IAT Annual AGM – May 6 – 8 Presque Isle Maine

Please Join us for the IAT Maine Chapter Annual Meeting in Presque Isle Maine May 6-8, 2016
We are looking forward to a fun filled weekend with our IAT friends and colleagues in Presque Isle Maine! In addition to our annual meeting of the members and the board, there will be plenty of opportunity to socialize and take in a variety of topics including:
Sun Edison Wind Farm Tour/Geology at Mars Hill MountainAlaska to Maine – Snowmobile Ride of the Millennium (after dinner presentation – open to the public)History & Geology of the IAT, with website, maps & guide informationUpdate on Trail RelocationUMPI Outing ClubBeyond LimitsAroostook BirdersDriving the Solor SystemNative American & First Nations CultureAcadian History & CulturePaul Cyr PhotographyInterhemispheric Aspects of Climate ChangeMatt "Gator" Miller, 2015 AT Thru-Hiker & IAT-ME Hiker (after dinner presentation – open to the public)Stars Over Presque IsleHaystack Mtn. Geology Field Trip & Ashland Logging Museum Visit
We hope you can join us! To register, mail registration form and payment to Maine Chapter IAT, PO Box 916, Gardiner, ME 04345 or make a payment online by going to the IAT website annual meeting page. Please forward registration information to carolgay@gwi.net.
Registration and payment is due by April 29, 2016.
Lodging reservations must be made with Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center directly at 207-764-3321. Ask for IAT reduced rate.
You can also show your support by becoming a member with a $25 donation.

2016 AGM Dedicated to William (Bill) H. Forbes
The Maine Chapter of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) dedicates the 2016 Annual Meeting on May 6-7-8, 2016 to Bill Forbes. Bill, a Maine Paleontologist, was a long time member of the IAT whose knowledge, expertise and many contacts helped in the concept and trail designation in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Born in Presque Isle 1931 and passed in May 2011, Presque Isle, after a long battle with cancer.
Bill viewed Aroostook County as the gateway to the world. His love for science and particularly geology started before high school and remained a central theme throughout his life. Bill was a scholar in the traditional sense. He had a voracious interest in many areas of the natural sciences and resources worldwide. Bill’s passion was focused research and teaching at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI). He was beloved by his students and colleagues at UMPI where he quickly advanced to full time instructor in geology in 1971, and was promoted from Associate to full Professor of Geology in 1985. He was co-discoverer of the land plant fossil, Pertica quadrifaria in northern Baxter Park and upon an act of the Maine state legislature, it is now designated as Maine’s official fossil. He eventually was invited to apprentice under a specialist in paleo-botany at the U.S. Natural History Museum in Washington, DC and was recognized worldwide for his discoveries and research in paleontology. For his many contributions to Appalachian geology and the International Appalachian Trail, The IAT is honored to dedicate this annual meeting to member William (Bill) Forbes, including his wife Warrena and family.

2016 Stars over Katahdin

Save the date… Saturday, October 1st for Stars over Katahdin on Katahdin Woods and Waters Overlook on the Loop Road. Camping with tents is available on the overlook that night only.
Chats around the Campfire at 6pm. Bring your picnic supper.
More updates to come!
Nancy Hathaway, M.Ed., LpastC

Save the Date – Annual Meeting – May 6-8

Mark your calendar for May 6-8th for the IAT Maine An

nual Meeting! We will be heading to Presque Isle Maine for this years event. We are working on a packed filled program with something to interest everyone. We will keep you posted once the program is finalized. We hope you can join us!

North American AGM – Mabou

We are looking forward to attending this years North American Annual General Meeting. The meeting will be held in Mabou, a small Canadian rural community located in Inverness County on the west coast of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island. There will be representation from all IAT chapters and each will report on their activities over the last year. We will be discussing participation at the 2017 ATC Bienniel in Maine and at ALDHA in Williamstown in October 2016. We will also be discussing ways to promote the new Pioneers web site section and the progress of the geopark in Newfoundland and Labrador. Stay tuned for results of the meeting!

Friend of the IAT, Ed Werler Passes

Ed Werler died at 102 years of age, in Waldoboro, Maine, on February 5th.http://stronghancock.frontrunnerpro.com/book-of-memories/2374246/Werler-Edward/obituary.php He was a gentle man and lived a good life. Ed was an early fire warden on Deasey Mountain, now on the route of the IAT; a Baxter Park Ranger managing the burros that transported gear to Chimney Pond from Roaring Brook; a Maine state park manager; and subsequently the state park system’s southern district supervisor. In his book, The Call of Katahdin, Ed vividly recounts his move to Maine with his wife, Mary Jane, in 1947, his love of the outdoors, and his work in the north woods. Following the death of his wife of 50 years, he married Martha Day, who predeceased him, the widow of artist Jake Day.
On his 100th birthday Dick Anderson presented Ed with a photograph of the fire tower cab on the summit of Deasey Mountain, which had been newly painted by an IAT work crew, and an insulator from the former telephone line to the cab.
A routed sign, ED WERLER TRAIL, has been placed at the intersection of the original fire warden’s trail to the summit of Deasey and the Old Telos Tote Road along the East Branch of the Penobscot River, by the mountain’s owners, Elliotsville Plantation Inc.