The Green Foothills community was saddened to learn of the passing of Herb Grench in December. Herb was an early leader of Green Foothills and served on the board of directors from 1970-1973. He was soft spoken, had a ready smile and twinkle in his eye, and worked hard to find ways to achieve common ground with people who disagreed with protection of open space lands. In 1972 he helped achieve one of our earliest conservation victories, a 20-year protection of Coyote Hill in Palo Alto.

Together with other Green Foothills leaders, Herb saw the need for a local entity that could acquire and steward open spaces in perpetuity, ensuring the permanent preservation of the natural landscapes that Green Foothills was advocating to protect from development. After initiating an ambitious campaign to win public support for the creation of a special district — the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) — Herb and four other Green Foothills board members led the drive to collect 5,000 signatures to qualify Measure R — the “Room to Breathe Initiative” — for the ballot. In November 1972, Measure R passed with over 67% of the vote.

Herb left his job as a nuclear physicist at Lockheed to become Midpen’s first general manager. Under his leadership, Midpen preserved 30,000 acres of open space across 25 regional preserves. He also was instrumental in conceiving the idea of establishing the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 1977 which, to date, has saved more than 89,000 acres of open space, farms, and parkland.

He also served as a Palo Alto planning commission member and as a leader in his local Audubon Society chapter (now the Bird Alliance).

In 2015, his work was commemorated when a trail and lookout at the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve—which he helped preserve for wildlife and the enjoyment of future generations of Californians—was given his name.