WILD BLUEBERRIES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Horticulture Community Education Assistant
Job Titles:
- Nutrition Education Professional - EFNEP Youth Curriculum Coordinator
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- 4 - H Youth Development Professional / Kennebec County
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- Administrative Specialist CL2
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- Scientific Research Specialist CL2 / Orono
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- Manager of Finance & Campus Operations
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- Administrative Specialist CL3
- Administrative Support Specialist
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- Parent Education Professional
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- Program Coordinator Bryant Pond and Greenland Point 4 - H Centers
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- Associate
- Associate Extension Professor, Agriculture
Job Titles:
- Community Education Assistant
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- Parent Education Professional, Maine Families Visitor
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- Cranberry Professional / Orono
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- Community Education Assistant
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- Senior Extension Program Manager, Staff Development and Research Engagement
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- Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory ( VDL ) Manager / Scientific Research Professional / Orono
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- Parent Education Professional
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- 4 - H Community Education Assistant
Job Titles:
- Community Education Assistant
- Community Education Assistant, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
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- Professor of Clinical Nutrition
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- Professor of Food Microbiology
Expertise: Microbial food spoilage and contamination sources, intervention strategies to reduce product loss, food safety and quality.
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- Extension Wild Blueberry Specialist and Professor of Horticulture
Expertise: Extension Specialist, integrated pest management, crop management, lowbush blueberry production.
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- Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology
Expertise: Insect ecology and behavior in agro-ecosystems, integrated pest management, biological control, pollinator conservation.
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- Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
Expertise: Agroecology, climate change, vegetable and small fruit production, water use efficiency, decision making, behavior, risk assessment, mixed methods research.
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- Professor and Food Science Specialist
Expertise: Helping Maine farmers and food entrepreneurs develop safe foods, assisting processors to address changing regulations.
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- Associate
- Associate Professor of Mycology, Associate Extension Professor and Plant Pathology Specialist
Expertise: Plant pathology, mummy berry, stem blight, and leaf spot diseases.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist CL2
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- Parent Education Professional / Maine Families Visitor
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- Administrative Specialist
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- Community Education Assistant
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- Administrative Specialist CL3
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- Youth Development Professional
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- Integrated Pest Management Professional / Orono
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- Dean of Cooperative Extension / Orono
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- Maine Families Parent Education Professional
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- Administrative Specialist CL3
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- Director of the Diagnostic and Research Laboratory and Pest Management Specialist / Orono
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- Lead Facilities Maintenance Worker CL2
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- Horticulture Professional
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- Maine Families Program Manager
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- Administrative Specialist CL2 / Orono
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- Northstar Program Coordinator, Bryant Pond
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- Food Systems Professional
Job Titles:
- Community Education Assistant, CL2
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- Pesticide Safety Education Program Professional / Orono
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- Executive Director of Extension Operations / Orono
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- Admin Specialist CL2 / Orono
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- Development Professional and Community Central Program Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Community Education Assistant
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- Community Education Assistant
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- 4 - H Youth Development Professional / Hancock County
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- Extension Faculty, Human Development Specialist, and Program Grant Administrator / Leslie.Forstadt@Maine.Edu / 207.581.4387
Leslie's focus is human development, including communication, well-being, stress, and resilience. She works with farm teams in the farm coaching program, and with the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program with programmatic and grant support. She completed her 40-hour mediation training in 2019.
She has collaborated with faculty at UMaine and other campuses nationally, is a member of the Coalition of Agricultural Mediation Programs, and works regularly in Maine with colleagues as part of the Maine Farmer Resource Network, and the Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. She lives in Bangor with her husband and two boisterous kids and is always eager to get outside into the world.
Job Titles:
- O'Neil / Active PFAS Navigator / Um.Pfasnavigator2@Maine.Edu / 207.209.8889
Linc Oliver-O'Neil is a professional mediator, organizer, and builder. They are a rostered mediator for the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program (MAMP) through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and they mediate Family Matters cases for the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (CADRES) program through the Maine Judicial Branch. As a member of the PFAS Navigation team, they bring a combined four years of fieldwork in land management, with experience in the urban agriculture, construction, and conservation sectors. Linc enjoys drawing zines, singing with friends, and spending time reconnecting to the non-human beings around them through gardening and wildcrafting.
Job Titles:
- Nutrition Education and Extension Homemaker Professional
Lucy is a mediator, educator, and trainer. She has experience in a variety of meditation settings, including community mediation, CADRES family matters mediation in the Maine District Courts as well as probate, and other practice areas. Lucy works to promote inclusivity, compassionate curiosity, lifelong learning, and dignity through mindful and trauma-informed conflict resolution practice.
She has collaborated with students, staff, and administrators in various roles in higher education, including teaching History and Culture from 2012 - 2015 at SIAS International University in the People's Republic of China. She now lives in Frankfort, Maine, and enjoys vegetable and flower gardening. Lucy also spends time reading historical fiction, getting moving through hiking, swimming, and yoga, building and repairing household projects, and going on daily outdoor adventures with her sweet, energetic hound mix, Maisy.
Job Titles:
- NorthStar Program Coordinator
With intensified management, Maine wild blueberry production has increased steadily. The value of Maine wild blueberry production peaked in 2007 at the cost of $1.07/lb and the price per pound has since dropped. The prices in the figure include berries sold in both fresh and frozen markets. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS) conducted by the USDA, fresh markets that currently account for 1% of all Maine wild blueberry production are sold at a much higher price. The other 99% are frozen, allowing for storability and transport to the end user.
1924-2020 Maine wild blueberry production and statistics. Source: 1924-1989 Maine Department of Agriculture (1924 to 1928 includes imported berries), 1990 to 2021 New England Agricultural Statistics Service. For more information, please visit the Maine Wild Blueberry Production Statistics Fact Sheet.
There are 38,000 acres of commercial wild blueberry land in Maine, managed by approximately 500 farmers.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Bryant Pond and Greenland Point
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- Program Coordinator, Tanglewood and Blueberry Cove
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- Director of Marketing and Communications / Orono
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- Administrative Specialist CL2 / Orono
Melissa is a graduate of UMA Liberal Studies with minors in Justice, Governmental Affairs, and Human Resources as well as continuing education at Harvard University. She is the owner of Melissa Maker Consulting LLC. She holds a brokers license in real estate and a life and health insurance license focusing specifically on navigating Medicare. Melissa has a broad understanding of human resources, real estate, and insurance, and prizes her negotiation skills. She is a volunteer co-mediator for the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program (MAMP) and is a reserve PFAS Navigator. She formerly served as President of the Pen Bay Board of Realtors and President of the City of Rockland Harbor Commission. She enjoys flying with my husband Brian in their Super Cub tail dragger and spending time with her family at their lake cottage.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Finance / Orono
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
- Administrative Specialist CL3
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- Home Horticulture Professional
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Before moving to Maine in 2004, Rachael worked as a civilian for the Navy, as well as volunteered as a credit counselor for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society-Kings Bay, and advised service members that were transferred to the base regarding financial concerns. After moving to Maine, Rachael became a high school math teacher and dorm parent, and taught all levels of math, including AP Statistics and BC Calculus, as well as personal finance and financial accounting. When her youngest graduated high school in 2018, she worked briefly as a student financial aid advisor, but is currently an independent math consultant and online tutor. She has recently completed the mediation certificate through the University of Southern Maine and the agricultural mediation training program through MAMP, and is now on the roster as a co-mediator. Rachael enjoys traveling, hiking, kayaking, organic gardening and the different food preservation methods that it entails, and brewing kombucha.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
- Extension Professor, Sustainable Agriculture & Livestock Educator
Job Titles:
- Parent Education Professional / Extension Professional I
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- Coordinator of Horticulture Training Programs
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- Community Education Assistant
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- Open Air Classroom Program Coordinator
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- Summer Camp Director, Bryant Pond 4 - H Camp
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- Building and Grounds Mechanic and Trade Worker
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- Northstar Program Coordinator
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- Parent Education Professional
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- Blueberry Cove Camp Director
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- State Director of 4 - H Camp and Learning Centers
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- Administrative Specialist
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- Climate Services Specialist / Assistant Extension Professor / Orono
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- MAMP Program Data Management and Case Coordinator
Shiela is an attorney and mediator who grew up and studied in the Philippines. Since her relocation to Maine in 2007, she has been focusing her practice on Family Matters mediation. She and her family climbed Mount Katahdin in the summer of 2022 and shared "I am always looking for the next adventure."
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist CL3
Job Titles:
- Community Education Assistant CL2
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Program Leader, Agriculture & Natural Resources
Wanda has been a practicing mediator for sixteen years. She specializes in agriculturally-based conflict resolution in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine. She also practices family mediation in Maine. Wanda worked with families in Androscoggin, Kennebec, Franklin, and Somerset counties for fifteen years to grow and preserve their own food as a means for fighting hunger. Wanda studied Business Management at Casco Bay College and Central Maine Community College.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist CL1