Delta Welcomes Dr. Jim Bergan and the Climate Mitigation Program

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our Climate Mitigation Program, which will be led by Dr. Jim Bergan, the previous director of freshwater and wetland conservation at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). We are excited to welcome Dr. Bergan, as he brings extensive knowledge on forestry and ecology.

Dr. Bergan holds a B.S. in Forestry from Purdue University, an M.S. in Wildlife Science from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from Texas Tech University.

At TNC’s Texas and Louisiana offices, he held multiple leadership positions, including director of science and stewardship, director of land and water protection strategies, and director of freshwater and wetland conservation. During his time at TNC, Dr. Bergan also worked on a climate mitigation program in the lower Mississippi Valley. Part of his role was to build incentives for landowners in the Mississippi Delta to participate in carbon development.

His work with large scale carbon mitigation projects proves that he is the right person for the job at Delta Land Services, leading us into our new Climate Mitigation Program. He is one of the only environmental professionals in the Gulf Coast who has executed large-scale restoration for the purpose of sequestering carbon. Dr. Bergan is extremely well-equipped to know the process and requirements for a successful nature-based project.

With our established track record of sustainable restoration and Dr. Bergan’s outstanding reputation on conservation projects, the program will provide carbon offset solutions by way of forests to companies and individuals seeking environmental sustainability.

“[Delta Land Services] has lived in the environmental market for over 13 years, so it’s just a natural fit for us to move into the carbon market.” Dr. Bergan said. “As our CFO, Winship Songy says, ‘It’s like muscle memory for us.’”

The program will move into the carbon market through afforestation, which Dr. Bergan refers to as Delta’s “sweet spot.” He explained that the lower Mississippi Valley is like the Amazon of North America. What was once “24 million acres of bottomland, hardwood forest” now has “less than 5% left” of the original forest. With Dr. Bergan’s experience in several nature-based carbon sequestration projects in the Lower Mississippi Valley, our program will select optimal location(s) for afforestation to maximize growth yields.

“Trees grow very rapidly here, and it makes Louisiana a very prime area of the United States to do these types of projects,” Dr. Bergan said.

Our nature-based carbon mitigation program provides a sustainable footprint for years to come. We want your business to deliver on its pledge to be net-zero – we are willing to go above and beyond for the voluntary carbon offset market.

“I think the sky’s the limit in terms of what we can do for climate mitigation at Delta Land Services,” Dr. Bergan said. “The people [at Delta] exhibit a real common-sense approach to getting this work done. A real can-do spirit to making things happen that really makes a difference.”

To find more information on our Climate Action Program, click here.