Leadership Spotlight: Chris Fife
Forests are as emblematic of Maine as lobsters, schooners, and snow. They represent a multi-billion-dollar industry, and they lure thousands of jobs and tons of machinery about as far from town as one can get and still be in Maine. The forest products industry has supported LifeFlight of Maine since the beginning, because the people who work in this sector understand that their jobs take them to places where help, if they need it, might only be able to reach them in time if it comes by helicopter. Deepening this partnership is a priority for LifeFlight, because everyone in Maine benefits from a strong forest products industry and expanded access to emergency medical care in the Maine woods.
In June 2024, Chris Fife joined the board of The LifeFlight Foundation. Chris is the Public Affairs Manager for a timber company called Weyerhaeuser. His responsibilities cover more than one million acres of the company’s holdings in New England and beyond, and he has spent most of his adult life among forests. He is intimately familiar with the Maine woods: the economic opportunities it provides, the iconic place it holds in the Maine imagination, and the perils that await the unprepared or unfortunate. As a forester, a recreational pilot, a former firefighter, an avid outdoorsman, and a staunch advocate for sustainable, profitable, and accessible Maine forests, Chris understands why the Maine woods needs LifeFlight.
Like most people who are “from away,” Chris’s story, in his own retelling, begins when he moved to Maine. He attended the University of Maine in Orono, where he earned a degree in forest management and volunteered with the fire department. He started his career working for the timber division of Georgia Pacific down east in Baileyville (formerly Woodland).
Five years later, he relocated down south working as a forester and analyst — Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia. Georgia Pacific spun off its timber division, which merged with another timber company called Plum Creek. When a position in Jackman, Maine, became open, Chris and his wife, Michele, who is originally from Dexter, Maine, moved north to the state they both love.
In Jackman, Chris stepped into a position managing a portion of Plum Creek’s 850,000 acres in northern New England. “For large landowners, that land is your portfolio,” Chris explained in a recent conversation. As a forest manager, he was responsible for determining what was on that land, both biologically and in terms of financial value, when different sections might be ready for harvesting, planning that harvest, securing the right contractors, and ensuring it was sustainably regenerated afterward. “As you can imagine,” Chris explained, “managing a million acres of timberlands is complex.”
For the past six years, Chris, who now lives in Winslow, has managed public affairs for Weyerhaeuser’s holdings in Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, and West Virginia (Plum Creek later merged with Weyerhaeuser). Chris is involved in education and advocacy for forests and forest management at all levels: within the company, in policymaking and government, and among the general public. “There is a such a long, deep history of open lands and that historic use has persisted,” Chris said. He is a staunch advocate for public access to Maine’s forests for recreational use. Mutual respect between landowners and recreators, a strong and vibrant forest products industry, safety and access to emergency resources — these are all issues that are top of mind for Chris, and ones he believes in passionately.
“I really love the North Woods and those remote areas and doing things that put you out there, away from traditional EMS services,” Chris shared. “Living in a small town and being in this industry, on top of my volunteer firefighting time, I know how important LifeFlight is.”
LifeFlight has been in the background of Chris’s work for years as a critical safety net. He served as a volunteer firefighter when he lived in Jackman. “We would do trainings with LifeFlight both for Plum Creek and also with the fire department. We established a lot of landing zones,” Chris shared. He is also a recreational pilot with a tailwheel airplane designed to land on unpaved airfields. “I’m more interested in bush flying,” he explained. He enjoys being out there in the forest.
Weyerhaeuser is a generous donor to LifeFlight. Chris has also personally supported LifeFlight for years through the annual Cross for LifeFlight. Joining The LifeFlight Foundation board made sense to him. “With my interest in aviation,” he said, “and recognizing what a tool a helicopter can be in life-threatening situations, critical care situations, that was a natural fit.” Having Chris on the board further deepens the longstanding partnership between LifeFlight, Weyerhaeuser, and Maine’s forest products industry.
“Over the last four years, we have been very intentional and strategic about building the Foundation board to help us engage with specific industries and regions in Maine,” said Kate O’Halloran, executive director of The LifeFlight Foundation. “We have recruited board members with expertise in key industries and regions of the state as we expand and strengthen both our marketing and fundraising efforts. We are exceedingly fortunate to have added new Trustees such as Chris, who can help us achieve our goals and who are so personally committed to our mission.”
“What I bring to the board is a deeper, stronger connection to our industry,” Chris said. “LifeFlight and the Foundation are already highly regarded by my company and others in our industry. I think there’s an opportunity to think more strategically about priorities and connections, and continue to grow this partnership in a way that benefits everyone in Maine.”
