To protect, connect, and restore our forests and wildlands.

Marisa Riggi – Executive Director of the Western New York Land Conservancy. 

Marisa grew up in Williamsville, New York where she gained a love of nature through exploring the parks and preserves of WNY. She obtained a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo and attended graduate school at the University of Vermont where she obtained a M.S. in Natural Resources. After graduating, Marisa spent over 5 years at the Northeast Wilderness Trust where she was responsible for protecting land in the Northern Forest region as Conservation Director. There she saw firsthand how larger, connected forests were infinitely more beneficial for plants and animals; she also saw how these connected forests create natural corridors that allowed plants and animals to migrate, increasing their chance for survival.

When she returned home in 2017 to join the Land Conservancy, she brought the same principles to our region’s forests that had proved so successful in New England. These principles have propelled the Land Conservancy’s work forward. In just seven years at the Land Conservancy, she has led major conservation projects and helped the organization conserve more than 2,000 acres of land. This includes such high-profile forests as the College Lodge Forest and Floating Fen near Fredonia, Mossy Point in Wales, the Janet Gallogly Allegany Wildlands in Cattaraugus County. At the core of these conservation projects is one overarching goal: to protect, connect, and restore our forests and wildlands.  Marisa Riggi was named the Land Conservancy’s Executive Director in August 2024, after serving as Acting Executive Director since June 2024, and Conservation Director before that.