The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has named former Justice Department Acting Assistant Attorney General Robert G. Dreher as its new Associate Director, beginning May 18.
Mr. Dreher brings to the Service considerable experience from the government and for-profit and non-profit sectors, having represented environmental organizations, federal agencies, tribes and businesses in a wide range of environmental matters.
“We are delighted to welcome Mr. Dreher to the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “His extensive experience in conservation policy, environmental law and natural resources management will be invaluable as we move forward with a number of key initiatives, not least among them our efforts to halt wildlife trafficking and illegal wildlife trade, which poses an immediate danger to the survival of many of the world’s most treasured species.”
Before joining the Service, Mr. Dreher served at the Department of Justice, most recently as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for its Environment and Natural Resources Division. Here, he oversaw nearly 450 attorneys enforcing federal environmental laws, prosecuting environmental crimes, and defending federal agencies as they implement federal environmental laws and manage federal lands and natural resources.
Prior to that, Mr. Dreher served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Defenders of Wildlife; Deputy Executive Director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute at Georgetown University Law Center; Counsel to Troutman Sanders LLC; and Deputy General Counsel of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He began his career with the Boston firm Hill & Barlow, and spent 10 years with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now Earthjustice) as a staff attorney and managing attorney of its Washington, D.C. office.
Mr. Dreher is a graduate of Yale Law School, and holds an M.A. from Brown University and a B.A. from Harvard College.
As the Service’s Associate Director, Mr. Dreher will be the principal advisor to the Director on major policy issues, and will represent the Service’s priorities within the Department of Interior and the broader administration. He will also develop, coordinate and implement a variety of special projects as assigned by the Director.
