OES Program Manager and Professional Forester Alex Geritz

What this episode covers

Alex is a Registered Professional Forester with nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of Forestry, Forest Conservation, and Wildfire Management. He is a Program Manager at OES where he's responsible for developing and managing a portfolio of wildfire mitigation projects. Alex was raised among the pine and oak trees in Tuolumne County California. He moved to South Lake Tahoe in the early 2000's where he took an interest in Ecology at Lake Tahoe Community College. In addition to the ample recreation opportunities in the Tahoe Basin, Alex took a strong interest in wildland fire management when the Angora Fire of  2007 burned 242 homes in his community. This event catalyzed his academic and professional trajectory and he used the momentum of the wildfire to study Forestry and Natural Resources at Humboldt State University and intern with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station.  Following the acquisition of his B.S., Alex practiced forestry across the western United States including Oregon and Washington. Upon his return to California, he served the State of California with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and earned his Registered Professional Forester's license from the California Board of Forestry in 2023. When he's not spending his free time talking about forestry and wildfire in California, Alex enjoys international travel, exploring the Sierra Crest, and trying to convince his toddler that land stewardship is a perpetually evolving discipline much like parenthood. Her agreement is still pending...

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