Virginia Earth Team Award Winners

Virginia Earth Team Award Winners

STATE RECOGNITION

Outstanding Individual

Duane Mohr (2018): Duane Mohr began volunteering with the Prince William Soil & Water Conservation District (PWSWCD) in September 2017 and has become an integral team member. Working a minimum of two days per week, Duane functions as and is considered to be a soil conservationist in the district office. He has donated more than 500 hours to assist local residents with urban and suburban storm water management, conservation planning, nutrient management and grazing management. Most of those hours have been spent writing plans for others, including recommendations for almost 900 acres of pasture, hay and traditional row crop fields.

Duane has been a master gardener for over a decade and is a strong advocate for soil health. He works with Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) to provide introductory soils presentations for new master gardeners and volunteers in the VCE teaching garden each spring and fall to ensure the plots are properly maintained for food production. Duane also provides numerous rainfall simulator demonstrations for children and adults to help raise public awareness about the damaging effects of erosion and the importance of protecting this vital natural resource.

Zoe Maxfield (2017): Zoe Maxfield began volunteering in the Lebanon Service Center at a critical time when workload far exceeded the capabilities of the existing staff. She stepped in to fill the void and soon became a valued member of the team, contributing to every aspect of office operations. In the office, she helps with filing, assembling six-part folders for NRCS staff and customers, completing job sheets for new contracts, and updating survey books. She also assists with AutoCAD designs and laying out numerous practices from simple watering systems to access roads, stream crossings, and even roofed winter Heavy Use Areas (HUAs). 

Zoe doesn’t just excel in the office though. The days she volunteers are often crammed full of surveys, field inspections, and practice checkouts in the office's four-county coverage area. Zoe has no problem jumping in to measure fence or pipeline, stake out HUA’s, and survey for roofed winter feed structures, access roads, and alternative watering systems. Her growing list of contributions now includes safety awareness, community outreach, and conservation education programs too. She presented a full-day wildlife skull identification module to approximately 120 sixth graders and their teachers as a part of Lonesome Pine Soil and Water Conservation District’s “Kids in the Woods” program. Though she juggles her volunteer time with two jobs, Zoe still managed to contribute 96 hours in FY17.

Keith Thomas (2016): Keith Thomas began volunteering with the Harrisonburg Service Center and Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District (SVSWCD) following his graduation from Bridgewater College in September 2015. He quickly learned about both agency’s conservation programs and became an integral part of the team, jumping in to help staff with technical program implementation. During his time in the Harrisonburg office, he worked on conservation project layout and checkout in the field, and eagerly assisted with program administration activities. His initiative and willingness to learn new things led him to tackle detailed conservation practices and begin working on his Conservation Planning Certification while also participating in regularly scheduled partnership trainings.

Keith was instrumental in implementing the SVSWCD's Cover Crop Program and worked closely with district staff and Friends of the North Fork and Friends of the Shenandoah River groups to complete chemical and benthic water quality testing for the Linville Creek TMDL program. He also worked weekend events like a volunteer tree planting and buffer cleanup project in the fall of 2015 as well the SVSWCD’s annual Envirothon Competition and Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences for local students. Often volunteering more than 25 hours per week, five days a week, Keith donated 626 hours in fiscal year 2016. His commitment to volunteerism provided him with real world experience that has now led to a full-time job as a Conservation and Dam Maintenance Technician with the SVSWCD.

Outstanding Group

Emory & Henry GOLD Team (2018): Emory & Henry College students Walker Long and Jake and Sam Caudill are passionate about environmental stewardship and teaching others how to protect and conserve our natural resources. They are also dedicated to serving their community. Those qualities made them a perfect fit for the Bonner Scholar Program, where they receive financial assistance for performing 140 hours of service each semester and an additional 280 hours over two summers at an agency of their choosing.

Participants are encouraged to find service opportunities of particular meaning and significance to them. Walker, Sam and Jake selected the Great Outdoors Learning Dome (GOLD) in Sugar Hollow Park, Va., because of their love of the outdoors and commitment to conservation. These motivated individuals far surpassed their required hours and donated nearly 200 more as Earth Team volunteers assisting with Holston River SWCD conservation education programs.

Each fall, the trio helped organize farm field days to educate over 600 sixth graders about good stewardship of the land. The GOLD team also joined NRCS and district staff in working stations covering a variety of topics to include Macroinvertebrate Testing, the “Conservation Jeopardy” game and Animal Identification. In the spring, they help prepare local high school teams for the Dominion Energy Envirothon, a hands-on environmental problem-solving competition. The GOLD Team has made and will continue to make a big difference in their community, region, and beyond!

Rivanna Conservation Alliance (2017): The Rivanna Conservation Alliance (RCA) is a nonprofit watershed organization established in 2016 to offer a set of tools for maintaining and improving the health of streams and rivers in the Rivanna basin. This community-based monitoring program has been active since 2002, gathering quality data on the health of local streams, many of which are impaired due to excess pollution from bacteria, non-point source pollution from storm water runoff or excess sediment.

RCA volunteers can be found in the field, lab, and office. The group participates in buffer plantings and promotes conservation easements to reduce harmful runoff into waterways. They are also expanding their partnerships and capacity to take on invasive plant removal. RCA’s team has helped sample 50 sites for their long-term benthic stream monitoring program and 14 bacteria monitoring sites in the Charlottesville Urban Ring. In addition, RCA monitored bacteria, benthic and chemical parameters for three sites as a component of DEQ's TMDL evaluation of Cunningham Creek in Fluvanna County.

RCA volunteers also supported a full calendar of outreach programs to include the River  Paddle, Clean Up and Kiosk Works, River Cleanup, and the Rivanna River Conference and River Festival. Planning and staffing for the last event required the combined efforts of more than 203 members.

VASWCD Youth Conservation Camp (2016): The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (VASWCD) Youth Conservation Camp (YCC) is a week-long summer program that engages high school students in the many fields of natural resources conservation. Each year, 60 students spend a week exploring natural resource conservation topics on and around the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Counselors take a leadership role throughout the program, performing countless additional duties above and beyond their daily job descriptions. They also share their technical expertise and personal experiences to help expand campers’ horizons and open their minds to conservation career paths. Though the schedule can be exhausting, YCC Counselors provide all of these services to Virginia’s students while maintaining great enthusiasm and energy throughout the program. The 15 volunteer counselors donated 400 hours of volunteer time over the course of the week-long camp.

Outstanding District

Pittsylvania Soil & Water Conservation District (2017): When the Pittsylvania SWCD first held their Agricultural Awareness Day or “AG-Day” in 1993, they couldn’t have known then that it would grow into an annual event that reaches nearly 700 fourth graders each year. Participants travel to Hill & Dale Stock Farm, a Pittsylvania County horse training and beef cattle operation, to learn about the importance of agriculture and natural resource protection in eight fun-filled stations. Each year, the local community comes out in force to volunteer and provide sponsorships. That year, event coordinators Hanna Lindsey (PSWCD Manager) and Amber Eanes (Administrative Technical Assistant) worked with a team of 35 volunteers who donated approximately 350 hours of service.

PSWCD also works closely with Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) to support the Reality Store, which teaches the county’s high school students about budgeting their monthly income in real world situations. District staff contributed 32 hours of volunteer time in support of this effort to prepare youth for independent living. To foster interest in conservation careers, PSWCD offers scholarships for students who wish to further their education in Agriculture, Natural Resources, or related fields. In fiscal year 2017, three area youths received awards ranging from $500 to $1,500 to study Agriculture Engineering and Agriculture Technology at Virginia Tech. 

Hanover-Caroline Soil & Water Conservation District (2016): The Hanover-Caroline SWCD employs groups and individual volunteers to help with numerous outreach activities to get more conservation on the ground and support educational programs in their local schools. The district’s Meaningful Watershed Education Experience (MWEE) events, Virginia Forage and Grassland Council (VFGC) Field Day, and the Fifty-Mile Meal are just a few great examples of volunteers stepping up to help increase awareness of natural resource protection in Hanover and Caroline counties.

The MWEE is a major undertaking for the district, employing 65 dedicated volunteers to teach local middle school students about conservation and protecting the watershed in which they live. The three-day program was actually held twice to accommodate the 1,700 sixth-graders, teachers and parents who attended. Volunteers included faculty and staff from local schools, Hanover-Caroline Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists, NRCS, Hanover-Caroline SWCD, the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Friends of the Rappahannock. These individuals worked a total of 791 hours staffing forestry, aquatics, wetlands, and water quality stations during the event.

Strong relationships with local farmers have enabled the Hanover-Caroline SWCD to collaborate with these producers on outreach programs for their peers across the state. Hanover-Caroline SCWD, NRCS, Virginia Cooperative Extension, VFGC members donated 1,000 hours on an outreach program at Tim and Sue Tobin's farm that introduced innovative conservation practices to a large number of producers, farmers, and ag industry partners.

Outstanding Field Office

Hanover Service Center (2016): Hanover staff are some of the biggest supporters of the Earth Team Program in Virginia, recording more than 1,700 hours of volunteer service in 2016. District Conservationist Brian Wooden sees volunteers as a great asset to the agency and uses them in the office and the field to make a positive impact in the area he serves. The service center team understands the need to educate the public about our mission and to employ new and innovative approaches to improve the health of the land and conserve our valuable resources. Their close connection with the Hanover-Caroline SWCD has helped the office expand outreach programs to local schools, grassroots organizations, and agricultural producers.

Brian engages producers as volunteers in the conservation planning process on their own farms too. Every time a farmer takes time to walk the land and help mark practices, that individual makes a vital contribution to Earth Team. He welcomes student volunteers as well, teaching them about conservation and agriculture in their community. Brian sees youth as the future of our agency and enjoys helping them get a foot in the door with NRCS and other agriculture agencies.

*See item above for more information on joint activities with the Hanover-Caroline SWCD.

Outstanding NRCS Employee

Jenny Templeton (2017): Jenny Templeton, a Soil Conservationist in the Accomac Office, donates her time and talents to network with producers and partners and conduct volunteer outreach to promote natural resource conservation within her community. Jenny serves as a trainer and judge for local/area Envirothons and has judged numerous local science fairs. Her passion for natural resource protection is evident in presentations and workshops she provides for students.

Jenny actively supports pollinator protection in and out of the office as a beekeeper and committed member of the Eastern Shore Beekeeper’s Guild. Wearing this hat (or bee veil), she volunteers at numerous school and community events to educate children and adults on beekeeping and being good stewards of the land to support bees and other important pollinators.

Jenny is a strong supporter of the Virginia Farm Bureau’s Eastern Shore Young Farmers Committee, volunteering evenings and weekends to promote area agriculture through education, production, advocacy, and leadership. When she’s not working with the Young Farmers Committee, Jenny also volunteers with the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited (DU) and supports their mission to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. 

Each year, Jenny donates her scarce free time to assist with the annual DU Oyster Roast fundraiser and the Fall Greenwing Youth Event, an annual outdoor program for children and families. Though many of her volunteer and extracurricular activities remain unreported, the significance of Jenny’s 145 known hours of donated time cannot be underestimated.

Don Flegel (2016): Don Flegel has been a long-time supporter of the Envirothon program, generously donating his time and talents to train the next generation of soil scientists and conservationists. He first began coaching teams in soils and forestry more than 15 years ago while working in West Virginia. He continued his support of this youth program when he moved to Virginia in 2006.

With his supervisor’s support, he has donated hundreds of hours to provide soils training to students in Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia high and middle schools as well as two area governor’s schools and a King George home school group organized through 4-H. Don has dug soil pits for the nature trail at Strasburg High School and University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm. Don also makes himself available for SWCD-sponsored events. He has staffed the soil stations for Culpeper, Shenandoah, Headwaters, Tri-County, and Lord Fairfax, and is in talks with Lord Fairfax to dig a new soil pit at the local community college for use in training state teams.