about their Nooney Farm Project. In response to the COVID crises, Kittery Land Trust began living into their work of “Saving Land and Building Community" in a new way, when more than 50 volunteers managed a “Giving Garden”, sharing their harvest at the local school, Footprints Food Pantry, and other local food shelters. The farm has grown and now produces over 7,500 pounds of food each year for the local community, encourages a robust community of volunteers logging more than 2000 hours in the garden, and cultivating a sense of belonging and connection to a place through open farm nights with community concerts and pick-your-own flowers.

Prior to coming on board in Kittery, Lisa was the Associate Director at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust for nine years. She has a long history in the nonprofit world and spent a decade serving the extreme poor in the Third World with Partners in Development. She graduated from UNH and loves life on the seacoast. Lisa lives in Kittery with her family. When you can’t find her, chances are she is at the beach or in the garden.