
NRCS is proud of the dedicated Earth Team volunteers and staff who have committed their time and talents to conserving and protecting our natural resources.
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Mission
Why be a Volunteer?
Who Can Volunteer?
What Kind of Jobs Volunteers Do?
Meet Maryland Volunteers
Want to Be An Earth Team Volunteer?
Maryland Earth Team Contacts
Earth Team Forms
More Earth Team Information
Mission:
It shall be the mission of the Earth Team to provide an effective volunteer workforce within the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help people conserve, improve, and sustain the Earth's resources and its environment.
Why be a Volunteer?
People volunteer with the Earth Team for a lot of reasons, but all Earth Team Volunteers have one thing in common: they want to help protect the natural resources in their communities. Other reasons people volunteer include:
- to enjoy working outdoors
- to help others
- to learn a new skill
- to pursue an interest in natural resources
- to gain work experience
- to complete a school project
- to meet high school community service requirements
- to enhance college applications and scholarship applications with volunteer service
Who Can Volunteer?
Anyone who is 14 years of age or older can volunteer their services to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
What Kind of Jobs Can Volunteers Do?
- Conservation Education
- Natural Resource Inventories
- Water Monitoring
- Computer Assistance
- Surveying
- Clerical Assistance
- Administrative
- Soil Science
Meet Maryland Volunteers:
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Anwar Youssef
As a volunteer, Anwar has provided assistance in vegetation spraying in order to control noxious and invasive plants. He went Bog Turtle surveying and assisted in taking GPS point site measurements to show potential locations of the Bog Turtles. He also conducted a research project on Bog Turtle’s in Maryland for the county office to educate staff on threatened species.
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Carl Robinette
As a former NRCS employee, volunteering provides Carl the opportunity to stay involved with the annual Envirothon State Contest and the FFA Land Judging Contest. He also trains high school students and runs the soils resource portion of Garrett and Allegany’s Envirothons. In addition to teaching youth, Carl assists with soil trainings for NRCS, MDA and SCD employees. In the Allegany Field Office, he assists with Farm Bill programs. Carl also provides offsite and onsite soils information and data to the local NRCS field offices.
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Kerri Ader
Kerri volunteers at the National Plant Materials Center in Beltsville, Md. She is updating the Center's seed inventory and is testing the seed for viability. She has also works on the People’s Garden Project, starting vegetable seeds and maintaining the vegetables until they are ready for planting at the USDA's People’s Garden in Washington, D.C. Kerri has started over 3000 vegetable seeds with a 100% germination rate.
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Amanda Tellechea
Amanda Tellechea has been working as an Earth Team Volunteer for approximately one year. During this timeframe she has been working with the Public Affairs and Outreach Division from a Southern Maryland field office providing technical support on several key projects. Those projects include the development of an Urban Agriculture Fact Sheet along with a partnership brochure that talks about how the conservation partners work together in addressing local resource concerns.
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Tim Gerber
Tim works on the NASIS database by entering data for soil descriptions. He participates in the Envirothon training event for high school teams in the county. Tim prepared and presented a PowerPoint presentation to the Universal Soil Loss Equation on RUSLE for a “5th Topic” training session scheduled for Envirothon teams. He assisted with a day of soils training and grading the soils part of the Envirothon test.
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Want to Be An Earth Team Volunteer?
Contact MD NRCS State Earth Team Volunteer Coordinator Laura Eddy or call 443-477-0057.
Use our Service Center map to locate and contact NRCS staff in your county to learn about local volunteer opportunities.
Download the Earth Team Volunteer Fact Sheet (PDF 509kb)
Maryland Earth Team Contacts:
Name
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Phone/Email
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Laura Eddy, State Volunteer Coordinator and Upper Shore Area Coordinator |
Laura.Eddy@usda.gov
443-477-0057 |
Lori Ashbaugh, Western Maryland Area Coordinator |
Lori.Ashbaugh@usda.gov
443-952-5284 |
Anika Joe, Central Maryland Area Coordinator |
Anika.Joe@usda.gov
443-482-2901 |
Colleen Kiefer, Southern Maryland Area Coordinator |
Colleen.Kiefer@usda.gov
301-934-9588 |
Lindsey Rash, Lower Shore Area Coordinator |
Lindsey.Rash@usda.gov
443-448-3018 |
Nora De La Rosa, Earth Team Support |
443-482-2907 |
Dean Cowherd, Earth Team Support |
443-454-6591 |
Earth Team Forms:
The following document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
For more Earth Team Information:
National Earth Team Volunteer Website