| Plant Materials Specialist |
Working for the Natural Resources Conervation Service (formerly the
Soil
Conservation Service) has been a rewarding career. I began my career in
1977 as a student trainee and obtained invaluable basic training in
design and installation of conservation practices to protect landowners
natural resource and to improve their bottom-line (economics of their
operation). In 1979 my first full-time position following graduation
from college was as a rangeland conservationist. I was assigned to work
with farmers and ranchers developing conservation plans to protect
their
natural resources. Two additional positions helped me fine tune my
abilities/skills in conservation planning and lead to my current
position as a plant materials specialist. In my present position, I use
my expertise in planning seedings and plantings to assist NRCS employee
in 3 states assist landowner within their area to meet resource
planning
objective. The culture of our agency has always been a very positive
sharing experience. Employees are very open to sharing their expertise
and knowledge to assist those less experienced to become better more
skilled employees. This results in more progress meeting our agency
objectives and expectations/needs of our nation. The technology
advancements in resource management that I have observed/learned the
last 27 years is really amazing. This has made me realize that the more
I know, the more I know I don't know. It is very satisfying to work in
an arena where learning is an everyday occurance. When I began my
career, our agency was dominated by white males. In the past 15 years I
have observed a significant evolution of more and more women and
minorities in our work force. This has been a very positive evolution
for our agency and also for me as an individual. Our dress code is
fairly low key. We are expected to be presentable, but are allowed to
dress similar to our primary clients (farmers and ranchers) thus field
cloths such as jeans, work shirt and boots are very acceptable.
Avoiding
the suit and tie is more than fine with me. However, when presenting
training or a professional presentation dressing up is certainly not
frowned apon. I have found the NRCS to be a great agency with very good
opportunities for advancement if you are mobile and willing to move. In
the next few years, advancement opportunities will be even better with
so many in federal service employees approaching retirement age.
|
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