Nancy M. Lin has over thirty-six years of experience as a Massachusetts wetlands protection regulator, senior environmental analyst, and outreach/training manager for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) Division of Wetland and Waterways. Nancy has devoted her career to public service and volunteers in her community to integrate environmental/wetlands science and natural history into the Massachusetts required elementary school curriculum. She has received statewide recognition for her efforts including as a recipient of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions’ (MACC) Outstanding Public Service Award (2004), the Network for Social Justice’s Outstanding Educator of the Year for 2017 (for her volunteer community service) and most recently, the 2024 MACC Lifetime Achievement award for extraordinary contributions to natural resource protection in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In her role at MassDEP, Nancy provides support in wetlands and waterways regulation, policy and guidance development and implementation. She also represents her agency in internal and external wetlands and water related issues, including participation on statewide boards, at meetings and conferences and as a trainer/speaker. Nancy also develops and manages federal and state wetland grants and created and oversees the award-winning Massachusetts Wetlands Circuit Rider Program (WCRP). The WCRP, with dedicated regional staff, provides technical/regulatory assistance to local officials, permit applicants and the public. Since its inception, the program’s concept has been emulated regionally and nationally in the U.S.
Nancy also oversees MassDEP’s statewide water quality sampling for pesticides. This effort is implemented to ensure that surface drinking water supplies are safe following regional aerial spraying events to address mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.
Prior to her work at MassDEP, Nancy worked at the Massachusetts Resource Authority on the Boston Harbor cleanup, protecting wetlands at the local level as the Director for a conservation commission, as the education coordinator of the New York City (NYC) Park Ranger program and a natural history instructor for a NYC environmental education landmark.
Nancy emigrated to the United States from Taipei, Taiwan, when she was five years old and her love for wetlands and the creatures that live there started at an early age when she spent countless days observing with fascination as the tadpoles in her grandfather’s ponds developed into frogs.
She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science, from the New York State University at Stony Brook, and completed graduate level courses in wetlands botany, soil science, wildlife habitat evaluation, identification of grasses, rushes and sedges, wetland delineation, entomology and Environmental Leadership. She has taught wetlands plant identification and delineation, stream culvert assessment and ethnobotany.
Nancy enjoys being outdoors and loves to hike, snorkel, swim, kayak, and cross-country ski. Nancy has been a member of Society of Wetland Scientists and is a Senior Professional Wetlands Scientist (SPWS) for 26 years. She is honored to serve as the President of the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program (SWSPCP) and as the first Asian woman of color for this organization in June 2024. She will retire from MassDEP in the spring of 2024.