David Richie, 70; Oversaw Preservation of Appalachian Trail
David Richie, 70, a National Park Service official responsible for preserving the Appalachian Trail, died of colon cancer Dec. 20 at his home in Hampstead, N.C.
The Appalachian Trail, which runs for 2,100 miles through 14 states from Georgia to Maine, is one of the nation’s best-known footpaths. Started in 1921, it was declared a National Scenic Trail in 1968.
As deputy regional director of the Park Service’s Northeast regional office, Richie was responsible for protecting the trail from development, a $90-million project that has involved relocating large sections of the route and creating a narrow corridor of land along the trail’s length.
As project manager, Richie often mediated between local residents whose property was affected by the trail’s relocation and the environmentalists and hikers who sought the trail’s preservation.
Richie, a native of Moorestown, N.J., was educated at Haverford College and George Washington University’s law school.
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