From Dan Pierce:

“I have been asked many times about the location of Cairn Leadership School and the question usually is asked like this; “Why Baldwin, Maine? There’s nothing in Baldwin.” I usually say that it’s a perfect location because it’s half way between Portland, Maine and North Conway, New Hampshire, both of which are beautiful vacation destinations. Baldwin is also about 15 minutes from downtown Cornish, Maine and is a tourist destination in its own right. But, the answer to the “Why Baldwin, Maine?” question runs deeper than that. I love the experiences that the woods of Baldwin have brought me and want to share the forest with others.

The Pierce Family has been in Baldwin for eight generations. In 1785, Josiah Pierce started the Northern part of a two-part business. Josiah acquired goods such as lumber and shipped them South to Woburn, Massachusetts. Josiah started with 350 acres of land that is now called, The Pierce Place. From that point on, the Pierce family has been connected to both Baldwin and sustainable forestry.

In the 1920’s, my great grandmother joined American Tree Farm. My grandfather continued this tradition of membership and advocacy that was handed down to me by my father. 

Sustainable land management has been something that my family discussed as long as I can remember. As a child, my grandfather would walk through the woods with me and point to trees that were saplings and say, “that tree will pay for this land so your grandchildren can have it.” He would bring me to wood lots he had bought and tell me why the trees were sick and why the woods were bare. “These woods were strip cut every five years, for 30 years. They won’t be worth anything until your children are in college.” He would also show me interesting oddities in the woods. “We’re going to have tea with Susan Larabee,” he would announce at breakfast. Then he would bring me to a granite cellar hole in the woods. As we walked to different places he would talk about the importance of owning open land and wild places. My grandfather would look for land that had no value because the trees were gone, and buy it. He wasn’t buying land for his future but for the future of his grandchildren.

When I was a teenager my father, Jo Pierce, put me to work in the woods. I spent countless hours with him girdling trees. Girdling is the process of stripping away a band of bark so the tree dies. My dad explained that we had to thin the woods to make them healthy again. My dad brought me to walk in the woods with him and his forester and I slowly started to understand the difficult task of balancing sustainability, environmentalism and industry. The woods are harvested with the plan of coming back every 10 to 15 years. We don’t cut trees just for their value, but also to allow others to grow. Our sustainability plan takes into consideration the impact of logging on the land and animals. We work to create habitat for some animals and are conscious not to destroy the habitat of others.

The vision of Cairn Leadership School is looking toward the future of forest sustainability. Due to the generations of diligent caretaking and management from my family, I was able to establish Cairn Leadership School—a place where people could enjoy the woods and their work at the same time.”