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Sara Strassman
Director, River Restoration, Upper Midwest
Department: Conservation
Area of Focus: Sara manages river restoration projects and works on natural flood protection solutions. Her work includes hands-on management as well as policy & program analysis. Sara managed American Rivers' Free-Flowing Pennsylvania program for several years prior to relocating to Wisconsin. She provides technical and financial assistance to dam owners and communities interested in removing outdated, unnecessary dams to restore dynamic rivers.
Background: Sara joined American Rivers in 2006. Prior to American Rivers, Sara conducted research in graduate school on the social, political and economic feasibility of the removal of a dam in Michigan.
Education: B.S. in Forestry/Conservation from Michigan State University, and M.S. in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Michigan. Sara is also a Certified Floodplain Manager, a professional certification established by the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
Favorite River: Muskegon River
Blog Posts By This Author
How We Manage and Recover from Flooding
October 12, 2011 | Floods & Floodplains
We are always interested in seeing stories about how local communities are recovering from floods. The first farmer featured in the video link below describes how his Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program helped him recover from flooding this September in New York.
Read more »Mussel sampling is a fun way to experience your river
September 16, 2011 | Most Endangered Rivers, Restoring Rivers, Floods & Floodplains
Biologists at the Department of Natural Resources offer a great opportunity to learn about sampling mussels, the biology of mussels and how to identify a variety of species. It’s also just a great excuse to get wet and look closely at a stream, something no American Rivers staffer can resist.
Read more »Floodplain Easements are a Wise Investment & Bring Multiple Benefits
June 23, 2011 | Floods & Floodplains, Restoring Rivers, Small Streams & Wetlands
Effective flood management requires us to use a host of tools and techniques, from improved stormwater management to floodplain ordinances that keep us from building in flood-prone places (a bad habit we’ve continued since the Great Flood of 1993, with “28,000 new homes and 6,630 acres of commercial and industrial development on land that was flooded in 1993”).
Read more »What does a Bottle Bill have to do with healthy rivers?
February 23, 2011 | National River Cleanup, Restoring Rivers
Iowa’s legislature is proposing legislation to repeal Iowa’s bottle deposit law. Bottle bills are part of an overall litter reduction approach that acknowledges the life cycle of recyclable goods. When a bottle or can is assigned a deposit fee, citizens are encouraged to collect and return recyclable goods to stores and collection centers where they can be amassed for reuse.
Read more »Contact Information
La Crosse Office
516 N. 23rd St.
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: 608-782-1537
