This month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs host Peter Neill sits down with Lucas St. Clair.
Lucas was born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine and spent his childhood in a hand-built log cabin with few amenities and a focus on living in harmony with nature. After graduating from high school Lucas immersed himself in outdoor wilderness adventures: hiking the Appalachian Trail, paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and fine-tuning leadership and technical skills with the National Outdoor Leadership School in Patagonia. He then pursued an interest in organic and sustainable food and graduated from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School in London. Following his graduation, he worked in the food and wine industry for nearly a decade in New York City, Seattle, and Maine. Lucas is an avid fly fisherman, boater, and mountain climber. Lucas is now the President of Elliotsville Foundation, Inc., a private operating foundation in Maine whose mission is to advance the dynamic relationship of environmental justice and community-based economic development in Maine. On August 24th, 2016, Elliotsville Foundation completed a multi-year campaign to establish Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument with an 89,000-acre donation of land to the National Park Service. Elliotsville continues to support Katahdin Woods and Waters as well as conduct work to build more outdoor recreational infrastructure in Maine. Lucas is a former congressional candidate in ME-2 and now serves on the boards of the Quimby Family Foundation, Maine Conservation Voters, Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, and the Northern Forest Center. He chairs the National Board of the Trust for Public Land and serves on the National Park Foundation’s National Council. He lives in Falmouth, Maine with his wife, Yemaya, and their two children.