David Dempsey receives Vallentyne Award

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2022

Contacts: Awards Committee Co-chairs Susan Daniel and Neil Rooney, [email protected]

IAGLR honored David Dempsey, senior advisor at For Love of Water, with its John R. (Jack) Vallentyne Award. Presented  yesterday at the virtual IAGLR Awards Ceremony, the award recognizes significant efforts to inform and educate the public and policymakers on large lakes issues to raise awareness and support for their protection and restoration. Its namesake is long-time IAGLR member and environmental scientist and educator, John R. (Jack) Vallentyne, aka “Johnny Biosphere.”

"Dave Dempsey is an unmatched Great Lakes resource," writes Lana Pollack, former US Section Chair of the International Joint Commission, in her letter nominating Dempsey for the award. "Deeply curious and wholly identified with the Great Lakes, he has devoted his life to understanding and helping others understand the Basin. An innately generous person, for decades Dave has stepped up to inform and assist colleagues, resource managers, legislators, reporters, educators, environmental advocates, business and labor interests, and of course countless students—all of them seeking well-founded information on a myriad of resource management and environmental policy issues."

Dempsey served as the environmental advisor to Michigan Governor James J. Blanchard, executive director and policy director of the Michigan Council on Environmental Quality, program director of the Michigan Office of Clean Water Action, a member of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, communications director of Conservation Minnesota, policy advisor to the International Joint Commission, and most recently as senior advisor of For Love of Water. He has also authored several books on the Great Lakes and water protection.

"He is not only a talented and well-respected policy advisor, but a gifted author and storyteller," notes John Hartig, University of Windsor, in his nomination letter. "His writing is a unique blend of his 30-year career shaping Great Lakes policy and his passion for inspiring a stewardship ethic for our inland seas."

In receiving the award, Dempsey said, "I’m very humbled by this award for two reasons. First that it comes from IAGLR, which I have great respect for. And I’m also humbled because to have my name associated with Jack Vallentyne in any way is a remarkable thing." Dempsey recalled speaking with Vallentyne when doing research. "He impressed me not only as one of the fathers of the ecosystem approach to Great Lakes management, but he also was a very effective educator of young people. I think that’s what we all need to be."