STOPPER
Raymond Proffitt
Foundation
July 2004
Good-by Mark
by Ed Perry
In January, our Executive Director, Mark Hersh, resigned his position to move to Seattle Washington. There are few people in Pennsyvania as knowledgeable about water quality standards and antidegradation as Mark. He spent most of his adult life working for various agencies involved in stream protection, so he was intimately familiar with the regulations and was a tremendous asset when it came to reviewing projects adversely affecting water. As Executive Director, he spent most of his time working on longwall mining. He was responsible for commenting on the DEP’s Technical Guidance document, and due mainly to his insightful comments, DEP is substantially changing the way they administer the mining program and its effects on water resources. Mark also worked extensively with Terri Taylor of public television in Pittsburgh to produce a film showing the devastation to homes and streams from longwall mining. What we will miss most of all is Mark’s unrelenting devotion to resource protection and his keen insights into the water quality standards program.
We will miss Mark greatly and wish him well in his new life.