Conservation Science at The Nature Conservancy

People

Brian Richter
Director, The Sustainable Waters Program

Contact Information
The Nature Conservancy
490 Westfield Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901

Phone: (434) 951-0563
Fax: (434) 979-0370
nature.org/freshwater/

Brief Biography
Brian Richter has been involved in river conservation for more than 20 years. He is now the Director of The Nature Conservancy's Sustainable Waters Program, a program that is currently supporting conservation projects across the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Region. His current responsibilities focus on the global challenges of meeting human needs for water while keeping river ecosystems healthy. He works with public agencies, academic institutions, and other private organizations involved in river conservation, and leads a staff that includes hydrologists, aquatic ecologists, policy specialists, educators and communicators. He has published numerous scientific papers on the importance of ecologically sustainable water management in international science journals. He also recently co-authored book with Sandra Postel entitled Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature, published by Island Press in 2003.

Brian has provided scientific or technical consultation on more than 90 river projects worldwide. His travels have taken him to the Yangtze River in China, the Paraguay River in Brazil, and the Usumacinta River in Mexico, but the Moormans River in Virginia is “home.”

Selected Publications
Postel, S. and B. Richter. 2003. Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature. Island Press.
More about this book

Richter, B.D., Warner, Andrew T., Meyer, Judy L., and Lutz, Kim 2004. A Collaborative and Adaptive Process for Developing Environmental Flow Recommendations. In press at River Research and Applications.
View the paper (.pdf, 558 kb)

FitzHugh, T.W. and B.D. Richter. 2004. Quenching urban thirst: growing cities and their impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Bioscience 54 (8): 741-754.
View the paper (.pdf, 1.1 MB)
(This paper is posted with the permission of the The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).)

Poff, N.L., J.D. Allan, M.A. Palmer, D.D. Hart, B.D. Richter, A.H. Arthington, K.H. Rogers, J.L. Meyer, and J.A. Stanford. 2003. River flows and water wars: emerging science for environmental decision making. Frontiers in Ecology 1(6):298-306.
View the paper (.pdf, 567 kb)
(This paper is posted with the permission of the Ecological Society of America.)

Baron, J.S., N.L. Poff, P.L. Angermeier, C.N. Dahm, P.H. Gleick, N.G. Hairston, R.B. Jackson, C.A. Johnston, B.D. Richter, and A.D. Steinman. 2003. Sustaining healthy freshwater systems. Issues in Ecology 10:1-16.
View the English version (.pdf, 279 kb)
View the Spanish version (.pdf, 286 kb)
(This paper is posted with the permission of the Ecological Society of America.)

Richter, B.D., R. Mathews, D.L. Harrison, and R. Wigington. 2003. Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecological Applications 13:206-224.

Richter, B.D. and H.E. Richter. 2000. Prescribing flood regimes to sustain riparian ecosystems along meandering rivers. Conservation Biology 14: 1467-1478.

Richter, B.D. and K.H. Redford. 1999. The art (and science) of the deal between conservation and use. Conservation Biology 13:1235-1237.

Richter, B.D., J.V. Baumgartner, D.P. Braun, and J. Powell. 1998. A spatial assessment of hydrologic alteration within a river network. Regulated Rivers 14:329-340.

Richter, B.D., D.P. Braun, M. A. Mendelson, and L.L. Master. 1997. Threats to imperiled freshwater fauna. Conservation Biology 11:1081-1093.

Richter, B.D., J.V. Baumgartner, R. Wigington, and D.P. Braun. 1997. How much water does a river need? Freshwater Biology 37:231-249.

Richter, B.D., J.V. Baumgartner, J. Powell, and D.P. Braun. 1996. A method for assessing hydrologic alteration within ecosystems. Conservation Biology 10:1163-1174.

Richter, B.D. and J. Powell. 1996. Simple hydrologic models for use in floodplain research. Natural Areas Journal 16:362-366.

Richter, B.D. 1993. Ecosystem-level conservation at The Nature Conservancy: growing needs for applied research in conservation biology. Journal of North American Benthological Society 12(2):197-200.

N.L. Poff, J.D. Allan, D.D. Hart, B.D. Richter, J.L. Meyer, M.A. Palmer, J.A. Stanford. Environmental science and water conflicts: six steps to improved scientific decision-making. Frontiers in Ecology, in review.

Baron, J.S., N.L. Poff, P.L. Angermeier, C.N. Dahm, P.H. Gleick, N.G. Hairston, R.B. Jackson, C.A. Johnston, B.D. Richter, and A.D. Steinman. 2002. Meeting ecological and societal needs for freshwater. Ecological Applications 12:1247-1260.

Redford, K.H. and B. Richter. Conservation of biodiversity in a world of use. Wild Earth, Summer 2000: 9-11.

Poiani, K.P., B.D. Richter, M.G. Anderson, and H.E. Richter. 2000. Biodiversity conservation at multiple scales: functional sites, landscapes, and networks. BioScience 50: 133-146.

Redford, K.H. and B. D. Richter. 1999. Conservation of biodiversity in a world of use. Conservation Biology 13:1246-1256.

Poff, N.L., J.D. Allan, M.B. Bain, J.R. Karr, K.L. Prestegaard, B.D. Richter, R.E. Sparks, and J.C. Stromberg. 1997. The natural flow regime: a paradigm for river conservation and restoration. BioScience 47:769-784.

Stromberg, J.C., R. Tiller, and B.D. Richter. 1996. Predicting the effects of incremental ground water decline on semiarid region riparian vegetation: case study of the San Pedro River, Arizona. Ecological Applications 6:113-131.

Stromberg, J.C., B.D. Richter, D.T. Patten, and L.G. Wolden. 1993. Response of a Sonoran riparian forest to a 10-year return flood. Great Basin Naturalist 53(2):118-130.

Stromberg, J.C., D.T. Patten, and B.D. Richter. 1991. Flood flows and dynamics of Sonoran riparian forests. Rivers 2(3):221-235.