Meet Steve Apfelbaum
Founder, Chairman, Executive Director, Senior Ecologist
Founder, Chairman and Former CEO/President, Applied Ecological Services, Inc.
2010 Recipient John T. Curtis Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aldo Leopold Foundation
Steven Apfelbaum founded Applied Ecological Services, Inc. headquartered in Wisconsin, in 1978. Under Steven’s leadership, AES, Inc. grew to a 130 person team and became one of the most esteemed firms offering turn-key delivery on thousands of ecological restorations, ecosystem research, and ecosystem service projects recognized for their innovation and success by non-profit conservation organizations, and private and public agency clients. Steven has contributed to the authorship of hundreds of publications, including the books “Soil Carbon Management: Environmental, Economic and Societal Benefits (CRC press, 2007); and “Natures Second Chance” (Beacon press, Boston) which was recognized as one of the top 10 books on environment and helping citizens learn what they can do about climate risk in 2009. Articles have included “A dirty way to fight climate change” (Christian Science Monitor Op-ed 2008) and the policy proposal for the Obama administration, “A National Strategic Carbon Reserve Plan”, addressing carbon sinks. Steven’s latest books (“Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land”, and “The Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land Workbook” (Island Press) have been praised for being the first “How-to” restoration books for landowners and land managers. Steven is a co-author of the Verified Carbon Standard approved “The Earth Partners Soil Carbon Quantification Method”. He is project director on the Palouse Soil Carbon project, one of the carbon market and ecosystem-scale science demonstration projects funded by USDA-NRCS. Steven holds a research appointment at UW-Stevens Point, and is a Gaylord Nelson Environmental Institute Fellow at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Steven teaches at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he is focused on the future of the earth’s coastal systems. He has received many awards including the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s life time achievement in ecological restoration, and the Ryerson award in conservation. Steven holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana.
