Several years later during the summer of 1982, Dave moved from Washington to Madison, WI so his wife could attend graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. As a young engineer who had recently completed his master’s degree specializing in water resources engineering, he was a perfect fit for a limited term position with the WI DNR where he was hired by Mark Riebau and Larry Larson who immediately introduced Dave to ASFPM, national issues, and an extremely rewarding career in floodplain management. Dave’s first conference was in Madison in 1982 where he met many of the founders of the association and he began to see the possibilities of ASFPM. In six years working in Wisconsin he received a broad education in floodplain management and ASFPM from Mark and Larry.

While Diane Brown was the first ASFPM employee, Dave was one of the very early consultants to ASFPM. In 1986 he put together the first computerized member database for Diane.

Since 1989, Dave has worked primarily as a consultant in the Northwest and his involvement with the association has allowed him to work with people across the country on a variety of projects, mostly related to NAI and environmental economics — two of his passions.

As an active volunteer for the association, Dave held a variety of roles and was often a key contributor to many documents and policies produced by ASFPM over the years. Three notable accomplishments include participating in the update of the climate change policy in 2020, aiding in the transition of the CFM exam to a fully digital environment, and helping to get the association to more fully embrace the benefits of natural riparian areas as a viable floodplain management technique. Other active roles have included:

• Program co-chair for the 1994 conference in Tulsa
• Elections chair for the 1995 conference
• As chair of the Stormwater Committee from 1989 to 2002, he was the primary author on a paper on stormwater management planning and provided comments to ASFPM on many issues related to stormwater.
• Represented ASFPM on the Advisory Committee for Water Information for over 20 years. While focused on water quality we were able to inject some flood related issues into their conversations, especially where it concerned the development of the National Streamflow Information Program that identified stream gages critical to the nation and deserving of full federal funding,
• In 2005 Dave became co-chair of the Multi-Objective Management Committee and was instrumental in getting is name changed to the Natural and Beneficial Functions Committee to allow it to focus more on the natural functions of riparian areas. He was a co-chair from 2005 to 2013.
• Represented Region X on the ASFPM Board from 2014 – 2020
• Dave was a member of CBOR 2015 – 2022 and instrumental in moving the exam from paper to a digital format.
• Dave served as the Watershed POD Facilitator 2019 – 2022
• He was a member of the CFM exam workgroup for many years helping to write many of the questions on natural functions and updating other questions as needed.

Over the years Dave has been a strong ambassador for the association, encouraging many new members to join and then volunteer for the association, which has helped ASFPM grow.