BUCKFIELD — Buckfield resident and Western Foothills Land Trust Board of Directors Vice President Conner Tremblay has found a way to combine “recreation and productivity” through his work and volunteerism.

Tremblay works as an emergency medical technician (EMT) for Buckfield Rescue, as stewardship assistant for Kennebec Land Trust— and in the winter, for the ski patrol at Pleasant Mountain Ski Area.

Conner Tremblay Submitter photo

“It keeps things interesting. It’s a lot of fun,” Tremblay said. “Life moves fast.”

His lifelong love of the outdoors led him to join the Maine Conservation Corps last summer, where he helped repair and maintain trails at Sebago Lake and Wolf’s Neck Woods State Parks.

Tremblay grew up in Waterford and always was hiking, fishing, and swimming. 

“It’s good, free family fun,” he said of the outdoors.

Tremblay is now heavily involved with Western Foothills Land Trust as a member of the lands and stewardship committees, as well as helping with small jobs that come up here and there.

As part of his involvement, he helps with the trail work program, identifying and acquiring new properties, and helping to shape volunteer efforts.

In Buckfield, he has also volunteered on the beautification committee, helping to coordinate some projects around town, like enlisting high school students to sand and paint the town sign.

For the Kennebec Land Trust, part of Tremblay’s duties are conservation and land monitoring – looking for illegal incursions onto a preserve or cutting out invasive plants.

“It’s a walk in the woods,” Tremblay said. “And I’m learning new things about plants.”

In the winter, he is always either skiing or ice-fishing, working the ski patrol at Pleasant Mountain, or snowmobiling or working with the Streaked Mountaineers Snowmobile Club.

“I guess I’ve just always been the type of person to want to help someone out in a critical situation,” Tremblay said.

Tremblay sees land conservation as a rare opportunity for bipartisan agreement in a time where political discourse is rife with heated contention, and that is part of what makes his work meaningful as well.

“Everybody wants their kids to swim in a clean lake. Everybody wants to take a hike in a pristine forest,” Tremblay said. “That thrills me.”