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Michael A. Reuter

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

Michael Reuter is director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program, a new initiative established in spring 2011 to advance national policies, programs and partnerships that promote sustainable management of large river and lake systems. Michael also serves as executive director of the Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort launched in 2005 to conserve and restore the world’s great river systems including the Mississippi River in the United States, the Yangtze River in China, the Parguay-Parana River in Brazil, the Zambezi River in Africa and the Magdalena River in Colombia.

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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 is director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program, a new initiative established in spring 2011 to advance national policies, programs and partnerships that promote sustainable management of large river and lake systems. Michael also serves as executive director of the Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort launched in 2005 to conserve and restore the world’s great river systems. In that capacity, he has worked has worked to advance integrated management of the Mississippi River system – extending from its headwaters and tributaries to coastal Louisiana – and enable the sustainable development of great rivers on four continents, including the Yangtze River (China), the Paraguay-Parana River (Brazil), the Zambezi River (Africa), and the Magdalena River (Colombia).

Michael’s expertise is in managing large freshwater ecosystems for both people and nature. He also has considerable experience in the area of sustainable agriculture, especially with regard to large commodity crops such as corn, soy, wheat and cotton.

Throughout much of Michael’s career he has focused on the management of large freshwater systems for both people and nature. He has been especially interested in ways to improve decision-making in these complex and economically important systems by involving the people and companies who depend on them for drinking water, production of food and fiber and energy, flood management, transportation, and recreation. His Midwest background has also shaped his interests and expertise in the area of sustainable agriculture, especially with regard to large commodity crops such as corn, soy, wheat and cotton.
 
As freshwater program director, Michael is focused on implementing sustainable water resources management for river and lake systems that span multiple states. He’s also helping advance national policies, programs and partnerships that ensure that large freshwater systems can continue to provide benefits to both people and nature.

As Great Rivers Partnership (GRP) director, Michael Reuter provides regional and global leadership in the development of science-based programs, policies, and partnerships related to the sustainability of great river systems. Through the GRP, Michael has worked to advance integrated management of the Mississippi River system – extending from its headwaters and tributaries to coastal Louisiana – and enable the sustainable development of great rivers on four continents, including the Yangtze River (China), the Paraguay-Parana River (Brazil), the Zambezi River (Africa), and the Magdalena River (Colombia).

Michael currently serves on a variety of boards and committees, including 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, the external advisory board for the IGERT “Watershed Science and Policy” fellowship program at Southern Illinois University. 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 US 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.

Reuter works from the campus of Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.