Working as an Earth Team volunteer, Cartographic Technician Jonathan Bowlin pulls trash from a stream near his office in Greensboro, N.C.

Employees of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) work every day to help private landowners improve environmental quality on their properties. So when staff at the NRCS East Remote Sensing Lab (ERSL) in Greensboro, N.C. noticed a stream near their building had become a dumping ground, they took it upon themselves to address the problem. Read more »

A special Earth Team volunteer group was recently formed to benefit Ross Barnett Reservoir, in central Mississippi. Keep the Rez Beautiful was created by an NRCS employee in late 2010 to promote conservation and water quality in the reservoir.

Earth Team is the volunteer workforce for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Earth Team volunteers help get conservation on the ground on private lands across the nation, and the Ross Barnett Reservoir group will help further NRCS’ work in this critical waterway. Read more »

NRCS Earth Team volunteers and a Colorado state biologist enjoy lunch in the field during a bird count of the Gunnison sage-grouse in a remote section of high desert. From left, Robert Bright, Michelle Collins, Stephanie Steinhoff, Jenny Nehring and Elinor Laurie.

This spring, Earth Team volunteers with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) surveyed approximately 300 hundred acres of remote Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and private lands north of Villa Grove, Colo., looking for Gunnison sage-grouse, a ground-dwelling bird considered a keystone species in this habitat. Read more »

Employees at the Stephens Federal Building in Athens, Georgia, celebrated the People’s Garden planted in April with an educational lunch session in the garden.

Deborah Callahan of USDA Rural Development and a recent graduate of Georgia’s Master Gardener program demonstrated composting and explained the function of red worms. Amanda Tedrow of Cooperative Extension Service answered questions about vegetable gardening. Kathy Peters A Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Earth Team volunteer was available to discuss plant propagation and distributing information on backyard conservation. Read more »

The bright yellow demonstration house built by Earth Team volunteers Mike and Jill Viafore is being used at fairs and exhibits to show how to install a home rain barrel and miniature rain garden. Using these practices, homeowners can save water and protect nearby lakes and streams from pollution.

Mike and Jill Viafore are crafty. This past summer, the couple designed and built a portable demonstration house to educate the public about the benefits of rain barrels and rain gardens at exhibits and fairs. Read more »

NRCS District Conservationist Edwin Martinez conducts a wetland determination assisted by Earth Team Volunteer Tula Ngasala near St. Johns, Mich. Ngasala, a Tanzanian engineer, assists the St. Johns Field Office one day a week.

Tulakemelwa Ngasala is a Tanzanian civil and water resources engineer currently living in Michigan. While in the United States she is caring for her three young girls while her husband works toward his Ph.D. in geology at Michigan State University. Read more »