Andy Buchsbaum

Andy Buchsbaum: Regional Executive Director, Great Lakes Regional Center

Andy Buchsbaum directs the National Wildlife Federation’s regional Great Lakes office. Andy and the 20-person staff use media, litigation, lobbying, and research to fight for the health of the Great Lakes. Projects include cleaning up toxic hotspots in the Great Lakes, stopping Asian carp from invading the lakes, preventing the diversion and unwise use of Great Lakes water, protecting the Great Lakes from climate change, stopping a mine from leaking acid drainage into Lake Superior, and reforming education institutions to enable kids to spend more time outdoors.

An attorney, Andy has testified on a wide range of Great Lakes issues before Congressional committees and state legislatures. Recently, much of Andy’s time has been spent as co-chair of the 110-member “Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition,” the primary coalition championing Great Lakes restoration. Andy also was one of the lead negotiators on the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and unwise water use. He also is a Trustee for the Great Lakes Fishery Trust and a Board member of the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

Andy got his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Center. For the past fifteen years he has taught environmental law courses at the University of Michigan Law School.

Prior to joining NWF in 1998, Andy was the senior attorney for the Midwest office of the National Environmental Law Center and the Program Director for the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan. He has published numerous reports and studies on environmental policy, law and science.