Leadership & Committees
South Portland Land Trust (SPLT) is a nonprofit organization with an all volunteer board. Each person shares the commitment to linking neighborhoods and improving quality of life in South Portland. The board holds overall responsibility for governance, fiscal oversight, and financial development for the organization. They are the decision-making body that guides the activities and actions of the land trust. Additionally, the land trust has a contracted Website & Social Media manager.
Leadership
Charles (“Tex”) Haeuser, Board President
Originally from Wisconsin, Tex moved to Maine in 1984 and was Planning Director for South Portland from 1990 to 2020. In his years with the City, Tex helped to expand the Greenbelt Walkway and to bring about several other pedestrian facilities improvement and conservation projects. Participating on the South Portland Land Trust Board gives Tex an opportunity to continue to aid in providing more opportunities for public access and the protection of valuable natural areas. Tex also reports that it's "kind of a fun group."
We welcome diverse, committed citizens to our board. If you would like to learn more, contact Tex below.
Karen Talentino,
Vice President & Treasurer
Karen and her husband Bill moved to South Portland from Burlington, Vermont, in 2021, to be closer to their children who live in South Portland and Massachusetts. She retired after 44 years from an academic career at three different colleges - Simmons, Stonehill and Saint Michael's. As a professor she taught courses in biology, environmental science and marine biology, and carried out research focusing on adaptations to extreme temperatures. She believes strongly that the best way to learn about the environment (or anything for that matter) is to be immersed in it, and to study it first-hand. So, at each of her colleges she designed and led numerous academic study trips to such destinations as Bahamas (marine ecology), Cuba (coral reef ecology), the Everglades (human impact on a unique ecosystem), and the Sonoran desert (art and the environment). She was involved in establishing the Center for the Environment at Saint Michael's College, as well as preserving a 400 acre natural area adjacent to the campus. Two major interests are the preservation of natural environments and education about global climate change. The South Portland Land Trust seems to be a perfect fit to work on both of these goals. She enjoys birding, camping, hiking, kayaking, snorkelling/scuba diving, vegetable gardening, travel with her husband Bill, and taking care of her new granddaughter Addison. Karen loves the small town character of South Portland - the friendliness of neighbors, strength of community, and the opportunity to contribute to local businesses and organizations like SOPLT. Living in coastal Maine is pretty cool, too.
tricia Bohner, Secretary
In 1993 I moved from NY to Maine and in 2005 I moved to South Portland. I love living in South Portland and have enjoyed walking on SPLT trails for years. I love being outside in nature and want to help preserve land for all to enjoy.
I worked as a clinical social worker for many years and now work in a school Auxiliary Programs Dept. I work mostly outdoors with primary school kids and I see how being outside in nature facilitates such imaginative and creative play.
I want to support the South Portland Land Trust so that generations to come will have outdoor spaces for walking and playing.
Mary Linneman
I'm a retired teacher who enjoys being outside - walking, birding, gardening and reading. I love camping in Maine, especially in the western mountains and Downeast. The Trout Brook trail offers me that sense of being in the woods listening to an untamed stream within moments of leaving my home. This is the reason I support the Land Trust; keeping natural areas undeveloped so that South Portlanders can experience moments of wilderness in our urban environment.
Amy McGann
Amy has spent her career working to promote and protect the labor rights of low wage workers. She enjoys the outdoors, and since moving to South Portland has logged hundreds of miles on the land trust trails. She is interested in supporting the work of the South Portland land trust to preserve more open space and expand and maintain the trail system.
Peter Wilson
Ever since a canoe trip on the Allagash as a teen I’ve had the feeling that living in Maine was in my future.
After growing up in New York and attending college in Colorado, I settled on Nantucket where I was a carpenter, mostly, and a two term conservation commissioner, and board member of the Nantucket Land Council, a local environmental advocacy group. Then, in 2000, I relocated to Portland where my partner and future wife, Becca, had found work with the Conservation Department at Maine Audubon. Not long after, I, too, joined Audubon as Assistant to the Property Manager. Two years later with a baby on the way, we bought our house in South Portland. I’m currently the chair of the South Portland Conservation Commission and its delegate to the Open Space Acquisitions Committee and I have served on the Willard Beach Master Plan Committee and the 2012 Comprehensive Plan Committee.
I’m hopeful that with my skills and experience I can make a contribution to the South Portland Land Trust.
Eric Bagley
Eric has been in love with Maine since he and his family first visited in 1998, and in love with nature his entire life. After living for 20 years in northern Virginia, Eric moved to northern Maine in 2018 and to South Portland in 2022. After graduating high school in 2009, Eric managed several pizza delivery restaurants for 10 years until deciding to return to college to earn his degree in Environmental Science from the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 2021. After working for the Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District for one year, Eric accepted a job at WSP USA, Inc., his current employer, in 2022. Although newer to South Portland, Eric grew up with a robust community trail system growing up in Virginia and understands firsthand the benefits that well-maintained trails offer to the community! In his free time Eric enjoys video games, spending time at camp, and performing music.
Stephen Cochrane
Stephen grew up in Deer Isle, Maine spending most of his summers working on a lobster boat. In 2022, he earned his bachelor's in biology from the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Following graduation, he began working as an environmental consultant and moved to South Portland. Since then, he has continued working as an environmental consultant, focusing on ecological risk assessment, wetland delineation/permitting, and environmental remediation, while working remotely towards his M.S. in environmental science from the University of Idaho. He hopes that his academic and work experience will help provide protection, care, and education of natural areas in his community.
Pam Remy
Pam Remy grew up in Massachusetts, moved to San Francisco after college, and then to South Portland with her family in 2007. She loves being outside, especially in her yard where she enthusiastically attempts to grow native plants in her garden. Pam’s most recent work was as the Director of Operations for I’m Your Neighbor Books, a local nonprofit. She also has extensive experience in human resources. She supports the South Portland Land Trusts in its work to protect South Portland's open spaces and trails and keep them accessible for everyone in our community.
Not shown: Sarah hadley
Dana Bettez,
SPLT Website & Social Media Manager
Hi! I’m Dana, and I manage SPLT’s social media and website. I’m a lifelong South Portland resident and my children are the fourth generation of our family to grow up in our neighborhood. I spent my childhood playing along these trails, and now I love exploring them again with my family.
I enjoy gardening, traveling, and spending time along the coast. I hold a degree in Communications from Endicott College (Go Gulls!) and have worked with multiple departments for the City of South Portland. I currently work full-time as a school bookkeeper.
What I love most about my work with SPLT is helping connect people to the places that make South Portland special. Feel free to reach out using the email below!
Current Committees
Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Programming Committee
Finance & Development Committee
Trails Committee
Trail Monitors
Trail Stewards