Becky Warren Seel, center, was honored for her work in land conservation by the Scarborough Land Trust. Also pictured are Betts Armstrong, president of the Scarborough Land Trust Board of Directors, and Andy Warren, Warren Seel’s brother.. Contributed / Scarborough Land Trust

The Scarborough Land Trust presented longtime land conservationist Becky Warren Seel with its 2024 Conservationist of the Year Award. Presented in October at a special ribbon cutting ceremony at the Elaine Stimson Warren Woods Preserve, the award recognizes an individual, organization or business for their significant commitment and outstanding leadership in protecting the natural and agricultural resources of the town of Scarborough.

Warren Seel has been a strong advocate for land conservation for over 50 years, according to a release announcing the recognition. While in her second year of law school, and concerned with zoning density changes, loss of farm and forest land, and pollution of the Scarborough Marsh, she began looking for ways to make a difference. In 1976, as chair of the Scarborough Conservation Commission, she worked with Tad Dow from the Maine Conservation Commission, as well as the newly emerging state land trust movement to establish a land trust in Scarborough.

The Owascoag Land Conservation Trust was officially founded and incorporated on Oct. 4, 1977. In 1984 the organization changed its legal name to Scarborough Land Conservation Trust.

In 2012, when her father, Harvey Warren, was interested in conserving the 162-acre family property on Payne Road, she was an active partner in helping SLT purchase and preserve it. It is named in memory of her mother, Elaine Stimson Warren, who was a longtime SLT board member.

In presenting the award, SLT President Betts Armstrong said, “Since its founding 47 years ago, the land trust has seen exciting change and growth, growing its supporters from a few hundred to over a thousand, its total revenue from $100 to now over a million, and the number of acres conserved from a few acres to, currently, over 1,600 acres. All of this made possible because Becky Warren Seel, and a few other like-minded residents, took action and established the legal infrastructure that has allowed the Scarborough Land Trust to continue its important mission for over four decades. We and the Scarborough community are forever indebted to Becky for her outstanding leadership and her lifelong advocacy for land conservation.”