As official leaves, debate on legacy

She once took to the ice in a theatrical effort to underscore her promise to keep public rinks and pools open, but state Environmental Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder's legacy may be far less dramatic -- one known more for what was not accomplished than what was.

Yesterday Herzfelder, confirming what an administration official said Friday, said she was leaving her post after 2 1/2 years to spend more time with her two young children, ages 6 and 4. This month, she will begin the transition to become a special adviser to the governor on ocean policy.

With Romney preparing to run for reelection -- or the US presidency -- some observers said yesterday that Herzfelder needed to announce her departure before he announced his intentions, to prevent the possible appearance of jumping ship during his campaign.

Most observers said that Herzfelder has had it tough: Unlike many of her predecessors, she had virtually no environmental experience. She arrived just as Romney dramatically slashed the state's environmental budget. Her even-paced demeanor helped officials slog through the merger of two bureaucratic state agencies, only to realize there was little money to run the new office. She remained a loyal representative for Romney as he opposed a controversial offshore wind farm -- but acknowledged that a draft environmental impact report for the project was adequate.

Yet some environmentalists say she could have fought far harder for environmental funds or carved out a more solid name for herself and Massachusetts on the national stage, much as former secretaries Robert Durand, Trudy Coxe, and John DeVillars did. Durand was a passionate environmentalist known for his work on land conservation and biodiversity, and Coxe was known for watershed protection. DeVillars, who was not experienced in environmental affairs before he became secretary, helped ensure the environment was a key theme in the Central Artery project, said James Gomes, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

''It's sad to say but I don't think Secretary Herzfelder has left a lot of footprints," said Gomes. ''One of the questions her tenure raises is how good a job any secretary could have done under this administration. If you had a combination of Rachel Carson and Teddy Roosevelt, it's not clear what they could have gotten done, either."

Herzfelder has plenty of supporters, especially those who say she took on the unglamorous role of putting the state's environmental shop in order and spearheaded the state's first effort to zone the ocean much like land as an increasing number of projects are proposed offshore. She also helped usher in tough new oil-spill regulations that Romney signed into law following a Buzzards Bay spill in 2003. And for the first time, under Herzfelder, Massachusetts cataloged exactly how much repair was needed in the state's deteriorated parklands.

Kathy Abbott, a former commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, praised Herzfelder yesterday, saying she worked quietly toward key goals such as creating DCR out of the former Metropolitan District Commission and the former Department of Environmental Management, and establishing public-private partnerships to help pay for new benches, paths, and maintenance on public lands.

''A new frontier she was passionate about was ocean management and estuary restoration," Abbott said.

Romney demanded Abbott's resignation after four high school students were hit by a car on a DCR-managed roadway earlier this year, an accident the governor said might have been exacerbated by the lack of sidewalk snow clearing, for which he said Abbott was responsible. Abbott now runs Common Cents for the Common Wealth, an advocacy group to find better ways to fund parks and public lands in Massachusetts. ''Ellen was very committed," she said.

Herzfelder said yesterday that she counts among her achievements unifying the state park system, ocean management work, oil-spill legislation, and overseeing a doubling of the capital budget for parks last year, along with helping secure long-term leases on ice rinks that could reap financial benefits for the state. Under her watch, the state oversaw new air pollution regulations for the state's dirtiest power plants.

''I've had a wonderful opportunity, but I've got two young children and . . . they are only this young once," she said. While budget cuts did interfere with some efforts, she said, ''We really did maintain the core mission and improved on [it]."

Herzfelder holds graduate degrees from the Kennedy School of Government and MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Some say Herzfelder was unable to bring many items to fruition before she left. Even her ocean work is still pending before the Legislature.

''The intention behind the ocean work was good, it moved forward, but not to completion," said Seth Kaplan, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation.

Yet others said her successes at the agency will stretch far into the future.

''She entered the position during a time of fiscal difficulty . . . and she tackled some of the unglamorous cleanup work that had just been allowed to slide," said Jonathan Kaledin, the former general counsel for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs who is now New York state counsel for The Nature Conservancy. ''She has been unsung."

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.