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Michael A. Reuter

Director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and Great Rivers Partnership

Michael Reuter serves as director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and its Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort launched in 2005 to conserve and restore the world’s Great Rivers and their basins. In these roles, he has worked to promote programs and partnerships to advance the sustainable management of freshwater systems throughout the United States and comprehensive, collaborative approaches to management of the Yangtze and Mekong rivers in Asia, the Niger and Ogooué rivers in Africa, the Colorado and Mississippi rivers in North America, and the Magdalena, Paraguay-Parana and Tapajós rivers in South America. 

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Read Michael A. Reuter's Full Biography

Michael A. Reuter

Director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and Great Rivers Partnership

Read Michael A. Reuter's Full Biography

Michael A. Reuter

Director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and Great Rivers Partnership

Read Michael A. Reuter's Full Biography

Michael Reuter serves as director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and its Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort launched in 2005 to conserve and restore the world’s Great Rivers and their basins. In these roles, he has worked to promote programs and partnerships to advance the sustainable management of freshwater systems throughout the United States and comprehensive, collaborative approaches to management of the Yangtze and Mekong rivers in Asia, the Niger and Ogooué rivers in Africa, the Colorado and Mississippi rivers in North America, and the Magdalena, Paraguay-Parana and Tapajós rivers in South America. 

Michael’s expertise centers on managing large freshwater ecosystems for people and nature. He is especially interested in ways to improve decision-making in these complex and economically important systems by involving the people, communities, and companies who depend on them for drinking water, production of food and fiber, energy, flood risk management, transportation, and recreation. His Midwest background shaped his keen interest and expertise in sustainable agriculture, especially with regard to large commodity crops such as corn, soy, wheat and cotton.  

The mission of the GRP, developed under Michael’s leadership in 2005, is to bring together diverse partners and best science to expand options for achieving the sustainable management and development of the world’s Great Rivers and their basins. The GRP seeks shared solutions to common land- and water-use dilemmas, recognizing the inescapable linkages that connect economy, human well-being and ecosystem sustainability. Areas of focus include integrated socio-economic and ecological planning; environmental flows; agriculture; fisheries; infrastructure (e.g., energy, flood risk management, navigation); financing (e.g., water funds, mitigation); and governance. 

Michael currently serves on a variety of boards and committees, including the founding steering committee for America’s Watershed Initiative, the executive committee for the national Keystone Field to Market Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, the board of directors for the International Society for River Science, and the advisory committee for the Alliance for Water Stewardship in North America. He is secretary and former chairman of the Illinois Valley Central Educational Foundation board of trustees. He has received the Silver Eagle Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and One Conservancy Award from The Nature Conservancy. Michael holds a B.S. degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University and a Master of Liberal Studies from Bradley University. He lives in Peoria, Illinois, is married and has three children.