NRCS California Celebrates Earth Team Volunteer Week

DAVIS, Calif., April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is celebrating National Volunteer Week by thanking and honoring its Earth Team volunteers for their service to conservation.  Earth Team is NRCS's official volunteer program. Over the past 12 months, 93 volunteers dedicated approximately 6,700 hours of service to NRCS California valued at nearly $150,000.

"We are grateful for the time and dedication that our Earth Team volunteers have contributed to helping California's farmers and ranchers conserve and protect natural resources over the past year," said Carlos Suarez, NRCS state conservationist for California.  "We wouldn't be as successful in our conservation mission if not for these volunteers, and the dozens of partner organizations we work with." 

Here are just a few examples of the contributions made by California's Earth Team volunteers over the past 12 months:

• An Earth Team volunteer in Hanford, Calif., has contributed more than 100 hours cataloging soil profiles in the Sierra and helping the office prepare for the next soil survey.
• Earth Team volunteers in California's Central Valley have assisted an NRCS biologist monitor Tri-colored Blackbird numbers and nesting. NRCS is in its third year partnering with California farmers to delay silage harvest in order to allow young birds to fully fledge.  

Since the volunteer program was founded in 1985, over 600,000 Earth Team volunteers nationwide have donated 16 million hours to NRCS valued at $400 million.

Anyone, over 14 years old, interested in joining the Earth Team Volunteer Program can sign up at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/ca/people/volunteers/ or by calling Pam Hertzler at (209) 722-4119 Ext 128.

NRCS has provided leadership in a partnership effort to help America's private land owners and managers conserve their soil, water and other natural resources since 1935. For more information on NRCS, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov.

SOURCE USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service