NRCS California Celebrates Earth Team Volunteer Week

211 volunteers donated 8,180 hours to benefit conservation projects and efforts throughout California

News provided by

USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service

Apr 13, 2015, 03:34 ET

DAVIS, Calif., April 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is celebrating National Volunteer Week by thanking and honoring its Earth Team volunteers for their service to conservation. Earth Team is NRCS's official volunteer program. Over the past 12 months, 211 volunteers dedicated approximately 8,180 hours of service to NRCS California valued at nearly $185,000.

"We are grateful for the time and dedication that our Earth Team volunteers have contributed to helping California's farmers and ranchers conserve and protect natural resources over the past year," said Carlos Suarez, NRCS state conservationist for California. "We wouldn't be as successful in our conservation mission if not for these volunteers, and the dozens of partner organizations we work with."

Here are just a few examples of the contributions made by California's Earth Team volunteers over the past 12 months:

An Earth Team volunteer in Sonora, Calif., won the national volunteer award for assisting NRCS's Soil Survey Office maintain the soil lab and with in-field sampling. The volunteer assisted with cataloging inventory, reorganizing the lab, and assisting with soil pit excavations and descriptions.
Five engineering students from local colleagues near Bakersfield, Calif., helped survey rangeland projects on approximately 165,000 acres. This assistance helped the local field office provide excellent service to customers manage extreme drought conditions on their properties.

Since the volunteer program was founded in 1985, over 600,000 Earth Team volunteers nationwide have donated 16 million hours to NRCS valued at $400 million.

Anyone, over 14 years old, interested in joining the Earth Team Volunteer Program can sign up at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/ca/people/volunteers/ or by calling Pam Hertzler at (209) 722-4119 Ext 128.

NRCS has provided leadership in a partnership effort to help America's private land owners and managers conserve their soil, water and other natural resources since 1935. For more information on NRCS, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov.

SOURCE USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service