David Allen is an award-winning scientist and author of PAPER VALLEY: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup (Wayne State University Press, April 2023), with Susan Campbell. He directed the natural resource damage assessment of the Lower Fox River and the Bay of Green Bay from 1992 through 2001 as the assessment manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. His team led the $10 million effort to collect and organize the information that was used to launch Superfund at the site, and they published one of the most comprehensive and public natural resource damage assessments in U.S. history during 1998-2000. He was the leader and public face of the assessment for federal, state, and tribal agencies. That assessment eventually led to $1.3 billion of cleanup and restoration, paid by the polluters. It was among the largest Superfund efforts since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and the effort led to the largest PCB cleanup in history.
Allen was named “Outstanding Public Servant of the Year” in 2002 by the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin. In 2001, he was formally recognized by the U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for his contribution to environmental enforcement efforts in the state of Wisconsin. In 2000, he was formally recognized by his agency for leadership and professional competence as the assessment manager of the Green Bay damage assessment, and in 1997 for scientific professionalism, contaminant investigations, and natural resource damage claims.
He went on to become a vice president at Stratus Consulting, Inc. There, he led the opening of a Washington, D.C. office while bringing in new clients and helping the company grow from $8 million per year and 50 staff to $20 million per year and 100 staff. He worked as a technical and strategic expert for seven federal agencies, 17 state agencies, and 16 Native American tribes in 25 states. He conducted field studies, analyzed data and evidence, served as a consulting expert for litigation, and led negotiations for governmental parties with potentially responsible parties and defendants.
After retiring in 2013, Allen chaired the City of Marquette Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, a tax financing board addressing contaminated, blighted, and historic sites. He also served on the boards of the State of Michigan and Marquette County League of Women Voters, leading the latter’s Observer Corps, and serving as a delegate to the 2019 and 2023 state conventions and the 2020 national convention. He also performs regularly as a musician in three orchestras, two bands, and four chamber groups.
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