About Us

Ron Kroese

Ron Kroese

Until his retirement in early 2015, Ron served for nine years as a program officer for The McKnight Foundation’s Mississippi River Program, which carries out the Foundation’s efforts to protect and restore the Mississippi River and key tributaries.Before coming to the Foundation, he served as executive director of Minnesota Environmental Partnership, a coalition of environmental and conservation organizations working to protect Minnesota’s natural resources. Earlier in his career, he co-founded the sustainable agriculture organization, Land Stewardship Project (LSP), serving as executive director for 11 years.

His interest in birds goes back to his childhood where he observed the wildlife on his uncle’s diversified farm in northwestern Iowa and learned to identify the prairie birds that nested in the farm’s pasture and the woodpeckers in the farmyard grove.

Favorite bird: American Goldfinch

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