Mark is originally from Winthrop, Maine and has been with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MEDEP) since June of 1991. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in biology from the University of Maine and a Masters in zoology from Southern Illinois University. Currently, Mark works as the Environmental Specialist in the Department’s Materials Management Division, where he oversees the Departments Organics Management Program. Additionally, he serves as the Department’s compost contact on the Maine Compost Team. In 1997, Mark helped develop the internationally renowned Maine Compost School where he serves as the Director of the program and lead faculty.

In 2015, Mark became a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on composting for USDA-APHIS working to help address mortalities generated from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) events in 2015 and 2015 (Minnesota and Iowa) and 2016 (Indiana). In 2017, Mark was invited by the US Virgin Islands Government to assist them with storm debris management following two back-to-back category 5 hurricanes. In 2018, he responded to an Unusual Mortality Event resulting in the death of 1,000 seals from distemper during the summer of 2018 and later that fall he responded to significant poultry mortalities generated from Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. His most recent effort was helping a Maryland poultry producer compost 1.5 million layers during a 2022 outbreak of HPAI.

Mark provides on-going technical assistance to new and existing commercial and agricultural compost facilities through compost facility design, operations assistance and compost process trouble-shooting, and is currently working on a project to promote statewide composting of pre and post-consumer food residuals as an alternative to costly landfill and incineration disposal.

Session Code: 3E

Track: Advocacy/Policy

Session Name: Compost and PFAS

Session Time: Wednesday, February 7, 4:15 – 5:45 PM

Presentation Title: Using Compost to Manage PFAS Contamination in Livestock on a Central Maine Farm

Presentation Description: The presentation features the results of PFAS remediation efforts undertaken on a series of contaminated animal mortalities at a Central Maine Farm using composting as the management tool. The talk will focus on materials and methods utilized, compost process monitoring and testing results, lessons learned and future PFAS remediation efforts and management directions.