Richard Dolesh

Rich has been a volunteer at Patuxent for nearly three decades and a board member of the Friends since the Friends began. He worked to support the proposal for the construction of the National Wildlife Visitor Center and served as the co-chair of the long-running and successful Patuxent Wildlife Art Show for its first 10 years.

Rich has had a personal and professional dedication to conservation during his nearly five-decade career beginning in 1972 at the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and since 2002 at the National Recreation and Park Association. Rich is a member and former chair of the Conservation Committee of the Maryland Ornithological Society and serves on the boards of the Patuxent Riverkeeper, the Black Swamp Creek Land Trust, and the Park and Resources Conservation Foundation.

Rich writes extensively about conservation and nature and has written articles in National Geographic Magazine, The Washington Post and Parks and Recreation Magazine. He was recently awarded the Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal by the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration in national recognition of his service to parks and conservation.