Cassie Hauswald

With a strong desire to protect the very place she calls home, Cassie Hauswald has worked in Indiana conservation for the past 25 years, continually seeking conservation actions that mimic or restore nature to improve the health of land, rivers and streams.

Cassie catalyzed river connectivity by removing the first low-head dams in southern Indiana. She is also proud of the work she has done to restore Indiana’s freshwater mussel populations, including the repatriation of species to rivers with improved water quality. Connecting conservation actions to improved river health is of great interest to Cassie as she believes quality of life is intimately linked to water quality.

Cassie holds a bachelor’s degree from Butler University and a master’s degree in Biology from the University of Louisville where her research focused on the life history of elephant ear mussels in southern Indiana’s Blue River. 

Cassie serves on the board of the US Fish and Wildlife Services’ Ohio River Fish Habitat Partnership, a group that aids the restoration of rivers and streams for fish and mussels. She also serves on the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Technical Advisory Committee for freshwater mussels where she helps to evaluate and improve the status of Indiana’s mussel populations, including their repatriation to rivers with improved water quality.

Locally, Cassie is part of an effort to unite conservation action with dedicated funding for an improved Lake Monroe by serving on the board of the Lake Monroe Water Fund. 

Cassie is from Corydon and currently shares time between Bloomington and points south along the Ohio River where her family farms and her husband works as a school superintendent in Florence, Kentucky.  Hence you will note an ever so slight southern drawl with a healthy dose of regional awareness that driving the highways and byways of the Midwest affords. 

In her free time, Cassie enjoys marathon running, hiking with her flat-coated retrievers, traveling and gardening.