Marisa Riggi ’09 helps protect natural areas and farmland in Western New York.
By Kris Dreessen
Despite Buffalo being a major city in Upstate New York, the Western New York Land Conservancy has protected 8,000 acres of private land in its eight surrounding counties. They will remain forever wild or continue to serve as farmland.
Marisa Riggi ’09 heads those protection efforts as the nonprofit organization’s executive director.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be part of land conservation,” says Riggi. “People can go and see and experience what we’ve protected, every day.”
Riggi oversees the organization’s mission, strategy, and budgeting, contributing to various aspects, including communications, fundraising, and collaborating with community partners on outdoor education programs and events.
“My big goal is to make sure that everyone on the team has what they need to succeed in our vision,” says Riggi. “As a smaller land trust, you wear many hats and jump in where people need more support. A lot more grey hair has come in since becoming executive director, but it is very exciting.”
Riggi had her eye on conservation during her years at Geneseo. She majored in political science and minored in environmental science, intending to become an environmental lawyer. She ultimately chose land preservation instead, she says, because she can help impact her community in a tangible way. She went on to earn a master’s in natural resource management from the University of Vermont and worked with a land trust in New England.
Riggi joined WNYLC in 2017 as director of land protection. She served as the conservation director and then as deputy director before becoming the executive director in 2023.
Riggi is proud of what WNYLC has accomplished since its creation in 1991. Of the 8,000 acres protected, 6,000 are dedicated to farming. Another 2,000 acres are nature preserves. More than a dozen of the preserves are open to visitors.
Riggi is now focused on fundraising for her passion project—creating the Western New York Wildway. WNYLC hopes to buy swaths of land to connect protected areas and form a long stretch of continuous habitat for wildlife throughout the region. The Western New York Wild Way would connect to similar projects led by other land trusts across the Eastern US.
“I have two children, and the Western New York Wildway is like my third child,” says Riggi. “It’s my little conservation baby to the world.”
Protecting farmland and natural areas is increasingly important, says Riggi, as development continues and climate change forces wildlife to adapt or move.
“Every day, I get to help conserve wildlife habitat, provide places for families to hike and enjoy nature, and ensure our region’s family farms are protected” says Riggi. “It’s my life’s work to see Western New York connected and protected, so it’s available for my kids and all future generations to enjoy.”
Related content: Want to learn how you can nurture wildlife at home? Fellow alumna and Western New York Land Trust staff member Rachel Lerner Chrostowski ’05 shares how she has and what you can do.
