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The Dest Years of our Lives

Of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm’s official 41 years of existence, the past 25 have been stewarded by executive director Paul Dest, the architect of the Reserve’s modern era. After the saving and restoring of this protected place in the 1980s and 1990s came the building and sustaining. Paul has overseen construction of a laboratory and a dormitory, 100% solar empowerment, and the protection of vital lands and rivers. The annual operating budget now exceeds $3 million.

The staff tripled in size during The Paul Era. Our partnerships and collaborations across Maine and New Hampshire, even the nation, have proliferated. There are few in our conservation and coastal science community who have not had the pleasure of his company and mind. Paul’s career serves as a reminder that it’s not just the things we build, or the lands we save, or the grants we manage that are most important. It’s the people we meet along the way, the relationships we plant and nurture.

Through good times and bad, thick and thin, even in rare moments of panic, Paul has led. Over more than two decades, Paul Dest has made the Wells Reserve better. How do you thank a man for keeping relationships primary while growing and stewarding this place of peace, beauty, and curiosity?

You can show that you listened and learned from him. Many heard Paul complain – for years – about the “damned cow” weathervane atop the research lab. Paul’s first project here was completing that Coastal Ecology Center, but in his mind, it was never finished. Until now. To honor his career, Paul’s friends and colleagues recently presented him with a copper weathervane of Salvelinus fontinalis, his favorite brook trout, to cap the lab and his tenure. “Science happens here,” Paul always proclaimed. Science. Not butter.

Paul Dest helped build the Wells Reserve. He will always, always be a part of this place.

Nik Charov
President, Laudholm Trust
Chairman, Wells Reserve Management Authority

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