December 12, 2025
Keeping Maine wild
Karen Brace ’81 Champions AMC’s Landmark Initiativeby Nancy Hitchcock
Karen Brace’s childhood summers were spent in Maine’s Baxter State Park—camping at the base of Mount Katahdin, sleeping under the stars by Roaring Brook, gathering around campfires, and hiking miles of wilderness trails. Those early experiences built a connection to the landscape that would stay with her long after the tents were packed away.
Today, she serves as a regional director and board member of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), the nation’s oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization. Through her volunteer contributions, she’s helping steward the AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative (MWI)—the largest multi-use conservation and recreation project in the eastern United States.
This fall marked a milestone: AMC secured nearly 29,000 acres known as the Barnard Forest, bringing the total conserved area to nearly 130,000 contiguous acres. The acquisition protects significant habitat, restores river corridors for endangered Atlantic salmon, helps heal the forest, and creates new opportunities for the public to explore northern Maine’s wilderness.
“The Maine Woods Initiative is important because AMC has made the land publicly accessible again,” says Brace, explaining that MWI is helping to protect the 100-mile wilderness in the heart of Maine’s North Woods. “Protecting this land from development opens up an incredible resource to everyone in Maine and beyond. The North Woods is really an amazing place.”
The MWI represents AMC’s boldest conservation project in its 150-year history. In addition, AMC is returning 1,700 acres of wetlands and forest to the Penobscot Nation, strengthening a partnership built over years of trust and collaboration.
Brace first became involved with AMC after hearing a presentation about the Initiative in 2019. “Then I went up there to cross-country ski, climbed to the top of a hill, and looked out at the ‘unbroken forest.’ As far as you could see—no houses, no roads—just forest. It made a lasting impression on me.”
About 75,000 acres of AMC’s land in the Maine Woods is designated as an International Dark Sky Park—the first and only International Dark Sky Park in New England—making it one of the best destinations for stargazing.
For Brace, a rewarding part of her work has been chairing the volunteer MWI Committee. “I’m honored to work alongside some of the volunteers who have supported MWI since its launch in 2003. AMC volunteers connect people to the outdoors. When participants spend time in the wilderness, they begin to appreciate what it takes to protect and maintain it.”
Brace has spent her career in development, community building, and public relations at schools and nonprofits, including the Ski Maine Association. She says her “excellent education” and structured writing classes at Andover helped prepare her for her career in communications and development. “I loved everything about PA. I especially enjoyed the diversity in nationalities and interests. Coming from a small town in coastal Maine, it was a very eye-opening experience for me.”
After graduating from Andover and Dartmouth, Brace returned home to Maine. “The outdoors has always been part of my life. Through AMC, I’ve come to see how land conservation connects people—how it inspires them to protect the very places they enjoy.”
Looking ahead, AMC’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2026 will feature a relay where volunteers will hike, paddle, and cycle through AMC’s territory from Virginia to Maine. Brace is looking forward to being part of the journey.
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