Principal Qualifications

Jim Fisher - CPEA, CHMM, - President

Jim Fisher is President of Fisher & Associates, LLC, a specialized practice in environmental management and auditing services. Mr. Fisher has over 30 years of environmental management and auditing experience, with over 25 years in the pulp and paper / forest products, mining, hydro-power, chemicals, and energy industries specifically. He has personally conducted several hundred audits and assessments of industrial facilities and areas nationally and internationally covering a wide diversity of sites. These have included pulp/paper, wood products, power generation, ports and chemical industrial facilities, light and heavy commercial plants, large government facilities, agricultural sites, timberlands (logged and unlogged), rangelands, waterfronts, lakes, streams, and entire watersheds. Additionally, he is an experienced Fisheries Biologist, and also holds degrees in Zoology and Chemistry from the University of Washington. As such, he is able to offer an enhanced level of expertise in assessing the environmental regulatory and management systems fitness of a site. He has developed and implemented corporate environmental audit programs for many firms, including Weyerhaeuser Company, where he became their first Corporate Environmental Audit Director. He has provided environmental management systems, audit program development services, and performed as environmental audit team leader for a wide variety of other companies, such as International Paper, Mead, Potlatch, Smurfit-Stone, Willamette Industries, Longview Fibre Company, Ketchikan Pulp Company, Boise-Cascade, Pope & Talbot, NORPAC, Nippon Paper Company, Domtar, International Paper, Clearwater and many others. Over the past 17 years as a consultant, he has provided many environmental services to other industries and government agencies, including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Navy, USMC, and others. He has developed and implemented environmental auditing programs, and regulation training and awareness programs for large corporations and government agencies, such as Bonneville Power Administration. Additionally, he has conducted NEPA/SEPA compliance evaluations for various clients. Mr. Fisher also has extensive experience in negotiating various environmental permits, covering all media, for many clients large and small. He has successfully managed numerous remediation-oriented projects, including Superfund and Natural Resource Damage Assessment sites, and also has provided extensive services involving assessments of watersheds and streams relative to salmon habitat identification and restoration. He has prepared numerous environmental management plans, including SPCC, FRP, RCRA, SWPPP, and many other types required by regulations. He frequently works with various law firms on environmental compliance matters related to their clients. He has published many papers on environmental research topics. For 26 years he has held a Masters-level Certification as CHMM, Certified Hazardous Materials Manager. Additionally, he is a Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA) by the Board of Environmental Auditor Certifications (BEAC) (ANSI). Mr. Fisher was appointed by the Governor of the State of Washington to the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to help guide salmon and steelhead habitat restoration and recovery efforts in the Lower Columbia River basin (continuous service since l997).