59th Secretary’s Honor Awards
Natural Resources Conservation Service Honorees

The following Natural Resources Conservation Service employees and contractors received USDA’s most prestigious award from Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on October 20, 2006:

Energy Estimator Team
For “designing and developing three web-based energy estimators in response to a need for information on energy-saving agricultural activities.”

Stefanie G. Aschmann, Group Leader
Team members are: Douglas Lawrence, Felix Spinelli, George L. Edmonds, Gloria Weirman, Dave Lightle, William Kuenstler, Christoph M. Gross, John Russell Davis, Stan Hitt, Peter Robinson, Dennis K. Carman, Clarence Prestwich, Phil Smith, Jennifer Schukar, Sylvia Rainford, Suzanne Pender, Jerry Lemunyon, Jerry Walker, Raegan A. Weber, Wendall Oaks, Ken Rojas, Willard Dyche, Lori Anderson, Robert Hoch, Zhipeng Zhao, Jill Burgchart, Jeff Davis, Kevin Bailey and Tammy Baird.


Poteau River Watershed Team
For outstanding outreach to the Conservation Security Program Native American, Asian and limited resource customers in the Poteau River Watershed, Oklahoma, resulting in the most contracts accepted in the nation.

Phoukham Vongkhamdy, Group Leader
Team members are: Justin S. Brown, Michael D. Bryan, Chris Cheatham, Shawn Fleming, James Harrison, Larry Hood, R. Artie Johnson, Daniel D. Lee, Robin L. Lynch, J.T. Neumeyer, Ryan B. Pannell, Manuel B. Reavis, H. Brian Ringels, K.R. Risenhoover, Amanda Stanford, Rishell Tate, William Thomas, Sammy L. Viles, David B. Wells, Oscar B. Boyd, B. Faulkenberry, Kim Goff, Lisa Grey, Donna Hanebrink and Nicole Norris.


NRCS Employees and Contractors on USDA Teams
In addition, other NRCS employees and contractors were recognized as members of teams from other USDA agencies. For example, John Brenner, Roel Vining, Joel Brown, Jill Schuler, Kelsi Bracmort, and Carolyn Olson were honored as members of the USDA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Team for the development of clear and comprehensive standards for Greenhouse Gas Reporting from the farm and forest sectors.

Eloris Speight was honored as a member of the USDA Human Capital Team for “outstanding achievement and successful implementation of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Human Capital Initiative resulting in a green status rating, the highest on the President’s Management Agenda scoreboard."

NRCS employee Cara Clark was honored as group leader of a multi-agency Accessibility Team from Illinois. She and her other team members received the award for outstanding accomplishments in working together to make USDA Service Center buildings accessible to current and future clients.