Project Manager Qualifications

Wiley Buck (M.S. Wildlife Conservation, University of Minnesota) has over 20 years of experience leading restoration projects, coordinating partnerships, and overseeing Outdoor Heritage Fund and Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund grants as Program Manager at Great River Greening. Wiley manages several research and monitoring projects including oak ecotype growth and survival, the effects of conservation grazing on vegetation, and pollinator surveys. In addition, Wiley manages the Anoka Sand Plain Partnership and serves as Greening’s representative for the Metro Conservation Corridors Partnership. Wiley’s restoration expertise builds upon prior experience with McHenry County Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, Chicago Wilderness, and Minnesota DNR’s Scientific and Natural Areas Program.

Organization Description

Great River Greening’s mission is to secure the legacy of Minnesota land and water through community-based restoration, stewardship and partnership, striving to improve Minnesota’s natural resources, protect clean air and water, and increase community access to sustainable open space. Since 1995, Greening has engaged 44,000 volunteers (12,000 of them youth) in hands-on education and stewardship activities, helping restore over 10,000 acres of habitat in 400 communities across Minnesota. Greening focuses our work in locations and on activities that provide conservation impact, ecosystem services, and community benefits, with projects including: developing planting designs and/or restoration management plans for natural areas; planting native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses; stabilizing shorelands and ravines; conducting ecological inventories; implementing conservation practices on farmland; and completing restoration and management activities including exotic species removal, prairie seed collection, and prescribed burns. 

In addition, Greening engages community members from schools, faith groups, civic groups, businesses, and veterans groups in public volunteer events and engages over one hundred youth each year in the Field Learning for Teens service-learning Program. Through field activities and team-building, youth learn about the role of technology and science in enjoying and improving our environment, build skills in restoration activities, and explore environmental science and technology careers. Through community education and engagement, Greening is restoring natural resources, while building environmental leaders and stewards of tomorrow.