Speakers

Keynote Address

Michael J. Walsh, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Chicago Climate Exchange Michael J. Walsh is an Executive Vice President of Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the world's first and North America's only active, voluntary, legally binding integrated trading system to reduce emissions of all six greenhouse gases, with offset projects in North America and worldwide.

General Session Speakers

Climate as a Variable Henry Diaz, Research Climatologist, NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center The NOAA Climate Diagnostic Center is a recognized expert in the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon and has published extensively in the scientific literature about the nature of climatic variability from regional to global spatial scales, and ranging from interannual climatic variability to century-scale fluctuations. He is also co-chair for The Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT).

Ecosystem Services Gary Gero, President, California Climate Action Registry The California Climate Action Registry, established by California statue, is a non-profit voluntary registry for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that encourages voluntary actions to increase energy efficiency and decrease GHG emissions.

Economic and Business Trends Bill Schafer, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Range Fuels Range Fuels is a privately held company funded by Khosla Ventures, LLC, arguably the top venture firm in the U.S. focusing on alternative, clean (green) energy systems.

Sierra Nevada and Great Basin - in a Climate of Change Jim Caswell, Director, Bureau of Land Management The BLM is responsible for carrying out a variety of programs for the management and conservation, of resources on 258 million surface acres, as well as 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, These public lands make up about 13 percent of the total land surface of the United States and more than 40 percent of all land managed by the Federal government. Jim Caswell was nominated by President Bush to serve as Director of the BLM and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3, 2007. He is the 16th person to hold the title of Director in the agency's history.

Changing Land Base Kathryn Fernholz, Executive Director, Dovetail Partners Dovetail Partners is a nonprofit organization whose core mission is to assist in the development of increased trade in products from responsible sources and discover solutions that promote and sustain resources, forestry, and eco-affordable housing.

Judging Forestry Marc Kesselman, USDA General Council The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) is an independent legal agency within the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). OGC provides legal advice and services to the Secretary of Agriculture and to all other officials and agencies of the Department with respect to all USDA programs and activities. Kesselman was sworn in as general counsel on June 1, 2006. As general counsel, Mr. Kesselman advises the secretary and directs all legal activity for the department, including litigation, counseling, and regulatory development.