Todd Strole Bio | The Nature Conservancy

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Freshwater: Todd Strole

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Todd Strole, Lead, Integrated Floodplain Management, Great Rivers Partnership. © Jay Harrod

Todd Strole

Lead, Integrated Floodplain Management, Great Rivers Partnership

Contact Information

E-mail: tstrole@tnc.org

Brief Biography

“Management of our big rivers is truly complex and quite challenging due to the diversity of demands we place upon them. However, I continue to find people willing to take on this challenge and enjoy working with a wide range of stakeholders.”

When spring floods strike, Todd Strole is often in knee-deep. Based in St. Louis, he lives and works near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers—a dynamic backdrop to his efforts on integrated floodplain management for the Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership (GRP). While the GRP works at a global scale, Todd focuses on the program’s domestic efforts to address the Mississippi River as a whole system and exchange knowledge with stakeholders of great rivers around the world.

As the floodplain lead, Todd is most concerned with promoting management activities that allow the floodplain to properly function to benefit people and nature. Tremendously productive, floodplains fuel the river system by providing flood storage, growing forests and other wildlife habitat, and filtering nutrient and sediment from river waters.

Prior to his Conservancy career, Todd spent 16 years with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources within their Natural Heritage Program. There he held positions of district biologist, regional manager and division manager—providing oversight for the management of threatened and endangered species as well as nature preserves. Todd currently acts as vice chair for the Middle Mississippi River Partnership and advisory board member for the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center. In addition, he recently completed a three-year detail with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through an inter-governmental personnel agreement involving work on floodplain restoration issues on the Upper Mississippi River.

Todd earned B.S. degrees in both environmental biology and botany from Eastern Illinois University, and a master’s degree in biological sciences from Illinois State University. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their three teenage boys—often hunting, biking and hiking.