Mark Martin, Esq.

Mark Martin is the prosecuting attorney for Tennessee Riverkeeper. He was born in Alabama and began practicing law in 1981 after graduating from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. Over the course of his legal career Mark has worked on a diverse array of legal issues, ranging from criminal defense to protecting Alabama's rivers and creeks. In his off-time, one can find him paddling the rivers and creeks of the Black Warrior and Tennessee River watersheds. An Eagle Scout and an avid kayaker, Mark feels very strongly about preserving the quality and integrity of the South's waterways.

Mark Martin also has prior experience enforcing environmental laws in the Tennessee River watershed. Mark was named “Legal Hero” by the Sierra Club in 2006 for his work in using citizen gathered water monitoring data as evidence of discharge violations from a large hog farm. Over-application of waste on hard pan fields caused runoff into Crow Creek, a tributary of Town Creek, a prominent Tennessee River tributary. Mark represented the Sierra Club and two citizen plaintiffs in a Clean Water Act citizen suit against Whitaker Farms. The resulting consent decree required the owners to pay property damages and significantly improve their operation. An un-lined waste holding pond was closed and replaced with an above-ground tank. More efficient waste application methods were adopted and a nutrient management plan was developed and implemented. Mark Martin continues his acclaimed environmental litigation in this watershed via his work with Tennessee Riverkeeper.