During his 35 year career in land conservation, Rich negotiated the conservation of 450 properties totaling over 41,000 acres. He served as the Executive Director of the Franklin Land Trust (FLT), which conserves land in western Massachusetts, a position he held for 15 years. Prior to taking the helm at FLT, Rich was the Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) and Chief of its Bureau of Land Use. During his fifteen years at MDAR, Rich managed the Commonwealth’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program while also serving as its Agricultural Resource Specialist for western MA. Prior to his tenure at MDAR, Rich was Assistant Director of the Northeast Office of the American Farmland Trust; the Town Planner for the Town of Killingly, CT; and a Community Planner for the Montgomery County (PA) Planning Commission.
Rich recently stepped off the Board of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition after serving from the beginning of MLTC’s incorporation, including for three years as Board president. He also served on the boards of the Mt. Grace Land Conservation Trust and the Valley Land Fund.
Rich graduated in 1977 from the University of Connecticut with a B.S. degree in Natural Resource Conservation and received a M.S. degree in 1980 from Syracuse University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Environmental Land Use Planning. He resides wife his wife, Julie, in New Salem, MA.