We believe that our work must demonstrate impact, and those impacts must be measurable. The four things that undergird Winrock, the things that we believe are central to what we do: We are results focused. And by the way we do most of this thanks to all of you, because most of our funding comes from the United States government, the USAID, and the United States Department of Agriculture. In our energy group we bring electricity and all the economic benefits that come along with that, to very poor people who live in many cases off the grid. We work with some of the poorest people in the world to improve their agricultural practices and improve their access to markets on the Ag side. We seek to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources in the United States and around the world. So, what is Winrock? Winrock is a global, social enterprise. But it’s been an extraordinarily rewarding opportunity for me. Maybe that’s why I decided to get into this career, I don’t know. And Boeing, Northrop Grumman, NASA, the Marshall Space Flight Center, Samsung, LG, everybody is there. And in 1955 it had a population of 15,000 people and was known as the watercress capital of the world, and now it has, the metropolitan area, is 300,000 people. In fact, a report came out just today, it has the fastest job growth rate in the United States for jobs over $75,000 a year. To the point now that Huntsville, Alabama, which is about there, which is where I went to high school, is now one of the most prosperous cities in the United States. And a development project lifted him, my extended family, out of poverty. He lived crop to crop, there were no paychecks. My grandfather was a farmer, he was a subsistence farmer. Why do I bring that up? Because that’s one of the reasons I was attracted to come to Winrock, because I sort of look back at my own life. The New Deal was the most successful development project in the history of the United States, and one of the most successful in the world along with the Marshall Plan. The New Deal raised my family out of poverty. Then, something came along called the New Deal. A range of scourges from foot and mouth disease, to malaria, to diphtheria. Very few were connected to anything remotely like safe drinking water. A large majority of the residents in north Alabama had no electricity. It was as poor, if not poorer, than any other part of this country. North Alabama, which let us not forget, in 1931, 1932, north Alabama was the Papua, New Guinea of the United States. As Shelly referenced, I’m originally from a little town … Woops, I got to use the laser … a little town about right there in Alabama. I was asked to talk about yourself, which okay, I’ll give it a shot. You’re going to hear a little bit about that, but first you’re going to hear about me. Yet, we do that while maintaining those forests as living, productive ecosystems. The health and wellbeing of the world’s forests, I can’t really think of any subject which is more important now than looking at how we preserve, how we extend, how we protect the world’s forests. I think it’s a good example of showing how science put to the public good can be a transformative endeavor. I chose to look at Winrock’s forest work because I think we’ve done some of our best, most analytical, most recognized work around the world in forests, number one. I also wanted to find something that I thought really encapsulated a couple of different things that I think are really important. When Jack asked if I would be interested in talking about some of Winrock’s work, it’s a fairly daunting prospect because, number one, it’s daunting to come in front of such a distinguished group of people with such varied backgrounds and bases of understanding and knowledge, including colleagues from Esri, who are going to know far, far more about geospatial than I do. Tonight, I’m going to talk about trees, and I’m going to talk about forests. Also, I’d like to thank the colleagues at Esri, Jack and Laura Dangermond for their support, and the University of Redlands and the Town and Gown Organization. When I heard that I’m coming before Dolores Huerta, it’s pretty daunting. Well, thank you, Shelly, and thank all of you for coming out tonight.
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