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Clark Receives 2023 NRCS Engineer of the Year Award

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Peter Clark, Civil Engineer for Kansas NRCS, was awarded the 2023 Engineer of the Year Award

Kansas NRCS engineer receives national recognition.

SALINA, KANSAS, March 17, 2023‒ Peter A. Clark, Civil Engineer, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), has been awarded the 2023 NRCS Engineer of the Year.

Clark served as the project manager to develop breach inundation zone models to use with Hazard Potential Classification (HPC) analysis for 830 watershed dams in Kansas.  In 2016, he mastered a new version of hydraulic modeling software and developed a new reference table to help engineers select surface roughness for each National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) value. 

Before Clark began this project in 2016, existing methods were slow and limited the previous engineer’s efforts to develop only 40 dam breach models per year.  The new software allowed Clark to complete the modern breach inundation models for all 830 watershed dams in Kansas during 2020 and 2021, which is a 10-fold improvement.  Clark shared these methods with other NRCS engineers across the Nation to promote technology transfer.

Clark earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Kansas State University.  He has been an engineer for over 28 years and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Kansas.  Outside of work, he enjoys being creative with metalworking, woodworking, building sculptures, as well as other unique and interesting art projects.  Clark also enjoys volunteering in the Salina community.  One of his favorite activities is serving as an Arts Ambassador Volunteer during the Smoky Hill River Festival and having the opportunity to meet and assist vendors during the event every year.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways.  In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure, and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.  To learn more, visit www.usda.gov

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Pictured left to right:

  • Kevin Farmer, P.E., Director of Conservation Engineering Division, NRCS, Washington, D.C.
  • Terri Ruch, Energy Conservation Engineer, NRCS, Washington, D.C.
  • Peter Clark, Civil Engineer, NRCS, Salina, Kansas - 2023 Engineer of the Year
  • Randy Clark, father of Peter Clark
  • Alan Gillespie, National Water Management Engineer, NRCS, Washington, D.C.
  • Larry Schieferecke, State Conservation Engineer, NRCS, Salina, Kansas

Photo courtesy of NSPE and Christie's Photographic Solutions.