Who We Are

The York Land Trust is a nonprofit organization led by a dedicated group of community members working to conserve and protect York’s natural resources and cultural heritage.

Board of Directors

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Staff

Amelia Nadilo, Executive Director

Amelia Nadilo joined York Land Trust as its Executive Director in October 2022.

With a B.S. in Secondary Education from Penn State University, Amelia has worked as an educator and program director in California, New Hampshire, Croatia, Italy and Thailand. She mostly recently served as the Director of the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program on Catalina Island in California, an educational partnership with Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society.

Amelia is an advocate for inclusivity, social change, and connecting youth with the outdoors. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, hiking, being on or under the water, and spending time with her family.

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Doreen MacGillis, Land Protection Specialist

Doreen has been working in the environmental field for more than twenty-five years on a variety of issues including open space protection, community gardening, estuaries restoration, food and water safety and solid waste education.

From 1999 – 2022, Doreen was YLT’s Executive Director and oversaw the organization’s growth from an all-volunteer land trust to a professionally-staffed land trust implementing regional initiatives. Doreen is a founding member of the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative (MtA2C), an effort led by a coalition of ten conservation entities, that has raised $30 million to conserve land in the greater Mt. Agamenticus region of southern, Maine since 2002. Today, there are over 15,000 protected acres in the MtA2C region.

She holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Central Connecticut State University. She lives in York with her husband, David and son, Daniel. Her passions include: being a mom, skiing, hiking, gardening and singing in a community chorus.

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Patty O’Connor, Development Assistant

Patty recently joined York Land Trust and comes from across the Piscataqua River, where she spent 17 years at The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NHCF).

For eight years, she managed the administration of the regional grant program and supported Development and Planned Giving staff. During the last nine years at NHCF, Patty worked in the Philanthropy Department assisting statewide Development staff with structuring charitable gifts including bequests and charitable gift annuities. She also worked closely with the Controller and Vice President of Program Operations on compliance issues.

Her past volunteer work includes the Town of North Hampton 250th Anniversary Committee, the North Hampton Recycling Center Volunteer and 8 years on the Conservation Commission. Patty enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, sailing and most outside activities. She plans to travel along the Maine coast this summer and spend some time exploring the wilds of Acadia.

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Liz Walworth, Stewardship Director

Liz has been working with land for over a decade, beginning as a farmhand and ardent trail builder. They began work with YLT in 2021 following a season as Trail Team Leader with the Maine Conservation Corps, where they coordinated with public lands and land trusts to build better trail infrastructure across the state of Maine. They currently sit on the board of the Peaks Island Land Preserve where they oversee the Ice pond Rewilding Initiative – a community effort to reintroduce native plant species to disturbed land on the island.

Liz holds a BS in Environmental Studies from Suffolk University in Boston and has experience in stewardship, project planning and grant writing. Liz’s passions in life are rock work, backpacking and textile arts.

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Heidi Creighton, Outreach Coordinator

Heidi comes to the York Land Trust with two decades of nonprofit experience in the environment, education and healthcare fields.

Most recently she served the Kittery Land Trust in a volunteer capacity supporting the Nooney Farm Campaign with outreach and communications efforts. Heidi has served on the board of directors for the Ayer Shirley Education Foundation (2004 – 2009) and the Harvard Schools Trust (2010-2019).

She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of Southern Maine and was formerly a reporter for MediaNews Group. Heidi enjoys spending time outdoors, baking, and writing poetry. She lives in York and is originally from Falmouth, Maine.