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V O L . X X I I N O. X X I I I O C T O B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 34 L ucas St. Clair sat with his wife, small staff and a documentary team around a conference table in his Portland offi ce on a late August morn- ing, waiting pensively for a phone call from the White House, a call that would culminate fi ve years of eff ort to bring a national monument to Maine's northern woods. Finally, around 9:30 a.m., Christy Goldfuss, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told St. Clair that President Obama had signed a proclamation on Aug. 24 that would turn the 87,500 acres his nonprofi t organization, Elliotsville Plantation Inc., had given the United States into one of the country's newest national monuments, the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. "We worked on this for fi ve years and it felt great," St. Clair says. When he told his mother, Burt's Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby at her remote farm via email, as she has no cell phone reception, she emailed back, "Fantastic. ank god." Quimby had started the push for a national park in 2001, and in 2011 handed over the eff ort to St. Clair. St. Clair, who exudes a quiet confi dence when his tall frame enters a room, started his career selling wines at a Seattle restaurant, a job he says taught him a lot about how to read people. " e menu had thousands of wine choices from $30 a bottle to several thousand dollars," he says. He learned to read customer's motivations for choosing certain wines, whether it be to impress a date or a business prospect. " at skill set translated into this project," he says, adding that talking to someone in Belfast about con- servation is much diff erent than talking to someone in Millinocket. "What enabled Lucas's great accomplishment is his ability to talk to anyone," says Ethan Hipple, parks director for the City of Portland, who has known St. Clair for 14 years and married St. Clair and his wife, Yemaya, when they all lived in Seattle. "He's one of the most talkative and inquisitive people I've ever met. People don't always agree with him, but they connect with him in a positive way." e value of the gift, St. Clair says, totals $100 mil- lion: $60 million as the price Quimby originally paid for the land, $20 million to supplement federal funds for initial monument operations and another $20 million St. Clair will raise for future development in collaboration with the National Park Foundation. Local appeal St. Clair, 38, who was raised in rural Piscataquis County and still enjoys hunting and fi shing, especially in the Wassataquoik Stream area of the monument that is surrounded by a white pine for- est, put a lot of mileage on himself and his van to gain support for the eff ort, knocking on doors and stopping fi shermen and hikers in the forest. After failing to get the state's congressional lead- ers to introduce a bill for a national park in time for the National Park Service Centennial this year, he pivoted last fall to getting national monument status, which requires presidential approval rather than a congressional bill. He garnered local support through businesses and community organizations. He says support by U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and U.S. Sen. Angus King helped seal the deal with the White House. e whole eff ort, all the meetings and the coordi- nation with other staff didn't wear him down. St. Clair P H O T O / DA N S A K U R A I get energy being around people and I'm optimistic to a fault. Good ideas usually work. Monumental goal seeker After getting national monument, Lucas St. Clair looks to boost rural economies B y L o r i V a l i g r a Elliotsville Plantation Inc. 769 Congress St., Portland President: Lucas St. Clair Founded: 2005 Employees: 4 Annual operating budget: $1.2 million Total net assets (2015): $131 million Contact: 518-9462 / www.katahdinwoods.org Lucas St. Clair President Elliotsville Plantation Inc., Portland

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