Allen received his BSc in Botany from UBC in 1977 and his MSc in Forest Ecology from UBC in 1983. He retired from the BC Forest Service in 2010, after a career of 30 years in the Ecology Research Program, stationed mostly in Smithers. He became the Regional Ecologist for north western BC in 1987 and has been involved in many research and operational initiatives throughout the province, including forest, wetland, and riparian classification and interpretation; ecosystem function and response to management; ecosystem – site productivity relationships; ecosystem mapping; and ecosystem recovery following natural and human-caused disturbances.

Now based in Campbell River, Allen is semi-retired; still tempted by interesting ecology projects such as ecological integrity in managed landscapes and updating the coastal ecosystem classification field guide.