Unpacking the Carbon Credit Conundrum Session 1

Dr. Megan Machmuller is a research scientist in the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences at Colorado State University, and serves as the co-director of IN-RICHES (Integrated Rocky Mountain-region Innovation Center for Healthy Soils) and on the executive leadership team of the Soil Carbon Solution Center. Megan is a soil ecologist and biogeochemist, and her research program aims to advance scientific understanding of the mechanisms and drivers that promote healthy soils and ecosystems.

Dr. Jane Zelikova’s work focuses on advancing the science of carbon removal and she is currently the executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center at Colorado State University, where she works with leading scientists to build the tools and approaches needed to accelerate the deployment of credible soil-based climate solutions, measure their impacts, and bring them to scale.

Dr. John Ritten is an agricultural economist at CSU and a member of the AgNext team. He received a BS in Marketing from Arizona State University, an MBA from New Mexico State University, and a PhD in Natural Resource Economics from Colorado State University. His research interests include the intersection of agricultural production and natural resource management. Prior to joining AgNext, John served as the University of Wyoming’s state Agricultural Systems Extension specialist for 14 years.

I am an ecologist and the Lead Scientist at Working Lands Conservation (WLC). WLC is a nonprofit organization that partners with diverse stakeholders to design and test new management strategies for working lands, with a focus on US Western rangelands. Key to this work is building strong relationships that result in transparent science. I have over 20 years of research experience focused on ecosystem restoration, and the links between ecosystem management and human well-being. Currently, at WLC we are testing how innovative grazing systems on public and private lands can improve riparian conditions, store carbon in rangelands, and also support rancher livelihoods.

Jada Dormaier is a Supply Account Manager with Nori, a carbon marketplace. She works directly with farmers enrolling in Nori’s carbon program. Previously, she worked as a crop insurance agent across Washington State and enjoys the opportunity to build relationships and help create income streams for farmers, ensuring they can continue their work, while also helping the planet. Jada holds a BS in Economics and an MS in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation.

My family has been ranching in Montana since 1956. My wife Dana and I have owned and operated our current family ranch in Musselshell County since 1978. We have three children, two boys working in Montana, and a daughter, a fireman paramedic in Connecticut, who plans to return to the family ranch. During the last 50 or so years, I have worked with several local organizations and efforts committed to taking care of land and community. In 2019 my wife Dana and I were the first Montana recipients of the Aldo Leopold Award. Most recently, I am participating as a rancher member, and sometimes facilitator, with several working groups in Central Montana, covering nine counties, including the Musselshell Watershed Coalition, the Winnett ACES, the CMR Community Working Group, and the Musselshell Valley Community Foundation. I have assisted several ranch families with succession planning facilitation. I have a particular interest in figuring out how ranchers and local communities monitor the health of their working landscapes and communities-particularly within the Grassland Biome of North America, Since February of 2016, I have been facilitating a broad and diverse group of partners, called the Rangeland Monitoring Group (RMG), dedicated to finding an effective means to achieve this objective. Relatedly, I am on the Planning Committee for the Central Grasslands Roadmap and the Life in the Land Project (lifeintheland.org). Certainly not unrelated, my practice as a Soto Zen Priest, has helped inform and support my appreciation for our shared interdependence and the need to imagine solutions respectful of everyone’s unmet needs.

Chris Mehus is the executive director at Western Sustainability Exchange. Born, raised, and educated in Montana, Chris has always maintained a joint passion for agriculture and the outdoors. He has applied his degrees in Wildlife Biology and Range Science to assist and advocate for ranchers who have a strong conservation ethic. After 10 years of ranching experience in Southern Montana putting his education to practice in numerous areas of grazing management and planning, Chris spent many years working in rural business, economic, and financial planning giving him unique insight into the workings of a ranch business to understand economic drivers and incentives that make ranching with nature a more profitable operating model than typical conventional practices. He is an outspoken advocate for the Ranching For Profit, Integrity Soils, Holistic Management International, and related schools of thought and how they can be applied to create a thriving ranch business while creating healthy, functioning ecological systems with rich soil and diverse wildlife populations.

Indreland Ranch, located in south central Montana, is owned and operated by Roger and Betsy Indreland. Raising Angus seedstock is their main enterprise, selling about 80 18 month old forage raised bulls annually in December. Other enterprises include a small beef business, and a neglected worm farm that has great potential! Indreland Ranch focuses on lowering input costs and strives to graze year round by working with natural systems and managing for abundance. www.IndrelandRanch.com 1-866-901-BEEF

As Ecosystem Services Market Research Consortium's (ESMC/ESMRC) Manager, Member Engagement & Equity, Doug is responsible for leading initiatives that support ESMC’s commitment to inclusion and racial justice (IRJ) across all operational and organizational functions as well as engaging with all our current members and reaching out to potential new members. As part of his role, Doug leads ESMC’s IRJ Working Group – driving increased program enrollment by under-served & under-represented agricultural communities via strategic outreach and engagement efforts.

Doug is a program management professional and sustainability enthusiast, with 15 years of experience spanning marketing, ag-tech, and social media. In 2017, he founded New Brooklyn Farms – an urban farm and green event space network based in the Washington DC-area. Doug is an active member of the Fair Farms Farmer Advisory Council, former Vice Chair of the MD Organic Food and Farming Association, and published speaker. He holds a B.A. in Communications from Temple University, and a Master Composter certificate from the NYC Compost Project at Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Bryan Van Stippen is Program Director for National Indian Carbon Coalition, an initiative of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) that provides education, training, and technical assistance to American Indian tribes, Alaska Native Villages & Corporations, Native Hawaiian organizations and First Nations in Canada on the development of carbon credit and renewable energy projects on tribal land. A member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Van Stippen previously served for seven years as Tribal Attorney for the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Justice in Wisconsin where he was responsible for land acquisition and other land-related issues. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a Masters in Computer Information Systems from Tarleton State University in Texas. Van Stippen is a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law (J.D.); the University of Tulsa College of Law (LL.M. in American Indian and Indigenous Law); and the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (S.J.D in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy). He lives with his wife and two children in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Bryan is a representative on the 1t.org US Stakeholder Council, a representative on the Voluntary Carbon Market Initiative Expert Advisory Group, a Legacy Member of the Ecosystem Service Marketplace Consortium, and a representative on the Bipartisan Policy Center Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force.