BRIDGTON — The former executive director of the Loon Echo Land Trust will retire March 28 after three years in the position, leaving behind “a great staff, a great board and wonderful community support.”

Thom Perkins has served as the executive director since June 2016 and was recently replaced by Matt Markot. Perkins is currently serving as senior advisor to assist with the transition.

Perkins came to Loon Echo after serving as the executive director of the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation in New Hampshire for 38 years. He said he wanted to focus on Loon Echo’s “business practices” as well as its “stability and sustainability,” meaning “long-term forever conservation of land.”

Loon Echo protects nearly 7,000 acres across seven towns in the Lakes Region.

“The acquisition of the properties and conservation of the properties is extraordinarily important, but unless you can sustain the ability to continue that, it’s not doing anybody a favor. You need to be able to preserve that forever. So that’s what our board has been working on because forever is a very daunting thing,” Perkins said.

Perkins is proud to have completed the national accreditation process with the Land Trust Alliance during his time at Loon Echo as well as implementing “a stable computer system” and upgrading the organization’s technical capabilities.

He has also focused on using and analyzing data. For instance, the land trust has instituted counters on some of its trails to track how many people are using them. “Numbers are important for any organization,” he said.

Loon Echo has nearly completed its acquisition of Peabody-Fitch Woods, a 252-acre property, Perkins said, and is exploring another possible 1,400-acre acquisition in Sebago. The land trust is also partnering with Sebago Clean Waters to identify and possibly acquire “available land opportunities throughout the watershed that would have an effect on water quality.”

Loon Echo Board President David Dill Diller praised Perkins for his many accomplishments and added that what he appreciated most about Perkins was that “he definitely had an ear, but he would speak up with his personal ideas with a lot of basis.”

“We were very, very fortunate,” Diller continued. “He was very focused, dedicated, organized and a good leader, a good boss.”

Leaving Loon Echo will be hard for Perkins because the organization has “a great staff, a great board, wonderful community support and really a vital volunteer base. The staff is really really dedicated to what they’re doing.”

He has decided to retire in order to leave himself time “to do things I want to do” while he still has the physical capability. He plans to do some long-distance sailing on his boat as well as some skiing.

“I’ve never been bored. I’m a person that just has things to do. There are opportunities available that I’ve not experienced yet,” he said.

Perkins hopes that residents will continue to support Loon Echo for the benefit of future generations, saying “This organization is an extraordinary organization, and the public and the service area are lucky to have a group of people that are so committed to making sure the future has got a bright spot in it.”

Jane Vaughan can be reached at 780-9103 or at jvaughan@keepmecurrent.com.

Thom Perkins, former executive director of Loon Echo Land Trust, says sustainability is crucial for the organization’s work.