nrcs

Graduate student Alex Snyder finds inspiration through the lens of his camera. While completing his graduate degree at Ohio University’s Office of Sustainability, Snyder found time to volunteer with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) through its volunteer program, Earth Team.

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan recently visited Viroqua, Wisc. to promote USDA’s new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass. While she was there, she took the time to meet with Timothy Bennish, a volunteer with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Earth Team volunteer program.

NRCS works with farmers and ranchers to implement voluntary conservation practices that will not only protect the nation’s natural resources, but also maintain or increase the productivity of the land.

I first heard about Earth Team, the volunteer workforce of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) from Eric Banks, the Kansas State Conservationist. Our families go to the same church, and he spoke with my mother about the Earth Team program, recommending I look into getting involved with it.

Twice a week, Susan Anderson volunteers a morning or afternoon at the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Big Rapids, Mich. She calls it “giving back.” As a member of NRCS’ Earth Team, the agency’s volunteer workforce, Anderson assists clients, files and helps staff inventory and analyze the resource concerns of area farmers and landowners.

Anderson started volunteering with NRCS seven years ago, shortly after retiring from the Michigan Department of Education, where she was director of School Support Services, with statewide responsibilities and a budget of $500 million a year. She administered Michigan’s non-academic education programs, including child nutrition, food distribution, drivers’ education and pupil transportation.

Many of Michigan’s American Indian tribes are returning to traditional foods to improve nutrition and sustain their culture. One of these foods is walleye, a native fish harvested from lakes and rivers.

Now USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is helping the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, raise walleye in order to restock local waterways.

Treaties between the United States government and Michigan Indian tribes give tribal members the right to harvest fish, including in some areas through spearfishing, and to hunt and gather. To ensure that walleye populations are not depleted, tribes stock the fish in lakes and rivers.

In Minnesota, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is piloting an innovative partnership to introduce high school students to careers in science and agriculture.

Since last year, NRCS has teamed up with the Hmong American Partnership, a nonprofit that provides services to Minnesota’s Hmong community. The Hmong are an ethnic group from the mountains of Southeast Asia, and the Twin Cities—St. Paul and Minneapolis—have the highest concentration of Hmong populations in the country.

When he decided to get back into farming five years ago, Tony An­drejczuk faced more challenges than most farmers. Andrejczuk lost the use of his legs after a work acci­dent in 1997, and being able to access his family’s entire farm is one of his biggest obstacles.

Andrejczuk grew up farming with his father and brother on their orchard and field crop farm near Lawrence, Mich. He studied crops and soil science at Michigan State University and planned to return to the family farm to work—but a tough economy forced him to choose a dif­ferent career. He joined the military and later started a tree business; the accident ended that career.

About five years ago, Andrejczuk helped one of his sons plant a few acres of corn on the farm; they did it for fun, and planned to leave the corn for wildlife. Instead, a neighbor offered to harvest it for them and even paid them for the crop.

Anvil Ranch, one hour southwest of Tucson, Ariz. in Altar Valley, is a fourth-generation operation in the heart of cattle country.

“Ranching is what we do,” says Joe King, who is the youngest of the four children of owners John and Pat King. All four of the kids ranch, although Joe and his wife, Sarah, are the only ones who live and work on Anvil Ranch. Ranching is what the Kings do—and so is conservation.

Becoming a nationally recognized federal engineer is an accomplishment that did not happen overnight for John Ramsden. The engineer has devoted several years to protecting surface and groundwater resources while working for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

During his 18 years as the Wisconsin State Engineer, Ramsden has led a number of federal engineering efforts for water quality, watershed and flood protection, dam safety, and wetland and floodplain restoration.

Conservation is in plain sight on Janet Kline’s Hidden View Farm in Virginia, with streamside fencing and buffers well integrated into the rolling vistas of the Massanutten and Little North mountains.

These conservation practices were implemented with the help of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), but caring for the land is a way of life for the long-time Shenandoah Valley resident.