Roger K. Belle
The Longard Volunteer Award is presented to Roger Belle for the work that he has done to preserve and protect the character of the Casco Bay region of the Gulf of Maine. He is an example of how the actions of one person can make a real difference. Through his work on Cliff Island, his home community, to work supporting year-round island communities along the entire coast of Maine, Roger’s boundless energy and drive has been an important catalyst for the groups with which he has been involved.
Roger founded the Corporation for Athletics, Conservation, and Education (ACE) on Cliff Island in 1977. ACE now holds easements on some of the most important undeveloped areas on Cliff Island insuring that future island generations will be able to enjoy the natural resource and educational values that those areas provide.
Roger has 25 years of continuous service with the Oceanside Conservation Trust of Casco Bay, a small land trust serving western Casco Bay. From 1982 through the present, Roger has served in a variety of capacities—from guiding the organization as president to clearing trails and marking boundary lines.
Recognizing the value and power of partnerships, he has fostered strong links with nearby land trusts, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and the Island Institute. Roger now serves on the Steering Committee for Portland North, a new and innovative collaboration of local land trusts in the Portland area.
Roger Belle follows his passions with action. In 2001, a walk along the wild, untouched Presumpscot River right in Portland, led him to help form a coalition to acquire the property before it could be developed. Roger joined the Portland Trails Board of Trustees and led a capital campaign to purchase the 60 acres that he had walked. Roger was elected Portland Trails Board President in 2005; although his term as president ends in 2007, a new "President Emeritus" position created for him acknowledges his continued leadership of the organization in open space preservation in greater Portland.
Roger is also passionate about education. He has supported the Cliff Island one-room schoolhouse as the heart of the island’s year-round community. He has brought new families to the island and supported them with jobs and housing. He has taught civics and history and done whatever else needed to be done to help keep the island school open.
Serving on the Board of Trustees of Waynflete School in Portland from 1996-2003, he led by word and deed in the completion of a large capital campaign and the development of an endowment fund to insure greater access to the Waynflete experience.
Roger is a person who does the thing that needs to get done; he leads by example; and he is an example that one person can make a difference. In this case, he has made a substantial difference to the year-round community on Cliff Island, open space in Casco Bay and Portland, and to the educational community of Waynflete.