Welcome our new Board Members!
Friends of Baxter State Park was founded 22 years ago by a committed, passionate group of Park enthusiasts. Their grassroots legacy continues today through the volunteers that serve on our Board of Directors. Our Board members bring a wealth of skills, dedication, and vision to our work on behalf of the Park, and provide vital leadership for achieving our mission.
At our Annual Meeting on April 7, 2022, the members of Friends of Baxter State Park, by unanimous decision, approved these new members to the Board to serve a three-year term.
Anna Bastidas is an outdoor enthusiast who finds joy and community when spending time outside with others. She is the Associate Director of the Outing Club at Bowdoin College, and in this role trains student trip leaders, oversees the Orientation Trip program and works to increase access, opportunity, and sense of belonging in the outdoors for all students. Anna graduated from Hamilton College in 2013, earned her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2021, and also instructs for NOLS.
Jensen Bissell retired in 2017 from Baxter State Park after a 30-year career; 12 years as the Director and 18 years managing the forest on the north end of the park. In his retirement, Jensen works very part-time for his sons in their business, Bissell Brothers Brewing Company, which has locations in Portland and Milo. Jensen serves on the Board of Trustees for two local hospitals and as regional representative on the NLH Finance Committee. He also is a board member of the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District. Jensen also serves on the Advisory Board for the Forest Society of Maine. Jensen resides in Milo and in his spare time enjoys traveling and hiking with his wife Breena, as well as fishing, reading, and gardening.
Hope Rowan is a GIS Specialist at Community Geographics, where she creates maps of all kinds but particularly of trails, assisting trail managers across the state publicize and map their trail networks, including management of the online resource Maine Trail Finder. She has also published two hiking guides for children, Ten Days in Acadia and Ten Days in the North Woods. Hope received a B.A. in Music from Colby College, and an M.Phil. in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic, and has since focused her work on land preservation and providing and encouraging access to the outdoors. When not making maps, writing, or teaching piano, Hope spends as much time as possible out in the woods and ascending summits, making many trips between her beloved Maine coast and the equally loved Maine mountains, both for hiking in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. Hope resides along the down east coast with her dog Tess, in Southwest Harbor for much of the year, and in Steuben during the summer.
