Owlnotes.com

I'm a Resource Conservationist with the United States Department of Agriculture.

Conservation and protection of the Natural Resources of the United States. Soil, water, and related natural resources are our primary concern. More specifically, we try to maximize the production of commodity crops, and at the same time, improve the soil quality. We promote the best use of our country's land.

I'm more of a management person now. I am basically in charge of Hayes County, Nebraska's National Resource Conservation Services (NRCS). I administer Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts, Environmental Program contracts, and do a lot of computer work.

Landowners, or producers, come to my office and sign up for a program. The contracts last between three and ten years. I am responsible for about 200 hundred active contracts.

With something like the CRP program, I'd give the producer a seed sheet, so they know what to plant. They go plant the seeds on the list, and then they bring it back to me. Once the initial conditions of the contract are met, and they've taken the right steps, I then do the paperwork to approve their federal funding.

It is my responsibility to keep track of progress throughout the term of every contract. I go out and visually evaluate grasses and soil over the period of the contract and ensure they are in compliance. Knowing what grasses look like and recognizing noxious weeds…are things I've been trained to do. I'm responsible for making sure my producers are aware of their responsibilities, and that they carry them out.

Congress administers the farm program to all 50 states, so people across the nation follow the same guidelines. In Nebraska, we concentrate more on soil erosion than a state like Illinois, where they work more with wetlands. If you're in California, you've got more vegetables.

In Nebraska, we have the most groundwater of any state in the Union. We have a constant dispute with Colorado and Kansas about water; we have a lot of irrigation valleys. That's not something that's a problem in Maine. But there is only one farm bill that we are all trying to administer, so our jobs are under the same guidance.

But even in my earlier job in Knox County, in Northeastern Nebraska, the job duties were completely different. In Knox County, we worked on spring development, dams, terraces and range control. Just about every task the NRCS covers, we did. In Hayes County where I am now, the area is more susceptible to wind erosion. We have more trouble with drought here. The differences even within the same state is incredible. So if you multiply that across fifty states, there is a lot of variety in workload, but we all have a similar mission.

Several years ago, one of my producers had not built proper cover to protect his field, and the wind was blowing away the topsoil. I checked it out, and found he was out of compliance. I notified him and reported it. That ended up costing him $8000. That was a very difficult situation. They threatened me, and threatened to blow up our office, and it stretched out over two years before the leaders in Washington, D.C. finally upheld that I was correct in my report. That's about the worst-case scenario, but you do have to deliver bad news, and people can get angry.

I started off as a GS-4 Technician, where I was primarily in the field working on a range with irrigation problems. After four years, I'd risen to GS-6, and qualified for Upper Mobility, a program that allowed technicians to go back to college. I moved my wife and one son to Lincoln and enrolled at the University of Nebraska in the fall of 1987. Because I had some credit from attending there previously, I was able to graduate in December of 1988.

After I got my degree, I was hired as a GS-7 in Knox County, Nebraska. I was basically the one going out to deal with farmer's questions. I'd go to their fields and evaluate the soil and the vegetation. I made suggestions to the producers. Some farmers might want to convert a portion of a field to a wildlife habitat, and I advised them on those types of things.

I worked there for about 5 years, and rose to GS-9 as a Soil Conservationist, doing that same sort of thing. I moved to Hayes County in 1992 and became a District Conservationist, and have worked here ever since in the same sort of management role. Policy has since re-labeled me a Resource Conservationist, and I'm now a G-11.

In Knox County, out in the field, I would stake a dam, survey the structure, and design the structure. Now my technicians do that and I come out when it's done.

Usually, you'd go to college first. Most people get their degree in Soils or Agronomy before they apply, and come on as a GS-7. Then you ascend as high as you can or want to, all the way to the Washington, D.C. jobs.

In 1995, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. I wasn't very mobile for several years, and we didn't want to jerk our sons from school to school, so my path is probably different from the standard path, whatever that would be.

Absolutely. I basically know the system in and out, so I feel like it's definitely an advantage. I think the organization feels that way also. The Upper Mobility program no longer exists due to budget constraints though.

Well, when I started out I was in the field, because that is what I knew. Building dams, we'd start out with nothing, and by the end have a structure there. People could fish, and it irrigated the land for crops and agriculture. Even as a manager, I still get to help sign people up for programs that are similarly beneficial. I find conservation work very satisfying.

Unfortunately, I spend most of my time in the office now. I don't get in the field as much as I used to. I would say 75 percent of it is administration of contracts: signing people up who want to do conservation work, explaining to them what kind of programs are available, what their responsibilities would be, how much we would pay for assistance.

About 15 to 25 percent of my time is actual meet-and-greet with potential producers explaining programs, or outlining mandatory guidelines they must follow for their land. The rest of the time, I'm in the field checking compliance for contracts I've set up for my producers in the various programs that we implement around the county.

I usually come in and log in to the computer and check my email. Often, requests come down from the State office for something that needs to be done, a statistic or report I need to compile and send in. Those are my first priorities.

My schedule is usually set two weeks in advance. On my calendar, I usually have fields set to measure or check for compliance, so after any pressing business is taken care of, I proceed to those. I can go out to measure a field and not even use a tape. I've been doing this for so long, I can pace off 300 feet and be within a foot of the actual measurement.

Sometimes I'll have a meeting on water resources. There can be a lot of variety. I don't have to go in and put nails in the same spot every day.

My daily schedule also depends on the season. September and May are the busiest months. May is compliance month, and the fiscal year ends in September, so I'm busy fulfilling my yearly quotas and tasks. The weather controls what I do on a day-to-day basis as well.

The last half-hour, I generally re-check email. I refine my schedule for the week and report my daily tasks. Once a week, I usually review my quota goals and prioritize my actions for the next week or two.

Currently, we have the Emergency Conservation Program here due to some floods on Memorial Day weekend. We got 17 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. The average we get in a year is 19 inches. My producers sign up for relief, and I investigate their claims.

I found holes big enough to fit a tractor or a combine. I have to estimate the cost of restoring damaged lands to farmable ground, or in the worst case, to something that will at least hold the soil. I'm the one who determines what we're going to pay them.

I will turn that paperwork in to the Farm Service Agency. They will then decide who gets how much money for relief, based on my recommendations.

In the federal Grade Salary (GS) payscale, I am a GS-11 step 10. I make about $65,000 dollars a year. Pay for each level varies by a percentage according to your location, but for around here, that is an excellent job.

For an entry level GS-7 after college, incoming salary is around $36,000. One thing that is nice about the federal government is that you know what your paycheck is going to be from week-to-week.

Performance bonuses are sometimes awarded. At the end of every fiscal year, we have to do a performance appraisal. Based on that, you can be nominated for cash awards. I've benefited from a few of those. The health insurance is very good, as you would expect from a government job. And of course, there is retirement, pension, and life insurance. We can control our retirement accounts to a certain point, and the government matches about 4 percent of every 5 percent I contribute to my own fund. The federal government is the type of employer where, if you get the job in the beginning, you are pretty much set for life. Some of the powers-that-be have built more accountability into the system, but as long as you don't do something drastically stupid, and you get your work done, you're secure in your job. You might not get rich working for the government, but you have a fixed income, you know some money is going towards your retirement, and you know if you get hurt or sick you'll be taken care of. That is a big appeal.

I'm on what they call a five-four-nine schedule, I work nine hours on the weekdays, but I get every other Friday off. A forty-hour week is standard, one way or another. Generally, there is no overtime, unless there is a special project or an emergency.

Not very much, just locally on a day-to-day basis, and once in a while I'll attend a training session or a meeting within the state. We don't travel as much as we used to because the budget is just not there for travel. Some things are yearly, or based on legislation—if the new Farm bill is ever passes in Congress, I will be required to attend some training sessions. But my primary responsibility is Hayes County.

We earn our vacation as we go. For every two weeks you work, you get eight annual hours of vacation leave and four hours of sick leave. When you figure in holidays, you can gather up a lot of leave. You're only allowed to carry 240 hours of vacation time, but you can accumulate unlimited sick leave. I know guys who have hundreds of hours of sick leave, and when they retire, that will count against their hours served.

The way Congress distributes money depends on it. Really, my job depends more on the weather than the economy, but when the federal economy is good, farmers are a lot easier to deal with. Everyone is in a better mood.

The most satisfying part is working with people, cooperating on structural practices, or the Conservation Reserve Program, something like that.

The most frustrating part can be the government. Congress sometimes just doesn't get it. The diversity in my field, even within Nebraska, is pretty bizarre; if you try to write a Farm Bill for 50 states, it's just an almost impossible task to make something workable. Basically, we see what the Farm Bill is and adapt to it. It's a constant state of flux. So, I guess the short answer is: paperwork and politics.

The insurance is nice. The stability of the job has always been good, although cutbacks have threatened to close my office, and it is probably only a matter of time. That is mostly because I work in a rural area, basically away from civilization in Southwestern Nebraska.

The worst thing is when the producers in my county get angry at the Government, at Congress or at some law that's been passed, then those people are angry at me, because I'm the only person to whom they can direct their anger. That can be difficult to deal with, and that's why people skills are so important for my job.

The 1985 Farm Bill really changed everything. Typically—and there aren't many people still working here who remember this—before the bill you would pull into a farmer's yard, they might invite you in for coffee or dinner. It was pretty cordial. They knew you were there to help them. As of 1985, it became a more adversarial relationship. Some old-timers think that bill ruined the USDA.

In the last five years, computers are the biggest change. They have changed the way we do things so much. In our office, they seem to work when they want to, so although they help, it can be very frustrating when a computer problem paralyzes the whole office.

In general, it doesn't feel as if we're here to help as much as we used to be. Now, if someone isn't interested in one of our main programs, we aren't encouraged to help them. We have numbers to meet, quotas to fill. Legislation has made my job more about meeting those numeric goals than helping the people, which I don't think is right.

I'd like to have more local control and feedback. For instance, I had a guy who signed up for a contract, but then had a stroke a week later. I'd like to be able to address that here, and put something in the file. But in reality, I have to go up the line, notify my superiors, and they talk to their superiors. The farther it goes, the less people care about a specific situation.

They talk about empowering the local employees, but it gets to be more and more of a Big Brother thing all the time. I don't mind the accountability, but I'd like to have more control. It all goes back to the fact that it is a part of the bureaucracy.

Get a degree in Natural Sciences like Agronomy or Biology. The Upper Mobility program that I came through isn't around, but there are still some ways to be a student trainee. You can sometimes work at a local office to get an idea of what you are getting into as a job.

You need a strong background in soils. How soils work, the chemistry involved in how things grow, those are essential. Chemistry and agronomy—you absolutely have to have know those subjects. These things can be incredibly important. We build dams, and if you don't understand the soil, then those structures might not be trustworthy. All soil reacts to water differently, and you have to understand all the relationship of these natural elements.

No matter how good of a dam you build, they aren't necessarily going to put you in charge of an office. But the more areas you've worked in, the more programs you've run, the better qualified you are to move up the ladder. Even though you may do something very well, you have to be careful of stepping outside the lines. It is dangerous to ignore the established procedures. You don't have the freedom to make all the rules. One of the best things to do is serve your producers well. If you do a good enough job to generate positive feedback (say a farmer writes a letter to the State office), you have a better chance to be noticed.

There is a lot of diplomacy in my job. Sometimes, the only thing that producers hate more than each other is the government, and yet I am the one who has to mediate a compromise. You have to be able to keep your cool, you have to be able to bring two people together who are having a dispute and try to resolve it locally.

An agriculture background is big. Someone who is interested in science and biology is going to do well. You need people skills and computers skills in almost any profession these days, but definitely in this one. I've always been a sportsman, an active hunter and fisherman. I've always been fascinated by nature. The way grasses grow, that fascinates me. If you don't have any regard for natural resources, you don't want my job.