Counties served: Andrew, Atchison, Bates, Benton, Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Clinton, DeKalb, Gentry, Henry, Holt, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Nodaway, Platte, Ray and Worth.
Regional Office
We Moved!!!
200 Unity Circle North, Suite 2A
Lee's Summit, MO 64086
Main: 816-251-0700
Fax: 816-622-7044
Email: kcro@dnr.mo.gov
Meet the Regional Director - Karen Rouse
Karen Rouse has been the regional director for the department's Kansas City Regional Office since February 2019. Karen began her career with the department in 1998, as an inspector with the Public Drinking Water Unit in the department's Southeast Regional Office. Later that same year, she transferred to the former Jefferson City Regional Office to continue her work in drinking water. In 2001, Karen shifted to the department's Water Resources Center as a hydrologist. She led an urban wetlands study through EPA as well a remote sensing study of sinkholes through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Since 2004 she has been responsible for water management and interstate river policy issues. As the lead agency on interstate water management issues for the State of Missouri, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is responsible for protecting all water uses. Karen has been the State’s representative on several organizations advocating for the State’s interests on both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Karen holds a Bachelor of Science in Resource Ecology from the University of Michigan - Flint, and a Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Missouri - Columbia.