New chief ranger appointed for Baxter State Park

It is with great pleasure that the Baxter State Park Authority announces the appointment of its new Baxter State Park Chief Ranger, Donald Bolduc.

A lifelong outdoorsman, Bolduc brings deep experience in public service management from his time as police chief with both Millinocket and Skowhegan police departments. He also brings his emergency response and emergency medicine technician skills to the park. Bolduc will manage the operations department, including law enforcement, maintenance, and search and rescue efforts, as well as serve as a member of the park’s administrative team.

“I am very excited about the opportunity of working at Baxter State Park as chief ranger. It will be an honor and a privilege,” Bolduc said. He lives with his family on Ambajejus Lake.

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 the state 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.”