Farewell to Tim Glidden
By Angela Twitchell, BTLT Executive Director
One of the things that I value most about having worked in the Maine land conservation community for the last 24 years is all of the amazingly talented, dedicated, and just plain awesome people I get to work with every single day. They provide inspiration, support, and lots of laughter and good times.
There’s no one I have felt more grateful to call my friend, colleague, and co-conspirator than Tim Glidden, recently retired President of Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT).
I first began working closely with Tim in 2001 when he became the Director of the Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) program. I was working in government relations at The Nature Conservancy and had just managed the campaign to pass a $50 million land bond to re-invigorate the LMF program. Tim’s unwavering leadership at LMF helped grow that program into one of the best examples of how the State can catalyze the conservation of the most special places in all corners of Maine in a way that draws strong, bipartisan support.
I remember feeling very bittersweet in 2011 when Tim decided to leave LMF to take on the role of President at MCHT. I was so sorry to see him leave LMF (a program that was near and dear to my heart), but I was also thrilled that he would be leading MCHT – an organization for which I had great respect.
Once Tim took over the reins at MCHT there was no looking back. Under Tim’s leadership MCHT completed more than 300 conservation projects, protecting 10,000 acres of land.
Tim helped to inspire and grow the entire land conservation community in Maine through his creative and dedicated leadership of the Maine Land Trust Network and he was (and is) a strong advocate for not only conserving land but connecting people to it.
He helped usher in a new era of “Community Conservation,” expanding MCHT’s and the broader Maine land trust community’s role as builders of diverse coalitions of people working together to creatively conserve land and address community needs.
Locally, I have been fortunate to work closely with Tim and others at MCHT to conserve some amazing places in our community – most notably the Woodward Point Preserve.
Tim will be sorely missed. But as Tim (a fellow Topsham resident) has said to me, “I’ll still be around” and, indeed, he is true to his word. Only days after leaving MCHT, Tim has stepped up to moderate the Take Action on Climate Speaker Series that BTLT and the Cathance River Education Alliance are currently running weekly this January and February.
As we say goodbye to Tim, we get to say hello to Kate Stookey, the new President of MCHT. I look forward to getting to know Kate and continuing to work with MCHT as a valued partner in our work of conserving the extraordinary natural areas in our community and ensuring they are accessible for everyone.
THANK YOU, Tim, for all you have done and will continue to do to make our corner of the world and the larger land conservation community a better place! I look forward to seeing you around our neck of the woods.
If your interest is piqued, you can read more about Tim Glidden’s 40 year career in conservation here and here.
