FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 3, 2017
Contact: Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director
Email: liz@flowforwater.org
Office: (231) 944-1568; Cell: (570) 872-4956
Great Lakes Policy Expert, Environmental Historian Joins FLOW
TRAVERSE CITY – Great Lakes water law and environmental policy non-profit, For Love Of Water (FLOW), has hired Great Lakes policy expert and environmental historian, Dave Dempsey, as Senior Advisor.
For the past six years, Dempsey has served as Policy Advisor to the International Joint Commission (IJC). The IJC was established in 1909 by the Boundary Waters Treaty between the United States and Canada and is charged with protecting the common waters and water interests of the United States and Canada.
“We are thrilled and grateful that Dave has chosen to work with our team at FLOW to help protect and preserve the Great Lakes at this critical juncture,” said FLOW Executive Director Liz Kirkwood.
“Dave’s knowledge and experience will enrich and expand the scope of FLOW’s mission to empower citizens and elected officials with information-based risk analysis and with public trust solutions that will protect the health of the lakes, streams and drinking water in the Great Lakes basin for current and future generations,” Kirkwood said.
Dempsey’s 35-year career has included service as Environmental Policy Advisor to former Michigan Governor James Blanchard, presidential appointee to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and Senior Policy Advisor for the non-profit Michigan Environmental Council. He has also authored or co-authored nine books including the award-winning William G. Milliken: Michigan’s Passionate Moderate, 2006.
Dempsey said FLOW is unique in its approach to using the centuries-old public trust doctrine as a powerful tool to protect citizens’ legal rights to use the Great Lakes and to hold state governments accountable for ensuring these waters and public uses are protected in perpetuity.
His strong attraction to working with FLOW at this stage of his career, Dempsey said, is based on the opportunity to work with Kirkwood, the FLOW team, and with FLOW Founder Jim Olson, a nationally recognized environmental lawyer, to foster wide understanding and effective use of the public trust doctrine to protect the Great Lakes. But, Dempsey said, his decision is also deeply personal.
“In writing about Michigan’s conservation history, I learned about the men and women of the late 19th Century who laid the groundwork for today’s public forests, fish and game. They were far ahead of their time. FLOW is comparable. Its forward-looking efforts will prevent environmental and economic devastation by assuring public ownership and protection of our water,” he said.
Dave Dempsey,
Senior Advisor at FLOW
FLOW is a Great Lakes water law and policy 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the common waters of the Great Lakes Basin through public trust solutions.
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Congratulations to FLOW and Dave. This is a powerful combination in support of our water resources.
Please accept my congratulations, as well, to FLOW and to Dave, for who I have great admiration, respect and affection. Great to have you working with us in the North, Dave!
Congratulations to FLOW and Dempsey.
A great and exciting time for both.
Congratulations to FLOW on an excellent choice! Dave, you must come visit Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary on the Sunrise side soon!
Congratulations Dave!
Congratulations to Dave and FLOW, we appreciate all that you are doing and welcome to TC Dave!
Congratulations Dave. Could not be a better choice.
I hope you remember that we were so grateful many years back to have the opportunity to consult with you and to write about the dangers of industrial wind factories in the Lakes. You are one of a kind. Very happy for your appointment.