Maine conservationist to help other countries

PORTLAND – A man who has put together complex deals to protect Maine’s working forests from development has begun to branch out and assist other countries with valuable natural resources.

Tom Rumpf, 52, recently returned from a two-week trip to Indonesia, where he was sent to evaluate The Nature Conservancy’s work in curbing illegal logging, developing markets for sustainable timber stands and protecting the country’s orangutan habitat.

“It certainly makes things seem a lot simpler here,” said Rumpf, who also serves as vice chairman of the Freeport Town Council. “We work [in the United States] in an environment that is a little more stable.”

The Nature Conservancy, an international organization that works to protect natural environment and ecosystems, is urging its U.S. chapters to support some of the organization’s international work.

Rumpf also is associate state director for the organization’s Maine chapter. In that capacity, he was asked to translate conservation easements in Maine into similar deals in the tropical lowland rain forest of the East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo.

But he found himself negotiating with people who work in a complicated system of bureaucracy and bribery, where about half of all timber in the region is harvested illegally.

“It’s a tough environment to work in,” he said. “I don’t envy my colleagues who are running the program.”

In Maine, Rumpf has worked on the sweeping Mount Agamenticus project, the 241,000-acre Katahdin Forest Project aimed at protecting remote ponds and forests near Baxter State Park and the 8,000-acre Leavitt Plantation conservation easement in Parsonsfield.

Rumpf said those projects taught him the importance of communicating with area residents as well as foresters and government officials.

“That’s important work to do,” he said. “And it just sort of reinforced to me how important it is to be working with local communities and understanding what their needs are.”