Maine Division Leadership Team

Chair

Katie Manende Hall
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
Kathryn.manende@cmpco.com

Katie lives in Southern Maine and has been a forester with Central Maine Power Company since 2014. Prior to CMP, she was a forester for Sappi for 6 ½ years. Katie is a graduate of the University of Maine (B.S. Forestry and B.S. Wildlife Ecology 2008, Master of Forestry 2014) and has been involved in SAF since her freshman year at UMO. She has spent many years on the MESAF Executive Committee in roles such as chair and member at large, as well as service to the National Board of Directors. Currently, she is an active member of the Maine Tree Foundation Board of Directors and the Sanford Trails Committee. She also owns her own forestry consulting business, which she practices part time outside of her full time job at CMP. In her spare time, she enjoys quality outdoor time, especially with her husband, two children, and two puppies!

Chair Elect

Samantha Anderson
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
anderson.sam@jdirving.com

Sam graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2014 with a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science. She then attended University of Maine to get her Masters of Forestry degree and graduated in 2020. While she was in graduate school she worked for the CFRU as the Interim Communications and Research Coordinator and was an active member in SAF attending conferences and annual meetings. She is an active forester who has been practicing and managing forest lands for over 2 years. She has 10 years of field experience working in the arctic for research in Sweden to the deserts of California as a wildlife technician. She currently lives in Fort Kent, ME working for Irving Woodlands as a Field Forester.

Immediate Past Chair

Kyle Burdick
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
kyleleroyburdick@gmail.com

Kyle graduated from the University of Maine in 2007 with a degree in forest management. He has worked in the Adirondacks and Maine, practicing forest management on a mix of conservation, industry, and family ownerships. He currently serves on Maine’s Outcome Based Forestry panel, the Maine Tree Farm Committee, and is a Maine Woodland Owners member and chapter representative. He is the Woodlands Manager for Baskahegan Company, with responsibilities including management policy, forest certification, land acquisitions, carbon offsets, wood sales, and general company administration. He lives in Brookton with his forestry award-winning dog Chaga.

Treasurer

Jake Metzler
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/24

Jake is currently the Director of Forestland Conservation for the Forest Society of Maine in Bangor. In that role, he gets to work with landowners large and small throughout the state, helping answer land conservation questions by crafting and stewarding projects that help ensure that forests remain sustainable, productive, and vibrant for all their users. Jake has previously served SAF as a member of both the NESAF Executive Committee (2019-2021) and the Maine Division Executive Committee.

Secretary

Kristen (Kris) Hoffman
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
kristen@fsmaine.org

Kris was hired by the Forest Society of Maine in 2007 to help meet their growing land stewardship needs. She conducts ground and aerial monitoring for many of the current easements and compiles baseline documentation for new projects. She has a B.S. from Northland College in Biology and Psychology and an M.S. in Forest Management from the University of Maine. Kris previously served as the executive director of the Pemaquid Watershed Association. Before this term, Kris served many years on the executive committee of the Maine division of the Society of American Foresters, with the New England Region Conference On Forest Engineering, and with Maine Project Learning Tree, among other organizations. When she’s not at the office Kris likes taking long walks with her dogs and introducing her children to all the wonders of the outside.

Member-at-Large

Cullen Utermark
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
utermark.cullen@gmail.com

Cullen Utermark grew up in upstate New York and attended the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), graduating with a AAS in Forest Technology from the SUNY ESF Ranger School, and a BS in Forest Resource Management. Shortly after graduation in 2018 Cullen accepted a position with Weyerhaeuser based out of Bingham, Maine. With Weyerhaeuser, Cullen has had roles in both Maine and Vermont. In Vermont, Cullen worked marking timber in varying prescriptions. During his time in Maine, Cullen has worked as a Silviculture Forester involved with the company’s Intensive Softwood Management activities including their Reforestation, PCT, and Aerial Spray Programs, and as a Harvesting Forester administering Harvest Operations in the Upper Kennebec Valley. In 2018 Cullen became a licensed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilot helping to apply the operational efficiencies of UAVs across functions in the field. Cullen’s hobbies include camping, fishing, and snowmobiling. Member-at-Large is his first role with MESAF.

Member-at-Large

Jason McLellan
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
jason@baskahegan.com

Jason is from Washington county Maine and earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Maine with a minor in Surveying. During college he worked at the Penobscot Experimental Forest and the University Forest and then got a job with Seven Islands Land Company in Ashland, ME. He worked with Seve as an intern cruising and working with operations for three years while in school and started full-time as an operations forester upon graduation. He worked with Seven Islands for a total of eight years until he joined Baskahegan Company in January 2020 as the Operations Manager.

Member-at-Large

Brandon Learnard
Term: 1/1/23 – 12/31/23
blearnard@sevenislands.com

Brandon has been an operations forester for the Seven Islands Land Company for 7 years. He is a Maine native with a B.A. from Sterling College in Vermont and a M.F. from the University of Maine. Brandon participated in internships with CFRU and SFMA while in school. Brandon has been a licensed forester since 2018 and has been an SAF member since 2014. Brandon enjoys the fall colors, practicing silviculture in the northern forest and mountains with viewsheds.

Maine Representative to NESAF Executive Committee

Carol Redelsheimer
Term: 1/1/23– 12/31/24
carol.redelsheimer@gmail.com

Carol Redelsheimer is a University of Maine alum who spent twenty-seven years in a variety of forest management positions in northern and eastern Maine, including with Great Northern Paper, Champion International, Baxter State Park’s Scientific Management Area, as well as consulting for private clients. From 2010-2021 she worked as Director, Science & Education, for national SAF administering SAF accreditation, coordinating national convention program development, and working with the Forest Science & Technology Board and Working Groups. Redelsheimer has previously served as chair-elect and chair of MESAF, in several capacities organizing NESAF winter meetings, as a member of the Maine Board of Licensure, the Maine Tree Farm Committee, and the SAF Certification Review Board.

Education Chair

Laura Audibert
Term: Appointed
la4568@roadrunner.com

Laura is currently a Consulting Forester living in Fort Kent, Maine. She earned her B.S. in Forest Management from the University of Maine. Her entire career has been in Maine, working in the forestry industry for 17 years and consulting for 19 years. Laura served as Maine’s Division Manager from 2000 until 2020 and has been a SAF member since 1983.

Communications Committee Chair

Jason Desjardin
Term: Appointed
jdesjardin@sevenislands.com

Jason is an Aroostook County native who earned an Associate degree in Forest Technology from the University of Maine at Fort Kent followed by a Bachelors degree in Forest Management from the University of Maine. Jason works for Seven Islands Land Company out of Ashland, Maine. He has been with the Seven Islands family of companies for 15 years, in various capacities, and is currently their Planning Forester. Jason is a State of Maine licensed forester, as well as a SAF Certified Forester. Jason is enthusiastic about promoting the values of sustainable forestry and supporting the profession. Jason resides in Castle Hill with his wife and two children.

Policy Chair

Adam Daigneault
Term: Appointed (on sabbatical)
adam.daigneault@maine.edu

Division Manager

Logan Johnson
Term: Contracted
logan@mainetree.org

Logan is excited to work with people interested in helping others discover the forest as a sustainable natural resource that provides services communities depend on. Raised in rural Washington County, Maine, he didn’t find his passion for forests until he was a student at the University of Maine. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Forestry degree. His experiences include an 11-month AmeriCorps service term as a Land Stewardship Coordinator in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Most recently, he worked as a consultant for his own company and as a Northeast Region Coordinator for the Forest Stewards Guild. He is currently the Executive Director of Maine Timber Research & Environmental Education Foundation (Maine TREE).