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USFWS Named New Director for Six-State Pacific Region by CBB Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin - April 25, 2003

David B. Allen earlier this month was named regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's six-state Pacific Region, headquartered in Portland, Ore.

The region includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Hawaii, and U.S.-associated Pacific Islands. The director and the California/Nevada operations manager jointly oversee about 2,100 employees at 105 field stations.

Allen, 55, comes to the Pacific Region from the Service's Alaska Region, where he was regional director since 1991. He is a 32-year veteran of the agency.

Allen replaced Anne Badgley. She is now the executive director of the Regional Ecosystem Office, a federal interagency program in Portland.

David Wesley, 54, will be the Pacific Region's new deputy regional director. He has been with the agency for 25 years. Wesley replaces Rowan Gould as deputy regional director. Gould is now the regional director of the Alaska Region.

"Both David Allen and David Wesley bring a wealth of experience to these positions that will help the Service improve its fish and wildlife conservation efforts in the Pacific Region," said USFWS Director Steve Williams.

"David Allen is a talented and dedicated leader who has distinguished himself during more than 30 years of public service. David Wesley has served admirably in a series of management positions and has a wide range of experience working on complex resource management issues. I look forward to working with them in their new positions."

Allen and Wesley assumed their new positions on April 6.

Before he was regional director in Alaska, Allen was the deputy regional director for 7 years in the Southeast Region, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. He also has been the assistant regional director for fishery resources for the Northeast Region, headquartered in Hadley, Mass., and worked for the agency's Division of Fishery Research. He has represented the Service and the United States internationally with the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Program involving eight arctic nations, the U.S.-Russia Area V Conservation Agreement, and in treaty negotiations to conserve migratory birds with Canada and polar bears with Russia. Allen also has been director of the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.

Allen has a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a master's degree in the same field from Fordham University in New York City.

Wesley has most recently been the Pacific Region's assistant regional director of Migratory Birds and State Programs. He joined the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978 as a staff biologist in the Office of Endangered Species in Washington D.C. office and later became chief of that office's Branch of Management Operations. Wesley then spent five years as the field supervisor of the Jacksonville, Fla., ecological services field office and eight years as the state supervisor for same office.

Wesley moved to the Pacific Region in 1996 to be the deputy assistant regional director for the Northwest Forest Plan office. Since then, he also has been the assistant regional director for ecological services, and geographic assistant regional director for the north coast and Pacific Islands eco-regions.

Wesley earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Florida and a master's degree in wildlife ecology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Before joining the Fish and Wildlife Service, he worked for four years as an education and training officer for the U.S. Air Force in Dayton Ohio and as a staff biologist for the Pentagon.

Steve Thompson continues as the operations manager of the Pacific Region's California-Nevada Office in Sacramento. That office was established in 1998 to manage the growing work load in those two states. Thompson oversees and manages ecological services and fisheries stations and national wildlife refuges in California and Nevada. The Regional Office continues to manage overall region-wide policy and budget matters and provides administrative support to the offices in California and Nevada.