This profile was first published on the PA Conservation Heritage website--
George Bordner Wolff was born in Harrisburg Hospital on February 6, 1932. George went to the one-room Kutztown School in Jackson Township, Lebanon County for grades 1-8 and had the same teacher for the first seven (7).
The teacher taught all subjects with keen focus on the subjects she liked such as cursive writing, geography, government, and literature.
The teacher’s primary way of punishing those who mis-behaved in class was having them stand in front of the school and recite the Edgar Guest poem, “It Couldn’t be Done.”
It Couldn’t Be Done
by Edgar Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So, he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”.
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
George credits his can-do attitude and approach to life applying the words of this poem that he had to memorize and recite while in front of the entire school.
George attended and graduated from Myerstown High School in 1949. He attended a winter short course in animal husbandry at Purdue University, where he believes that he learned: “that everything is connected, and each type of farm animal is in many ways the same, but different.”
He credits his widely recognized ability to deal with people and bring them together to accomplish their respective missions to being able to recognize and appreciate their differences and commonalities.
Throughout his long career in “relationship building,” he attended and organized numerous meetings, seminars, and conferences for a wide variety of clients and audiences in the agricultural and transportation sectors.
Much of George’s learning was on the farms and from the farmers. He was always an avid reader with an eye and an ear for new and better approaches to solving problems for farmers and the agricultural industry.
George is truly a man of principle with many stories and sayings. He routinely uses them to get people to think about the possible and how to work together to do the impossible.
Five (5) of his life-long principles are: 1) Every day the devil is doing his work and Christ is doing his work. Who do you want to work for? 2) It can be done!; 3) We must be responsible for our actions; 4) We must understand our customers; and 5) We must practice what we preach and lead by example.
George’s mother worked as a registered nurse who graduated from the Harrisburg Hospital School of Nursing and his father worked as a farmer and was a graduate of Rutgers University with a B. S. in agriculture.
His father developed and practiced many innovative farming methods at that time such as contour strip farming and crop rotation.
He and his family farmed three (3) different farms in Lebanon County for a total of about 750 acres.
George developed many agricultural and other skills while growing up and farming for most of his life, including “dowsing” to locate ground water using two l-shaped mulberry sticks.
Finding springs to supply water on his and other farms and finding buried pipelines proved to be a very useful skill.
It is interesting that his great-great-grandfather Henry Wolf had 12 children with four (4) different spellings of their last names-Wolff (6), Wolfe (6), Wolf (2), and Woolf (2) on the birth records written by midwives and others.
His great-grandfather Rev. George Wolff started the German Reformed Church in Myerstown where George learned at an early age that “our life is an extension of what our creator wants us to do.”
Motor Truck Association
Early and throughout his “relationship building” career, George worked as a consultant to the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association (PMTA) with his focus on improving transportation for the agricultural industry.
After he spent a weekend in jail in the State of New York for his truck hauling beef tallow being overweight, he reached out to the PMTA and this was the genesis of his lobbying career, advocating for favorable policies for over-the-road truckers.
He had a passion for helping farmers appreciate and strive for safe and efficient transportation and helping the transportation industry provide safe and efficient transportation infrastructure for everyone.
Much of his PMTA work involved the interactions between railroads, highways, and trucks for the transport of agricultural products.
Until the advent of the Interstate Highway System in 1956, the railroads dominated the surface freight transportation industry nationwide wide.
As the 41,000-mile Interstate Highway System was built and open to traffic, trucks became a competitive mode of freight transportation to railroads.
Working out the relationships and problems between railroad and truck freight transportation was a long-term task for George as a PMTA consultant.
Truck load limits, trailer lengths, and hazardous material safety were critical issues for the agricultural sector for many years.
George was instrumental in the formation of an industry group responsible for the development of the safety placards on trucks carrying hazardous substances.
Having worked closely with the agricultural industry with his PMTA work, George’s reputation as a relationship builder led him to working as a consultant and volunteer on agricultural issues in addition to transportation.
Chesapeake Bay Program
As the Chesapeake Bay Program turned its attention to the water pollution problems from fugitive nutrients from manure and fertilizer on bay region farms, multi-state goals for water quality improvements were adopted by the states.
This resulted in state laws and regulations for farmers to better manage their cultivation, manure and nutrients.
George worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the state farm organization (Pennsylvania State Grange, Pennsylvania Farmers Association and the Council of Farm Organizations) to advocate for the agricultural community in the promulgation of state nutrient management laws, regulations, and funding.
For many years, he advocated for rules that kept the farmers in business and improved the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
He believes that once a farmer understands that soil erosion and poor manure management loses money, the farmer will then protect the soil and carefully use manure as a fertilizer and not as a waste.
In 1987, George was awarded the prestigious Jefferson Award for Community Service for his efforts on behalf of farmers, the community and environment.
Dirt & Gravel Road Program
In 1997, the Commonwealth modified Section 9106 of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code to create the Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program and provided $4 million dollars, and in 2013 again modified the Code to increase the amount to $32 million dollars.
The funds are administered through the State Conservation Commission to reduce nonpoint pollution-sediment and dust from over 17,500 miles of dirt and gravel roads and low-volume roads potentially impacting waters of the Commonwealth.
As a member of the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and a consultant to the Associated Public Constructors, George advocated for the Dirt and Gravel Road Program.
In 2013, Pennsylvania enacted Act 89 providing over $2 billion dollars a year for multi-modal transportation.
This legislation includes $32 million dollars a year for the Pennsylvania Dirt and Gravel Road Program and $30 million dollars a year for the Alternative Transportation Funding Program for non-highway projects such as bicycle and pedestrian facilities and Rails to Trails.
As a consultant to the Associated Public Constructors (APC), George founded, organized and supported the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition.
The first of its kind in Pennsylvania, the coalition brought together a wide range of transportation system customers, and stakeholders such as consultants, contractors, transit agencies, and environmental groups and successfully advocated for a comprehensive transportation funding bill.
The Group That Doesn’t Exist
George voluntarily and actively served on numerous committees, task forces, advisory groups, and commissions involving agriculture and transportation. He is well known for his ability to bring opposites together for positive gains and win-wins.
One such example of this is “The Group That Doesn’t Exist” that George formed bringing together representatives of agricultural, governmental, academic & environmental interests in the 1980s to formulate a recommendation that established the framework for Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Program.
No one authorized this group. George simply took the initiative to make it happen by bringing together these various interested parties.
His valued work and contributions are recognized by letters, cards, certificates of appreciation, citations, and plaques.
Among the many organizations recognizing and thanking him are the: Veterinary Association of Pennsylvania; the State Conservation Commission; Pennsylvania Conservation Districts; Pennsylvania State University; Chesapeake Bay Commission; the Issac Walton League; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; and University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
George learns well from others and values the advice many people shared with him.
To mention a few of his mentors: Chet Heim, Richard Newpher, Luke Brubaker, Dick and Horace Waybright, Al Myers, Pat Solano; Joe Elam; Paul Swartz; Pat Devlin; Marel Robb; and Susan Marquart.
George was a director of the Lebanon County Conservation District, the president of the PA Association of Conservation Districts (PACD) & actively involved in the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) for many years.
George and his wife, Linda Ruth Wolff, married in 1969, have two (2) daughters, Larisa Miller and Rebekah North. Larisa has three (3) children, Elizabeth, David and Christopher. Rebekah has three (3) children, Isabella, George and Victoria.
George traveled to many states in the U. S. and to France, England, and Russia.
His trip to Russia involved Knouse Foods to help them buy apple juice. The deal fell through because the Russian farmers didn’t have enough apple juice and contaminated it by adding other juices, such as grape juice to it.
Even in his advanced stage of life, he maintains an interest in subjects important to him such as: the value of legacy sediments; the treatment of stormwater runoff pollution biologically; the redesign of stormwater management basins to recharge groundwater; and transportation funding.
In summary, George was not academically educated or recognized as an environmental or conservation professional. However, he effectively used his “relationship building” skills for at least ¾ of a century to improve the quality of life for everyone in Pennsylvania by bringing people together for the common good.
As George always says instead of goodbye, “Be of Good Cheer.”
[Cindy Adams Dunn, Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said of George-- "I have known George for about 40 years and have collaborated on conservation ideas and work like Chesapeake Bay, biomass, soils and forests. George is always an innovator and collaborator who has made a mark on conservation in Pennsylvania.”]
Visit the Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage website to see more profiles of conservation leaders, educator resources for teaching Pennsylvania’s conservation history, video documentaries and much more.
By Wayne W. Kober from a Series of Interviews and Delightful Conversations with George Wolff and His Daughter, Larisa Miller on December 19 and 30, 2024. Also, Larisa reviewed and edited his story in cooperation with George.
Resource Links:
-- PA Conservation Heritage Project Profile: Paul O. Swartz - From Photojournalist To Susquehanna River Basin Commission - By Wayne W. Kober [PaEN]
-- PA Conservation Heritage Project Profile: William C. Forrey - A Career In State Parks, Recreation Doing It Right, And Protecting The Environment - By Wayne W. Kober [PaEN]
-- PA Conservation Heritage Project Profile: Jack Winieski Dedicated His Professional Career To Improving Trees Through Genetics - By Wayne W. Kober [PaEN]
[Posted: January 15, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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