David Stormer, Ph.D.
Habitat Restoration Director
David Stormer (he/him) joined Riverkeeper in February 2025 as the Habitat Restoration Director. Prior to joining Riverkeeper, Stormer spent several years in academia and state government, researching the effects of climate change, migration and habitat alteration on fish and wildlife populations and management from the Pacific Northwest to the Florida Keys, and managed marine resources in Florida, Washington State and Delaware. Stormer utilizes a holistic, ecosystem-based and integrative approach in targeting the interfaces among science, conservation, policy and management to fill the voids arising from disciplinary boundaries.
Stormer has also worked directly on the Hudson River Estuary. He devoted a year in the Student Conservation Association AmeriCorps program as an environmental educator on Iona Island and tidal marsh just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge, and while in graduate school, studied the seasonal fish ecology and pre-migration resource use of Atlantic Bluefish in the lower Hudson River estuary. Stormer is excited to return to New York and contribute to restoring and protecting habitats critical to the sustainability of the Hudson River and its tributaries, increasing public access and improving the health and vitality of Hudson Valley communities for generations to come.
Stormer grew up in the Hudson Valley and is thrilled to be back on the river that flows two ways, and as he states, ‘flows in my veins’! While he has many hobbies, Stormer’s favorite activity is kayaking, specifically kayak fishing and can’t wait to get out on the Hudson and its beautiful tributaries this spring for some paddling adventures.
Stormer received his B.S. in Organismal Biology from SUNY New Paltz, M.S. in Fisheries Science from Auburn University in Alabama, and Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.