Co-Founder, CEO

Cory O’Gorman received a Master’s degree in plant biology from Sonoma State University. He conducted his research at Pepperwood Preserve which focused on black oak woodlands. The collaborative research paper was published and can be found here. He then worked on a land stewardship team with his now partner, Eric Schoohs, caring for roughly 2,400 acres of diverse ecosystems ranging from mixed hardwood forest to coastal prairie. Cory then began a PhD program in resource and environmental management in British Columbia and has completed coursework and conducted ethnobotanical research. Cory also worked at a local California native plant nursery, is a certified Firefighter type 2, and has a permaculture design certificate. He has worked in landscape, construction, milling and woodworking, and loves to farm and garden. He is fluent in Spanish and learning Portuguese.

Co-Founder, COO

Eric is also the co-founder and COO of ECOS Land Services. Eric is a leader in the North Bay stewardship community and is passionate about empowering people to build a relationship with the land. Eric works in many different roles to further this personal mission. He does project management with the local non-profit Sonoma Ecology Center, is co-editor of the online resource Tending the Land for Fire Resilience in Sonoma County, is an associate professor at the Santa Rosa Junior College in the Adult and Continuing Education Program focused on Fire Resilient Landscaping and Home Hardening, and he collaborates with many groups such as the US Green Building Council and North Bay Jobs with Justice as a trainer focused on equity and increasing ecological workforce capacities in the California.

Eric works on a breadth of land stewardship projects including landowner and professional trainings, planning and supervision of field crews implementing vegetation management and fire resilience, and partnership building with a focus on landscape-scale project development. He is dedicated to contributing to the advancement of ecologically informed vegetation management practices across California and the US and has spent the last decade expanding his skillset working as a project manager, stewardship team lead, naturalist guide, and an AmeriCorps volunteer. He is a certified Firefighter type 2 committed to supporting the reintroduction of Good Fire to the California landscape and he has a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin.

Field Supervisor and Landscaping Specialist

Communications and Social Media Specialist

Landscape Designer

Heavy Equipment Operations Manager