Presentation Focus

Creating a sustainable future is an important consideration for investors, government regulators, and private citizens. Nearly every major corporation in the world has a sustainability statement and policy featured prominently. Sustainability audits are becoming more frequent as investors direct capital into the most socially conscious firms.

This webinar will include how land management can create profitable and measurable outcomes that enhance the sustainability performance of private and public companies through Opportunities and Constraints Analysis. These comprehensive assessments reconsider old paradigms of land maintenance and regulatory prohibition.

Doug Wolf will provide a perspective of how Sustainable Development has evolved, noting changes in principle and practices. The earliest roots about sustainability was forest management dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. It has only been recently that a global recognition and movement to reorient ourselves and address challenges of sustainable development have occurred. Over the past 20 years, Doug Wolf has been engaged in preparing Climate Action Plans and recently Sustainable Business Plans. Both plans identified goals and measures needed to reduce carbon intensity into future years. Now that the benchmarks are well defined and progress can be tracked, implementation of many of the measures previously identified are starting to take place.

Rich Pais will present case studies that demonstrate the utilization of wetlands, farm fields, and forests that can be used for carbon tax credit, resale, and insetting; how managing for biodiversity can gain ecological and social sustainability credits; and the reclamation and management of brownfields, landfills, and industrial sites that can be modified to support clean energy and carbon capture.

About the Presenters

Richard Pais, CWB, CFP
Certified Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist

Richard Pais serves as a Principal Environmental Scientist and lead for GES’ Ecological Services program in the Northeast region. Rich is a certified wildlife biologist (CWB) and forest professional (CFP) with more than 30 years of research, management, and teaching experience in all major eastern physiographic regions. He is responsible for directing the evaluation, management, and permitting of natural resources projects within his region and nationally. This includes wetland studies; mitigation and permitting; endangered species studies; environmental constraints and opportunity analysis; and management of land for carbon conservation. He specializes in the management and evaluation of natural habitats for commercial, residential, and energy markets including wind, solar, and gas.

Rich has taught courses on forest ecology and forest stand delineation at Johns Hopkins University and is a professional public speaker who has covered a broad range of topics including native plants, hemlock woolly adelgid, conservation of endangered species, and ecological construction techniques. Rich helps clients carefully balance their business objectives with stakeholder concerns, driving towards mutually beneficial solutions for land conservation and economic growth. Rich holds an MS degree in Forest Sciences (Wildlife) from the University of Kentucky and BS in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University.

Rich Pais can be reached at 570-814-0346 or email rpais@gesonline.com

Doug Wolf
Director of Air Quality Services

Douglas Wolf is the Director of Air Quality Services at Groundwater & Environmental Services, Inc. with over 40 years of multidisciplinary environmental permitting, compliance, sustainability, and management consulting experience. Doug’s permitting and compliance expertise includes regulatory negotiation, rule development, risk evaluations, and strategic management leadership, leading to successful acquisition of environmental permits and licensing for many industrial and commercial operations. His sustainability expertise included preparing several climate action plans and sustainable business plans for industry. His management expertise includes direct technical oversight and responsibility for project and program support, including front-end planning, conceptual review, and implementation.

Doug provides due diligence support to clients in the petroleum, chemical manufacturing, cement/aggregate, landfill, transportation, pharmaceutical, government, and energy sectors. His air-quality support services have included preparing technical memoranda and basis-of-design specification, including cost-benefit analysis. He also provides National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) support and evaluation in areas of air quality, greenhouse gases, and odor/nuisance source control. He remains active in supporting the implementation and development of sustainable development for clients throughout the United States.

Doug Wolf can be reached at 888-540-0804 x3055 or email dwolf@gesonline.com

Please note that this is a private event for guests invited by GES only. The event is free to attend, but prior online registration is required.