Kim Cartwright
Executive director

You can reach Kim at: [email protected]

Before becoming a conservation professional, Kim worked in event planning, higher education administration, and running a family business in the building trades for 23 years. Since beginning her work in conservation 12 years ago, she has focused on helping land trusts create strategic land protection and organizational, financial, and outreach goals. And has a passion for finding ways to bring those goals from ideas to reality.

She graduated from Bryant University with a BS in Management and Business Communications. She earned an M. Ed. from Springfield College in Counseling & Psychological Services.

She has (successfully) raised two outdoor enthusiasts who chase their dreams wherever there are mountains, oceans, cliffs, and fields. In her downtime, Kim enjoys kayaking, catch & release fishing, hiking & camping, and winter sports of every kind.


Sheelagh Higginson
operations & compliance manager

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You can reach Sheelagh at: [email protected]

Sheelagh came to the US from her native England in the early 1990’s to work at a summer camp based in Connecticut. It was while working there that she met her husband, Paul. After 12-years of coordinating the camp’s Wilderness Challenge program and managing the office, Sheelagh & Paul moved to Bethlehem, NH where they built their house and immersed themselves in the local community. Sheelagh is happiest when on an outdoor adventure be it paddleboarding, open water swimming, canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing or skiing.

Sheelagh has worked in both the non-profit and private sectors in a variety of administrative roles.


Rosalind Page
Conservation Projects Manager

You can reach Rosalind at: [email protected]

We have a lot to be excited about in adding Rosalind to ACT’s team. She is a 9-year veteran of the ACT board and served as the Board Chair for 6 of those years before her term ended in 2018. She and her husband Tom also have special ties to ACT as conservation landowners since 2005, finishing a project started by the previous owner.

Rosalind brings a deep understanding of both the conservation work as well as the needs of our communities. She has 40 years of surveying experience and ran her surveying company for 25 of those years. Rosalind's connection to our region is deep and based in her ability to listen so that even the smallest of voices are heard. Beyond her time spent with ACT she is also a volunteer Lisbon Conservation Commission member, chairs the Lisbon Planning Board, and is the Lisbon representative on the North Country Transportation Council. Her work to advocate for the good of the whole in these roles ties back wonderfully to the conservation and community vitality work that are the cornerstone of ACT’s mission.


RICK WALLING
Conservation Projects Manager

You can reach Rick at: [email protected]

A former ACT trustee, Rick and his wife Camille own historic farmland along the Connecticut River in Bath. Since moving to the area in 1998, Rick has served on a number of committees and boards for the Town of Bath and the surrounding area. Rick is active with the Ammonoosuc River Local River Advisory Committee and the Connecticut River Joint Commissions.

Rick holds bachelors and masters degrees in anthropology from Memphis State University. While he now operates a cabinetry shop and carpentry business based in one of his farm buildings, most of his professional life was spent in the field of cultural resources management (primarily review and compliance archeology) within university, state, and private sectors. Rick is now working with ACT on land protection projects.


Jesse Mohr
Conservation Ecologist & Land Manager

You can reach Jesse at: [email protected]

As an ecologist, biologist, forester, conservation planner, and educator at the collegiate and high school levels, Jesse has worked and studied at the nexus of humans, nature, and conservation for over 15 years.  As a practitioner and academic, Jesse has sought approaches and solutions that balance the needs of wildlife and ecosystems with healthy human communities. Jesse holds an M.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont and a B.S. in Forest Ecology from the Evergreen State College.  

Jesse grew up on a farm in upstate New York.  After managing the farm for a few years, Jesse moved to Washington State and pursued a Bachelor’s of Science in Forest Ecology from the Evergreen State College.  After graduating from Evergreen, he served as the college’s first forest manager and restoration coordinator, helping to balance and restore the diverse academic, recreational, and educational values of the schools’ 1800-acre forest and preserve.  During his time in Washington, Jesse also supervised a Washington Conservation Corps Crew that worked on trail projects deep in the backcountry of Rainer and Olympic National Parks and the region’s many National Forests.

Jesse returned to New England for graduate school.  He received his Master of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont in 2006.  While in graduate school, he founded Native Geographic, LLC.  After graduate school, Jesse balanced his time between Native Geographic, LLC and teaching undergraduate and graduate classes in natural resource inventory and analysis at the University of Vermont.  From 2010-2015, Jesse served as the part-time Executive Director of the Upper Valley Stewardship Center, a non-profit landowner collaborative dedicated to sustainable land management and advancing stewardship and outdoor education in the upper valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Jesse is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Society, a Certified Forester with the Society for American Foresters, a licensed New Hampshire Forester, and a Technical Service Provider with the Natural Resource Conservation Services.


Conor McCourt
Trails Manager & Conservation Projects Assistant

You can reach Conor at: [email protected]

Conor McCourt is a Trails Manager and Conservation Projects Assistant with ACT who is passionate about access to outdoor recreation for everybody. Conor grew up in Colchester, Connecticut and recently moved to Whitefield, New Hampshire from Burlington, Vermont. He is a recent graduate of the University of Vermont with a degree in Forestry and a minor in Parks, Recreation and Tourism. During his free time, Conor enjoys fishing, hiking, camping, traveling and riding his motorcycle all around New England as well as spending time with friends and family.  


Katrina Meserve
Outreach Manager

You can reach Katrina at: [email protected]

Katrina grew up on the coast of Maine and in the woods of the Northeast Kingdom, Vermont. This is where her passion for natural spaces developed. From paddling and beach days on Maine’s coast and hiking the striking Mount Katahdin, to roaming the Vermont fields and forests with her siblings. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College where she used her love for the outdoors to obtain a degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in conservation. She has previous experience on multiple organic farms, but most recently worked as a program coordinator for a Youth Development AmeriCorps program where she connected members to youth-based nonprofits around New England.

Katrina loves spending time in her garden, exploring the White Mountains, and rock climbing with her partner, Calvin.


Sharon Penney
Coös Conservation Project Manager

You can reach Sharon at: [email protected]

Sharon Penney is a seventh-generation North Country native, having been born and raised in Coös County. She has been a resident of Franconia where she raised her sons for over 30 years. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire and former land use and transportation planner, Sharon recently retired from full-time municipal and regional government service in the northernmost counties of New Hampshire.

Now that her days aren’t filled with commuting from one North Country town to another, she is back in the workforce as the part-time Coös Conservation Project Manager (CCPM) for ACT’s brand-new Coös land conservation initiative.

As an avid hiker and woods-wanderer since childhood, the CCPM position is a labor of love for Sharon, allowing her to help conserve the fields and woodlands that provide solace and sustenance for so many landowners, residents and visitors in our region. Her family’s 170-year-old ancestral farm in Randolph, NH has participated in a conservation easement overlay for over 20 years. She has participated in both the landowner and the conservation entity perspectives of the process and hopes to bring that experience as an enhanced resource to the new CCPM endeavor.


Dave Falkenham
Coös Conservation Ecologist and Land Manager

You can reach Dave at: [email protected]

Dave was born and raised in Lancaster, NH. After graduating from WMRHS, he enlisted in the US Army and served tours of duty in South Korea, Southwest Asia (Desert Storm), and one stateside duty station. After the military, he graduated from UNH with a bachelor's degree in Forestry and a minor in Water Resource Management.

From 1996 – 2009 he was a forest manager and Regional Forester for the NH Division of Forests and Lands North Region office in Lancaster. From 2009-2015, Dave was the UNH Extension Forester for Grafton County and a board member for the New Hampshire Tactical Officers Assocation (NHTOA). During this time he earned a Master’s Degree in Environmental Education from Plymouth State University. In 2015 Dave became the lands manager and adjunct faculty member at Paul Smiths College in northern NY

In 2018 he returned to Coös County as a forest manager for LandVest, primarily managing large industrial and non-industrial ownerships in northern NH, ME, and VT. In 2021 Dave was given an opportunity to manage smaller family-sized ownerships working as a private consultant for New England Forestry Consultants (NEFCo.).

He is passionate about forest management, conservation, hunting, hiking, long-distance cycling (road and gravel), and Nordic skiing.


ACT ADVISORS


Rebecca Brown

As ACT’s founding Executive Director, Rebecca helped build a legacy of land protection, stewardship, and community connection in the region over 20 years of service to the organization. She lives in Sugar Hill, working as the director of New Hampshire Alliance for End of Life Options.


Julie Renaud Evans

Julie lives in Milan, NH and is a forester. She is on the staff of the Northern Forest Center and is focused on community forests and other working landscapes.


Doug Evelyn

Doug is a former ACT trustee and represented ACT in its intervenor role in opposition to Northern Pass. Doug lives in Sugar Hill, where he and his wife, Martha, donated forest land to ACT for permanent conservation and public enjoyment.


Dave Govatski

A former ACT trustee, Dave is retired from the U.S. Forest Service, and is an avid birder. He lives in Jefferson, where is very involved with NH Audubon and the Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge.


Ken Kinder

Ken, a non-voting member of the Finance Committee, is with Stifel Nicolas in St. Johnsbury, VT. He advises ACT on its investment portfolio. Ken lives in Haverhill and enjoys managing his several hundred acres of forest land.


Brendan Whittaker

Brendan is a retired forester and Episcopal priest who was one of the church’s earlies activists on conservation issues. He is the former secretary of the agency of natural resources in Vermont. He lives in Brunswick, VT and serves on ACT’s Lands Committee.