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Richard Anderson receives USM Distinguished Achievement Award
Richard Anderson has enjoyed an illustrious career during which is constantly sought to protect Maine's natural resources. He has
quietly, but effectively, enhanced Maine's natural resources and wildlife habitat for the past 50 years.
Working as a fisheries biologist for Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in the late 1950's he studied the effects of
pesticide use on Sebago Lake salmon populations, advocating successfully against the use of DDT. From 1969 through 1972, he
served as conservation director and eventually executive director for Maine Audubon Society where he worked to assure the
passage of Maine's "Bottle Bill," the ban on highway billboards, the establishment of the Maine Board of Pesticide Control, and the
improvement of environmental conditions in the Presumpscot River estuary. He also was instrumental in the acquisition of the property
that is now the Maine Audubon Headquarters at Gilsland Farm. He also was involved in the development of the Scarborough Marsh
Nature Center.
In the 1980s, he served as the Commissioner of Maine's Department of Conservation, leading the Department as it oversaw legislation
to protect Maine's natural resources, most notably, securing the consolidation of the State's more than half million acres of Public
Reserved Lands, producing the legislation that protected the States most valuable rivers and writing the legislation that resulted in the
Land for Maine's Future Program. He was also a key person in the establishment of the Saint Croix International Waterway Commission.
Mr. Anderson was co-founder, board chair, and executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association. He was appointed as a member
of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection by Governor Curtis. Governor John Baldacci appointed him to be Chairperson of the Maine
Outdoor Heritage Fund Board of Directors. He is founder and President of the Maine Chapter of the International Appalachian Trail/Sentier
International des Appalaches, a trail that connects the bioregion of the northern forest from Maine to Newfoundland and Labrador. This
project connects two countries, two major watersheds, the English and French cultures and seeks to foster international cooperation.
Mr. Anderson's career has been one of high-minded, continuing and truly outstanding contributions to the health of Maine's environment, the
improvement of Maine public policy, and the well being of all Maine people.
The University of Southern Maine is honored to award Richard Anderson a Distinguished Achievement Award.
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