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Ali Stevenson, Midcoast Conservancy
Pete Nichols, new executive director of Midcoast Conservancy. Courtesy photo
Midcoast Conservancy is thrilled to announce that Pete Nichols will become its new executive director in April of 2021. A seven-month national search drew an impressive slate of candidates but Nichols’ experience, vision and strong roots in Maine make him the right person to lead Midcoast Conservancy to new levels of effective and imaginative restoration, conservation and protection work in the Midcoast area. Originally inspired by the lakes, rivers, and coastal waters of Maine, Nichols has always been a committed advocate for the environment. For nearly 30 years, he has worked to protect the world’s waters and wildlands from the redwood forests of northern California, to the majestic Tigris River in Iraq, and the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya.
Lanphere Dunes. | Photo courtesy the Humboldt County Visitors Bureau.
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On Tuesday, the final day of the Trump administration, Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt honored the natural beauty and ecological value of Lanphere and Ma-le’l Dunes by designating them national natural landmarks.
The National Natural Landmarks Program, managed by the National Park Service, recognizes sites that have “outstanding biological and geological resources” while encouraging their conservation.
“It’s a way of recognizing truly special places that are of national significance,” said Mike Cipra, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Dunes.
The undulating sand mounds, woody swales and verdant wetlands of Lanphere and Ma-le’l Dunes, located on the Samoa Peninsula west of Arcata, are home to a remarkably diverse array of native flora. Coniferous and riparian forests rise above patches of pale green reindeer lichen, blooming sand verbena and Menzies wallflower,