The Maine Island Trail Association celebrated its many volunteers statewide during its annual Stewardship Party and awards ceremony on August 20. Some 80 guests attended from Maine and beyond to honor a few of the hundreds of volunteers who log thousands of hours each year caring for the wild islands of Maine.

Among the guests were three generations of the Swett and Burt families of Round Pond and Bar Island. The family attended to thank the Association for its work to clear 220 derelict lobster traps from Bar Island in a major mobilization last spring.

The highlight of the evening was the creation of a new annual award to honor the founders of the Maine Island Trail Association (often known as MITA). Twenty-one years ago, Dave Getchell Sr. launched the vision that the wild islands of Maine should be open for recreation and the users themselves could be trusted to care for them. He and his wife Dorrie of Appleton worked tirelessly to develop the Maine Island Trail Association. It was in their honor that the Association announced the establishment of The Dave and Dorrie Getchell Spirit of MITA award.

MITA Trustee Scott Camlin (Belmont, MA / Wells, ME) received this first ever award for his years of immense and invaluable service to MITA as a Trustee, Committee Chair, project leader, strategist, and volunteer.

Tom McKinney (Brunswick, ME) was the winner of MITA's Spirit of Stewardship Award for his vital help in the office, at outreach events and on the islands as a cleanup volunteer and apprentice monitor skipper.

Alan Hammersmith (Kittery, ME) was awarded MITA's Spirit of the Trail Award for offering geographic information system (GIS) expertise and volunteering hundreds of hours at the computer to enhance the Association’s annual Trail Guide.

Lisa Oettinger (Penobscot, ME) was the winner of the Margaret C. Emerson Spirit of Giving Award for more than a decade of dedicated island stewardship in the Deer Isle region and her ability to inspire others into service.

Each awardee was presented with a framed photograph and an inflatable lifejacket generously donated by Blue Storm (http://www.bluestorm.us/).

In addition, at its annual meeting held the same afternoon, MITA members elected two new trustees to the Board of Trustees: Nicole Connolly (Falmouth, ME) a Major Gifts Officer with the University of New England and Cyrus Hagge (Portland, Little Dimond Island, ME) a real estate developer, commercial landowner, and philanthropist. The members also ratified the mid-year appointments of two other Trustees: Kelly Boden (Portland, ME), an attorney with Verrill Dana and Lindsay Hancock (Falmouth, ME), the Assistant Director of Development at Maine College of Art. Trustees Scott Camlin (Belmont, MA / Wells, ME) and Tony Jessen (Falmouth, ME) were also elected for continued three-year terms.

At the meeting and party MITA also recognized two outgoing Trustees for nine years of service each: Greg Barmore (Harpswell, ME) who is the retired Chairman and CEO of GE Capital Mortgage Corporation and Greg Shute (Alna, ME) who is Wilderness Programs Director at the Chewonki Foundation.