Boothbay Region Land Trust is pleased to introduce three new summer staff members — stewardship intern Brooklyn Washburn, and Damariscove caretakers, Ed Vleck and Bailey Romaine.

Brooklyn is joining us as a summer intern through a grant from Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Brooklyn grew up outside of Freeport and attends the University of Maine at Orono, where she just completed her junior year focusing in wildlife ecology. Brooklyn will be spending the summer learning primarily about stewardship at our preserves, but she will also get a sense of the general operations of the land trust.

“I’m very excited to dip my toes into conservation work alongside people who also share my strong passion for protecting our natural resources,” Brooklyn shares. “I’m excited to meet new people, obtain more knowledge and skills and get a taste of what conservation work is like with BRLT.”

Ed Vleck and Bailey Romaine will be greeting visitors tending trails at Damariscove Island this summer as our caretakers. They are joining us from Chicago. Ed grew up roaming around the marshes, forests, and beaches of northeast Florida and fishing with his grandfather. He attended college in Chicago, and then spent several years working and traveling the U.S. and Europe before moving to Maine to build wooden boats at the Carpenter's Boat Shop. While exploring the coastal forests and islands of Maine, he resolved to find ways to express his passion for nature and conservation more fully. Upon returning to Chicago over a year ago, Ed has been working for Friends of the Forest Preserves doing habitat restoration within Cook County.

Bailey is an artist, writer, reader, and rambler. Born and raised in the south, she has spent the last decade based in Chicago, studying and making art, while working in libraries, print shops, wood shops, galleries, and museums. In 2016 she finished her MFA in studio arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago and spent the following year living in Maine where she got a job as teen librarian at the Skidompha Library. When she wasn't making art and writing in her apartment overlooking the Damariscotta River, she was out exploring the woods, canoeing the river, or watching countless sunrises down at Salt Pond. Since returning to Chicago, she has been working as a gallery site manager at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, while continuing to focus on her art and writing.

Both Ed and Bailey are thrilled to be back in midcoast Maine. Their experiences both in stewardship and at museums make them well suited to Damariscove Island, keeping the trails in good condition and sharing the islands rich history with visitors.

We could not be happier to welcome all three of these accomplished individuals to BRLT. Please feel free to introduce yourself should you meet them in the office or on Damariscove this summer!