Earth Team volunteer Steve Eckstein’s computer work is helping North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council (NJRC&D) improve water quality in a big way. He’s also helping farmers get conservation funding needed to improve their land.

Earth Team is the name given to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service volunteers. Earth Team volunteers work side by side with Natural Resource Conservation Service employees on conservation projects to improve their local environment. Read more »

California Earth Team volunteers plant some of the 250 species of native trees and shrubs planned for a 2,000-sq.-foot demonstration garden in Mariposa County. The garden will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and is expected to host thousands of visitors.

Earth Team volunteers have helped transform a neglected area at a county fairground into an attraction experts say will help boost tourism and the local economy in Mariposa, Calif.

Earth Team is the name given to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service volunteers. They work side by side with NRCS employees on conservation projects to improve their local environment. Read more »

When landowners have resource problems, they turn to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and our conservation partners. And when NRCS has challenges, we often turn to our Earth Team volunteers for help. Our more than 30,000 volunteers assist us with conservation planning and technical consultation, outreach and communications, clerical services and hundreds of other tasks.

This is National Volunteer Week and it is the perfect time to recognize our Earth Team volunteers. They do a lot for this agency and our national landscape: They work shoulder-to-shoulder with our conservationists, partners and technicians. They make us a more productive and effective agency and they help create a climate where private lands conservation can continue to succeed. Read more »

Earth Team Volunteer Robert Mosier and his friend Marcella Thomas stand in front of a trailer full of refurbished, soon-to-be-donated bicycles with Jack the dog. NRCS recognizes Robert as its top volunteer for 2011.

When you’re Robert Mosier, it’s easy to be green. He’s a native of Greensburg, Kansas; the community totally leveled in 2007 by a devastating tornado and rebuilt “green” by USDA and other federal agencies, state and local entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals like Mosier. Read more »

Members of the John M. Craddock Wetland Nature Preserve Team construct a walkway through a wetland in Muncie, Ind.

Volunteers are helping to turn an old industrial area of Muncie, Indiana into a wetland where wildlife thrive and people can connect with the outdoors.

Since the John M. Craddock Wetland Nature Preserve Team started its work on the site in 2009, wildlife has moved in, plants are flourishing and insects are buzzing. Now, the buzz in Indiana is about a national award recently presented to the volunteers. Read more »

Written by Jill Clothier, Iowa Earth Team Coordinator, USDA-NRCS

In November of 2009, after reading an article on the USDA website about the People’s Garden Initiative, I approached our Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist, Rich Sims, with the idea of planting a People’s Garden here at the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines, Iowa.  He was immediately receptive to the idea and we contacted General Services Administration (GSA) to start the ball rolling.

 As the Iowa NRCS Earth Team Volunteer Coordinator, I am especially enthused about People’s Gardens.  Not only is it a valuable learning experience about sustainable agriculture on a large or small scale, it is an exceptional volunteer opportunity.  The People’s Garden Initiative brings people together – it truly is a community garden.  The USDA-NRCS, Farm Services Agency, Rural Development, and GSA are working together to make our garden a reality.

 Our bi-level garden will contain a variety of native Iowa plants and grasses.  We are planning on designing signs that will give educational information about each native plant. 

 We are fortunate to have excellent input in our planning process from a variety of people including an Earth Team volunteer and Master Gardener, who drew up sketches of the garden, an NRCS Biologist, and our Federal Building Manager, as well as a host of others who are generously sharing their knowledge and experience and who are donating their time and talents.   

 Our People’s Garden will be an educational tool to inform our community of Iowa’s rich history of native plants.  We are located downtown and are surrounded by concrete office buildings but also by schools, daycare centers, retirement centers, and apartments – all within walking distance of our garden. 

 I have learned so much already just by reading about other People’s Gardens.  I am thankful to have the opportunity to be involved in our community garden!  It is my hope that after getting our native grasses People’s Garden up and running, we will be able to develop a produce garden on the roof of the Neal Smith Federal Building. 

 The enthusiasm for the People’s Garden Initiative is contagious!  I hope in addition to establishing People’s Gardens at USDA offices, that people will take this initiative into their own neighborhoods.  I’ve spoken with several people in my own community about establishing People’s Gardens in other areas such as homeless shelters, nursing homes, schools, to name just a few.  The possibilities are endless and the rewards are great! 

 The community aspect of the People’s Garden Initiative is inspiring.  Each person with whom I’ve visited is immediately enthused and ready to participate.  People who have heard about our project are already volunteering to help, bringing me seeds, suggesting ideas about rainwater collection, container gardening, compost sock gardening, to name just a few.  It is rewarding to see people from all walks of life getting excited about a project, which benefits us all.  The NRCS mission of “Helping People Help the Land” is a perfect match for the People’s Garden Initiative.

  
 Rich Sims, Iowa NRCS State Conservationist, speaks before a crowd of 100 for the groundbreaking ceremony of the People’s Garden at the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines, Iowa.

 
Future site of the Neal Smith Federal Building People’s Garden.