Mark Reiter to lead DNR Fish & Wildlife division

Indiana DNR Release:

Mark Reiter, who spent most of the last 22 years in various jobs with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, has been named director of the agency’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.

He succeeds previous division director Glen Salmon, who took a position with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in June.

As head of one of DNR’s largest divisions, Reiter will manage a staff of 230 employees that includes biologists, property managers, staff specialists, and natural resource educators. The division oversees 21 fish and wildlife areas, eight fish hatcheries, numerous other conservation areas, and hundreds of public access boat ramps. The division also is responsible for the management of wildlife populations on public and private lands in Indiana.

Reiter spent the last six years as public lands program manager for DNR, supervising more than 80 full-time employees to develop and facilitate programs to help ensure the future of fishing, hunting, trapping and shooting sports heritage in Indiana. He was named the division’s Program Manager of the Year in 2008.

Reiter began his DNR career in 1977 as a laborer at Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area, and in 1979 became property manager of public access sites and fishing areas in southern Indiana.

From 1982 to 1991, Reiter was staff specialist for the division’s Properties Section. He was promoted in 1991 to Wildlife Section chief, a position in which he supervised public and private lands programs and research activities.

Reiter left DNR in 1994 for a three-year stint as Indiana field representative for the National Rifle Association.

He returned to the DNR in 1997 and spent the next six years as staff specialist in the Wildlife Section, coordinating land acquisition, public land management programs, managing federal aid grants, and providing technical guidance for the DNR Shooting Range Grant Program. He chaired several internal committees, including the Career Development Program.

A 1977 graduate of Purdue University with a degree in wildlife science, Reiter also has an associate’s degree in science from Fullerton College in California.