Paul Gallay, known to many in this region as the former executive director of the Westchester Land Trust, has just moved into his Riverkeeper offices in Tarrytown. As Riverkeeper’s new executive director, Gallay will be working to advance the organization’s mission to preserve the quality of the Hudson River and protect the drinking water for nine million New Yorkers.

Most recently, Gallay served as president of Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and his earlier career positions include leadership roles in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Attorney General’s office. Having grown up in the lower Hudson Valley and with a former board presence on the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Westchester County Global Warming Task Force and the New York State Bar Association, Gallay is returning to his roots as well as his former professional community connections.

“People power is what got Riverkeeper started,” Gallay said, “And people power is what is going to keep it going and keep the Hudson River and its watershed protected. My chief goal is to get as many people connected with the river as we possibly can – as stewards, for recreation- to connect people with the beauty of the river and its watershed and make it personal for them.”

With a Riverkeeper staff of 20, an active Board of Directors, and a law degree from Columbia, in addition to his experience working with community-based organizations, Gallay will have a strong foundation to assure proper compliance with environmental laws. Gallay noted his “staff and board has ideas coming out of them on a daily basis, and my job is to harness those ideas to make the change we are talking about.”

He stressed increasing Riverkeeper’s membership through engagement across a more diverse spectrum – geographically, socio-economically and in terms of minority communities. “Environmental advocacy needs public backing. If we want to see the rivers and our watershed protected, we need a permanent culture of stewardship, and you don’t get that without a strong, committed and diverse base of support.”

The R. Ian Fletcher, Riverkeeper’s boat that patrols the river on a daily basis, is docked in Ossining, and starting on September 1st, Riverkeeper will move from its Tarrytown base to new Ossining offices 100 yards from the patrol boat’s dock. A new beginning for a new executive director. —Linda Viertel