Face Time: Joe Roy of Durham — a homesteading, powerlifting, wildlife biologist

Homesteading is a dream that has coursed through the heart of many people for as long as there have been cities to escape from. Whether you’re driving an covered wagon across the prairie or staying at home to take care of your garden and livestock, there are plenty of benefits that come along with a life on the land.

Joe Roy of Durham, a Maine Inland fisheries and Wildlife private lands wildlife biologist, enjoys birding on the trails of a Costa Rican forest. Submitted photo

Whether you need powerlifting advice, directions around the wilds of Costa Rica, a new killer recipe, help identifying what swooped down and took off with your small dog, or pointers on how to make your vernal pools thrive, Durham resident and newly elected selectman Joe Roy might be your guy.

Before settling in Durham, Roy tracked and moved loons in Minnesota and Massachusetts, surveyed habitats in New York and New England, mapped wetlands in North Carolina, captured elk in Missouri, tracked birds in California and wrangled endangered snakes in Connecticut. Roy has performed many of those services right here in Maine as well, though you might have to ask him about the resiliency of endangered snakes in Maine.

Now, Roy assists Maine landowners who want to maintain, improve or restore habitats on their lands.

Who are you and where are you from? My name is Joseph Roy, I was born and raised in Jay, Maine. Currently, I live in Durham, Maine, with my wife, Dr. Alexa Ortiz, on our hobby farm, which feels like a whole lot of work for a hobby! We live here with our two dogs Beau and Duke, and we raise pigs, goats, geese, ducks and chickens, as well as grow a large garden. Much to my wife’s chagrin I like to refer to our residence as “The Pinkham Brook Compound.” Like Jefferson’s Monticello or Washington’s Mount Vernon, our home needed a cool name.

What do you do for a living? What does that mean for the rest of us? I am a wildlife biologist, specifically a private lands wildlife biologist. I assist landowners statewide as they work to better wildlife habitat on their property. I provide technical guidance as well as help landowners track down funding opportunities and other professionals to assist them and their habitat management objectives. I do a lot of public outreach and education, as well as working with technical experts like biologists, foresters, and conservationists to better the land for wildlife species. So, what does this mean for everyone else? Well, in the United States we follow the “North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.” Under this model, wildlife is held in the “public trust.” This means we are all collectively equal owners of every individual animal in the country. By helping to provide better wildlife habitat, I am working to help improve our shared resource through the landowners of the state. Plus, good wildlife habitat management can help improve air, soil, and water quality, as well as build a more climate-resilient landscape.

Has your path always been clear to you or have there been some surprises along the way? Yes and no. I have almost always wanted to work in the field of natural resources, since the age when one critically thinks about “what I want to be when I grow up.” Though, the resources that I wanted to work with and type of work I wanted to do have evolved. While I always knew the path, I wasn’t always sure which fork in the road I wanted to take. This led me to pursue a wide variety of opportunities before getting where I am now.

When I was younger, I was enthralled with charismatic megafauna — animals like bears, deer, elk and moose. So, I dedicated the beginning portion of my career working toward the goal of working with those species. I spent time working on a project capturing bears to affix radio collars as part of a management study. Following that, over the years I worked capturing elk in Missouri as part of a re-introduction project and capturing deer in Maine as part of a research management project. During this time, I also worked capturing, monitoring, and relocating loons in Maine, Massachusetts and Minnesota. As well as a short stint as a “Snake Wrangler” who was responsible for monitoring jobsites for endangered snakes and moving them away from construction activities in Connecticut. For several years I worked as an environmental consultant nationwide on projects from using radar to monitor birds in California, map wetlands in Maine and North Carolina, and surveying amphibian and avian habitats throughout New England and New York.

After all these years, I found that my true passion lies in helping people help species that are in need. Those less-thought-of species like birds, small mammals and invertebrates. Which is very far away from “studying the hybridization of grizzly bears and polar bears” that I listed as my career goal on a scholarship application when I was a sophomore or junior in college. I am a true-blue Mainer with strong ties to a responsible land ethic, so now that I have found the opportunity to help my fellow Mainer improve the land for wildlife and people, I think I may have found the next long stretch of my path.

What are some of your interests and/or hobbies when you’re not working? My wife would tell you that my hobbies are limitless and ever changing, but there are several hobbies of mine that I have participated in with enough regularity to consider my “core” hobbies. They include traveling, birding, cooking, farming, hunting, fishing, competitive powerlifting, competitive strongman, volunteering, reading, and participating in local politics. I was recently elected a select board member for my town of Durham, I volunteer on the town conservation commission, I am on the town fire department, I am the president of the Orono Alumni Association of Alpha Gamma Rho (national agriculture fraternity), and I am the president-elect of the Maine Chapter of The Wildlife Society, a professional organization. So, I stay very busy outside of work. I am also very passionate about my work, so even during my free time I spend a lot of time reading and researching information that helps inform my workplace habitat management decisions.

What is the most important part of your day? The most satisfying? Making my wife laugh and smile is the most important and satisfying part of my day. After that I would say exercising, helping someone, and thinking deeply and critically about some subject or concept are things I strive to do daily.

What don’t most people know about you? From the ages of 5 to 25-ish I was afraid of chickens. This is tied to a harrowing, and in hindsight, hilarious experience with a Rhode Island red rooster when I was 5. I now have 24 chickens including four roosters, so I have recovered, but it took a couple decades.

What are your biggest influences in life? My mother and father are major influences in my life. They are compassionate and supportive. Their dedication to helping others, their hard work, and their tenacity is inspirational. The challenges they have overcome and the way they have overcome them has greatly influenced me.

My wife is a major influence in my life. She balances me and provides an inspirational example to live by. She is intelligent, strong, hardworking, dedicated, measured, pragmatic and beautiful in every way. She has and continues to make me a better person.

What kind of legacy do you want to build? Theodore Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” I think that quote sums up my approach to the legacy I want to build. I want the world to be a better place when I leave than it was when I arrived. Or at least I want my legacy to be that I constantly strived to improve the world around me. I hope to live a life that helps many through my work and volunteering. I hope to be remembered as someone who was a dedicated friend, who helped others, and who stood up for what is right. I hope to build a legacy of land stewardship that leaves a foundation that others can build upon and inspires others to take up just causes.