New chief ranger at Baxter State Park

MILLINOCKET — It is with great pleasure that the Baxter State Park Authority announces the appointment of its new park chief ranger, Daniel Rinard.

Rinard comes to the park from the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine Woods Initiative, where he ably guided facilities management and operations at the Maine lodges since 2012, most recently as director. He holds a bachelors in recreation management from Acadia University in Nova Scotia and brings a broad thinking, creative approach to handling infrastructure and backcountry issues. His experience with team-building, facilitation and search and rescue will be assets in his new role leading operations in the park.

Rinard

Rinard will manage the park’s operations and maintenance department and serve as a member of the park’s leadership team.

Baxter State Park is a 209,644-acre public trust located in north-central Maine and headquartered in Millinocket. Gov. Percival Baxter made it his life’s “magnificent obsession” to purchase these lands and donate them to the people of Maine. With this gift, he left a governance structure unique from all other Maine state parks, a large endowment that allows the park to operate independently from the state general fund, and several directives that describe how to manage the park. These include a focus on preserving the wildness of the park above all else and providing opportunities “for those who love nature and who are willing to walk and make an effort to get close to nature.”

The Baxter State Park Authority, comprised of the Maine Attorney General, the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Director of the Maine Forest Service, has been charged since 1939 with carrying out Gov. Baxter’s vision of protecting and preserving Baxter State Park and ensuring that it remains “forever wild.”