Richard Lewis Conservation Story

Published August 18, 2025

Richard Lewis was born on March 20, 1944, in Dumont, New Jersey, to Harry and Lucille Lewis. He graduated from: Hackensack, New Jersey High School in 1961; Paul Smith’s College with an Associate of Arts and Sciences (AAS) degree in 1963; State University of New York with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BSF) degree and Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in 1965; American University in 1976 with a Master’s Level Certificate in Business Administration/Communications; and the American Society of Association Executives Certified Association Executive (CAE) Program in 1986.

Over many decades as a management professional, Richard described his first profession as forestry. In that capacity, he enjoyed meeting with forest owners, walking their woodlands with them, assessing their goals for their woodlands, preparing forest management plans, and assisting them in carrying out forest management activities such as tree planting, thinning, wildlife habitat creation and enhancement, timber harvests, and road/trail construction.

He first worked as a field forester with the NJ Bureau of Forestry, spending a lot of his time and effort doing field work from 1965 to 1972. He credits his time as a forester with laying the groundwork for moving into the field of association management.

He describes his second profession as association management, where he managed: communications; meeting planning; statistics gathering and analysis; finances; government relations; public affairs; member field visits; board of directors’ affairs; and association governance. He worked for the American Forest Institute as a conservation program director from 1972 to 1982. And from 1982 to 2012, he served first as Director, then VP, of Forest Resources, and eventually President and CEO of the Forest Resources Association.

Throughout his lengthy career, he strived to “make a difference” and always had an eye for efficiency, innovation, and teamwork. One of his favorite credos or sayings is, “If it is to be….It’s to me.” Richard always takes the time and effort to thank those he works with and to recognize their contributions. He credits his father with instilling in him a love of all outdoors and more importantly, the values of honesty and integrity, as well as respect for others. His love for the outdoors led him into forestry and conservation.

There are numerous examples of where Richard swam against the tide and successfully advocated for changes in the traditional way of doing things in the public and private sectors.

As an early example, Richard first started working as a forester in the New Jersey Bureau of Forestry in 1965. At that time, foresters were marking timber by blazing two sides of all trees to be harvested with an axe. Using the sharp blade side of the axe, they would then chop away a small strip of bark in the stump area and then emboss it with the “NJ” stamp that was on blunt side of the axe. He felt this was an inefficient and dangerous way to mark timber for harvest. One frigid day in February after a 2-foot snowfall, he headed out to a timber harvest area to mark fifty acres of timber on a steep rocky mountain ridge with an axe. When he arrived at the wooded area, he decided he was not going to risk life and limb by axe marking this stand of timber. He drove to a local town and bought one gallon of bright blue paint and one gallon of thinner out of his own pocket. He mixed the paint and thinner together and used his paint sprayer instead of an axe to mark the timber. He was able to mark the timber safely and efficiently in one day, instead of it taking two days with an axe.

At that time in New Jersey, all timber sales had to be reviewed by the state forester or an assistant state forester before they could be advertised for bids. When the timber sale prospectus arrived in the State Forester’s office for review, it faced immediate rejection because the timber was not marked with axe blazes. The marking with blue paint instead of axe blazes caused quite a stir with the New Jersey Bureau of Forestry senior staff, and unbeknownst to him, the State Forester and Assistant State Forester drove up to North Jersey to inspect the paint-marked timber sale. Evidently, they could find nothing wrong with the way the timber sale was marked with paint, and they let the sale go forward to bid. Richard notes, “I did not know that this review was going on until a few fellow foresters called me, thanked me for “bucking policy,” and said they were throwing away their timber marking axes!” Shortly thereafter, marking timber harvests in New Jersey with paint became the best practice. Today, it is standard practice around the world.

In 1972, Richard took the opportunity to move from hands-on forest management to association management. He started working for the American Forest Institute (AFI) as Director of Forest Resources. His primary responsibility was the management of the American Tree Farm System, a forest industry conservation program started in 1941. The System had fallen on tough times and was in disarray when he came on board.

There was plenty to be fixed. By now the System listed nearly 34,000 tree farmers managing more than seventy-four million acres across the country. However, funding, staffing, and services for administering the Tree Farm System had not kept pace with growth. Records were in disarray or lost. Foresters had lost touch with many tree farmers or stopped documenting their work. Although tree farms were listed in all states, only ten states had active Tree Farm Committees. A decision was made by the Tree Farm System Board of Directors that Tree Farm work was too valuable to be abandoned.

Richard had been active in the New Jersey State Tree Farm Program and was hired by the AFI to bring the Tree Farm Program back to life. The AFI board approved increases to member company dues to provide an increased Tree Farm budget. The budget placed a major emphasis on improving recordkeeping and converting the outdated manual filing system to a modern computer recordkeeping system. Significant funding incentives were created and awarded to encourage state Tree Farm committees and foresters to document the forest management work on Tree Farms and to reinspect all Tree Farm properties at five-year intervals. By 1973, the switch to a computerized record-keeping system was complete. The Tree Farm listings that could not be documented had been removed from the rolls, and the count had been reduced to a little more than 30,000 tree farmers. Like a tree after pruning, new growth emerged. Richard visited with over 35 State Tree Farm Committees; the System started to come back to life and started growing again. Many State Tree Farm Committees began selecting and recognizing Outstanding State Tree Farmers.

Recognizing the need to continue to enhance his knowledge and skills in association management, Richard enrolled in an American University Night School Business Administration Master’s Program in 1970. As a class assignment, he completed a term paper for his “Promotional Campaigns” class describing a methodology and expected results from instituting a State, Regional, and National Outstanding Tree Farmer Recognition Campaign. He earned an “A” on his term paper, which set the stage for AFI to establish an Outstanding National Tree Farmer award. This award continues to be given by AFI annually.

In 1976, Fred Barber of Florida became the first National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year. In 1978, Richard was successful in having President Jimmy Carter, who became a Tree Farmer, present the National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Award to Henry Langford of Virginia. Being selected as an Outstanding Tree Farmer continues to be a coveted honor today.

In 1982, Richard left AFI and joined the American Pulpwood Association (APA), a forest industry trade association. There, he dedicated 50% of his time serving as Mid-Atlantic Region Manager and 50% of his time devoted to serving in the National Office. In those capacities, he focused on forest products statistics gathering and reporting programs and timber harvesting regulatory and legislative issues.

The Mid-Atlantic Region Manager’s portion of the job involved 1-2 week-long monthly field visits to member company wood procurement operations and logging contractor logging and trucking operations. It was during his time that he learned that supplying wood to the Nation’s wood-consuming mills was a complex, difficult, and hazardous job. And to be successful, wood procurement systems had to enlist the cooperation of the forest owners, logging contractors, and wood-consuming mill procurement foresters. If any of these three parties did not act in good faith with honesty and integrity, the result was a failed or environmentally unacceptable raw wood products sale.

Also, during this time, he discovered that timber harvesting was one of the top ten most hazardous professions in the United States with an annual fatality rate of 200+ per 100,000 loggers. This led to a major portion of his job duties focused on developing and conducting logging and log transportation safety promotion and training courses. In this role, he traveled around the country and conducted training to educate loggers and log truckers about the extreme risks and hazards of their jobs as well as safety practices to minimize injuries and fatalities. Over the next few years, he and other APA staff conducted over one hundred logger and trucker safety training workshops in a dozen states, including Pennsylvania.

During the time Richard was in the APA National Office in Washington, DC, he worked cooperatively with the Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) staff to develop a Logging Safety Standard designed to cut the extremely high logging injury and fatality rate. Many in the industry were strongly opposed to having OSHA promulgate a set of Logging Safety Regulations, and this led to a lot of behind-the-scenes name-calling and outright bickering between the parties that would eventually be impacted by these regulations. Richard and APA were often considered “the enemy” by colleagues in the forest products and logging industries. Nevertheless, he continued to forge ahead, guided by the knowledge that the reduction in logging injury and fatality rates would justify the inconvenience and increased cost of complying with the OSHA regulations. After two years of work, the OSHA Logging Regulations were finally published and became enforceable in August 1995.

In 1990 Richard was promoted to President and CEO of APA and served in this capacity for the next 22 years, until 2012.

Another of the most significant issues the wood procurement industry faced at that time was the strained and often dysfunctional business relationships between loggers and wood-consuming mills. By this time, APA had broadened its scope and developed a new brand and logo, the Forest Resources Association (FRA). Using problem-solving and conflict-resolution techniques learned through his participation in an American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Prometheus Training Retreat Program, he developed an interactive Wood Supplier-Wood Consuming Mill Relationships Workshop designed to tackle the dysfunctional business relationships head-on and work toward cooperative solutions. Over the next 5 years, FRA staff planned and conducted these workshops at over one hundred mill locations throughout the US. However, not all the workshops were immediately successful in improving the business relationship between a wood-consuming mill and its wood suppliers. Richard recognizes that improving and maintaining these relationships is an ongoing task.

While serving as Board Member, Secretary/Treasurer, and eventually President of the National Council of Forestry Association Executives, Richard grew the “Log a Load for Kids Program” from its founding state of South Carolina to over thirty states. The “Log a Load for Kids Program” raises money from loggers that donate the value of one load of logs, or any dollar amount, to Children’s Hospitals in their respective communities. Nationwide, this initiative raises and distributes over $5 million to Children’s Hospitals annually.

In 2012, after seven years of field forestry and forty years of association management, he retired from the Forest Resources Association to his home near Gettysburg, PA. There, he and his wife enjoy their lovely house, their dogs and cats, their children, and grandchildren; landscaping their property along Marsh creek, feeding the songbirds; annually planting a field of wildflowers; and cooking. Also, Richard enjoys whitetail deer hunting on surrounding farms, eating venison, and smoking fish and meats, particularly salmon.

Not able to just retire and relax, he became an active Pennsylvania Forestry Association (PFA) member in 2012 and eventually was elected to successive two-year terms as Board Member, then Vice-President, then President, and eventually past President of the Board of Directors. During this time he successfully advocated for: a major reorganization of PFA’s structure and management, computerizing all association management functions including finance, written and electronic communications, meetings, memberships, dues structures, and events/activities; adopting one umbrella association management software system; moving the PFA Office to the state capital and hiring an association management firm to support the day-to-day functions, events, and activities of the association.

Beginning in 2017, Richard served as the Boating At-Large Commissioner on the PA Fish and Boat Commission for eight years. He was honored to be elected Commission Vice President, Commission President, and served as Chair of the Boating, Fisheries, and Hatcheries, and Executive Committees.

Richard is proud to be part of a small volunteer team that raised over $400,000 to purchase fifty-eight acres from a private landowner containing a one-half mile segment of Conewago Creek, a stocked trout stream, and the only fly-fishing catch-and-release trout stream in Adams County. The land along the stream is now owned by the PA Fish and Boat Commission, cooperatively managed with the Adams County Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and open to the public. A stone parking lot, picnic pavilion, interpretive nature trail, and walking paths facilitate easy access to the stream. This segment of the stream is regularly stocked with trout, and the Trout Unlimited members are active stewards of these lands.

Richard credits several individuals with influencing his personal and professional development over many years. Starting in his childhood, his father, teachers, friends, co-workers, and relatives instilled a love of all outdoors in him. Of special note, the following individuals inspired him to pursue a career in forestry:

An unnamed but not forgotten Paul Smith College Graduate Richard met on a solo Adirondack Mountain Range Trail hike when he was 16 years old inspired him to apply to the renowned Paul Smith College Forestry Program. Richard described himself at that time in between his junior and senior year as a very unmotivated “C+” student with no interest in attending college. After that encounter, he applied to the College and was conditionally admitted providing his academic performance significantly improved in his senior year. In an amazing turnaround, he earned straight A’s in his senior year, took a six-week chemistry course after his high school graduation, was accepted at Paul Smith College, and eventually graduated fourth in his class.
Hank DeBruin, a former U. S. Forest Service Information and Education Chief, inspired Richard to achieve more in his profession during a presentation he made at a large conservation meeting in New Jersey. Richard explains, “DeBruin told the assembled group that if the forestry profession was to survive, each of us had to make a commitment that our jobs were not just 8 AM to 5 PM five days a week. We had to commit to speaking after normal work hours about our profession to outside groups, writing letters to papers explaining our forest management practices, and showing up at public hearings and forums to explain and defend our professional forestry practices.” This realization had a significant impact on Richard. He took DeBruin’s words to heart then and still does today.
Ken Rolston, former President and CEO of APA, led by example. If his staff did not want to do something he asked he simply said, “Okay, if you’re not interested, I’ll do it myself.” And then when the task was completed, usually at an exceedingly high and competent level, you said to yourself, “Boy, I really screwed up by not volunteering to take that task on.” Rolston was also the most demanding and critical boss he ever had. Once, when Richard said, “Why are you busting my chops over this issue. John Smith does the same thing, and you never say a word to him?” Rolston replied, “You’re right, but John Smith isn’t a candidate for my job when I retire.”

And once at the end of a week when Richard had been into Rolston’s office multiple times with his “bright idea” of the moment and he had shot the newest project idea down again Rolston said (with a smile), “Don’t be discouraged Rich, It’s the job of senior management to shoot down the best and brightest ideas of junior management.” Richard notes, “And he counseled me not to stop, to bring project ideas that were not just my own but carried the endorsement or support of association officers or leadership members, a piece of advice I followed with much better success from that point on.”

Bob Rumpf was a forester and wood procurement manager with the Glatfelter Pulpwood Company, Spring Grove. PA. Richard explained, “When I started employment with APA, during a member company field visit, Bob picked up on my impression that all logging contractors were fly-by-night, dishonest businessmen.” Bob said, “You need to come back to Pennsylvania and spend a few days with me visiting the logging operations of the wood suppliers for our paper mill.” Richard took him up on the offer, and at the end of the three days of field visits, his biased and unfounded negative opinion about logging contractors was reversed 180 degrees.

Richard is a man having many hobbies over many years. He enjoyed fishing in warm and cold water, fresh and salt water, for a wide variety of species. He enjoyed hunting white-tailed deer, turkeys, quail, pheasants, and ruffed grouse in several states and Canada.

He trained and hunted over several Black Lab pointing and flushing dogs and enjoyed their companionship year-round. He and his family camped all over the U.S. He skied downhill and cross-country in many states. He white water rafted and canoed on many U.S. rivers. He is a skilled photographer who willingly shares his images with his family and friends.

When he was the AFI Director of Forest Resources, he lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Richard explains, “Between work and raising a family, I had no time for multi-day hunting treks to my old deer hunting haunts in PA or New Jersey. So, I gave up the sport until I realized there was a good population of deer living right around me in the busy suburbs of Montgomery County, MD, where I lived. I researched and found out archery hunting was allowed in these areas, so I slowly, over time, asked for and received permission to hunt close by on quite a few small (2 to 10-acre) wooded parcels in the suburbs.” Now Richard could hunt deer again by slipping out early or late after spending most of the day at work or at home doing chores or spending time with my family. And, he actually had much better and more productive deer hunting in the suburbs than he ever had in the rural farm areas of PA or New Jersey. He was successful almost every season, harvesting one or more bucks and does. Richard authored an article on his suburban deer hunting experiences, submitted it with photos to Outdoor Life magazine. It was published under the title “The Deer Next Door.”

When he was President and CEO of APA/FRA, Richard lived for 13 years in Laytonsville, Maryland, in a home on two acres. His job was 100% administrative, and he missed his old forestry job workdays doing outdoor field work. So, he started a Christmas tree plantation on one of the two acres. Over the next six years, he planted, weeded, mowed, sprayed, and sheared approximately five hundred Christmas trees just so in his own words “I could feel some dirt under my fingernails again.”

When the trees became mature and ready for harvest, he invited neighbors and friends to cut a Christmas Tree in return for a donation of any amount to the Washington, DC National Children’s Hospital. Over the next five years, he enjoyed the exciting and joyful sights and sounds of neighborhood families as they selected, cut, and loaded a Christmas tree into their cars. Each family provided cash or donation checks to the National Children’s Hospital in return for their Christmas tree. Richard notes, “During the next five years before I retired to Gettysburg, I was delighted to send a total of $10,826 in cash and check donations to the National Children’s Hospital from my friends and neighbors who harvested the Christmas Trees.”

Richard actively participated in and served in leadership roles in many professional and other organizations, including:

Society of American Foresters – New Jersey Chapter Chair, National Society of American Foresters Membership Committee, and Chair, Allegheny Society of American Foresters (ANSAF) Executive Committee Member. Richard received the ANSAF Chairman’s Award in 2019.
Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) – Elected a “Life Member” Fellow in 2002.
Trout Unlimited – Life Member, Adams County TU Chapter #323 Board Member, and Regional VP, PA Trout Unlimited. Richard received the Adams County Trout Unlimited Merit Award in 2016 and the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited Coldwater Conservationist Award in 2020.
Pennsylvania Forestry Association – Life Member, Board Member, Executive Committee Member, Vice President, and President
National Council of Forestry Association Executives – Board member, Secretary//Treasurer, and President
Life Member – Maryland Forests Association (Charter Life Member), Virginia Forestry Association, Izaak Walton League, Pennsylvania Forestry Association, and Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock Society.
Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Project Advisory Committee Member

Richard is a strong family man. His wife, Jakie L Lewis, is always supportive of his professional and voluntary forestry work with frequent long-distance travel. She also attended almost all FRA Annual and Fall Board Meetings over thirty years and always served as manager of the spouse tours and spouse events.

Richard’s Daughters, Danielle L Lewis and Rebecca L Lewis, were always ready to travel to far-flung places with him when he was conducting venue site inspection visits for future FRA Annual and Fall Board Meetings.

Richard has a lengthy list of colleagues and friends he enjoyed interacting with over the years, including, but not limited to:

Bob McDowell (deceased) former Chief New Jersey Fish and Game Division
Les Alpaugh, former New Jersey State Forester
Bill Banzhaf, former Executive Director Society of American Foresters
Bob Rumpf, (deceased) former President Glatfelter Pulpwood Company
Allen Bedell, (deceased) former President Circle B Logging
Buck Williams, former President Jayfor Logging
John Arway, Former Executive Director, PA Fish and Boat Commission
Tim Schaefer, Executive Director, PA Fish and Boat Commission
Clyde Hunt, former Geneticist US Forest Service
Susan Sarfati, former President and CEO Greater Washington Society of Association Executives
Bill Taylor, President American Society of Association Executives
DeCoster, former National Tree Farm Director (who followed Richard in that Position)
Rick Frost, former President and CEO, LP Forest Products Corp.
Wayne Kober, former Director of the PennDOT Bureau of Environmental Quality and former Co-Chair of the PA Conservation Heritage Project Advisory Committee and the PA Forestry Association Forest Heritage Committee

Richard has travelled widely to:

All fifty states for work assignments and leisure
Greenland for work assignments
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for leisure
Canada for work assignments and leisure
México, Aruba, Guadalope, Japan, China, and Singapore for leisure
Australia and New Zealand for work assignments
Finland and Sweden for work assignments

Anyone having the opportunity to get to know Richard and benefit from his “can do” spirit, generous and enthusiastic giving of his time and talents, honesty, love of his family and friends, and his gift of gab are truly privileged and blessed. One of Richard’s credos or frequent savings is, “If it is to be… it’s up to me.” Through his long history of professional and volunteer efforts, he has and continues to make significant contributions to conservation and stewardship of the Commonwealth’s forest, wildlife, fisheries, watersheds, and human resources for generations to come.

Prepared by Wayne Kober from Richard’s written responses to a list of interview questions and Richard’s reviews and edits of drafts of his story.