Nevada State Conservationist Bruce Petersen

Bruce Petersen became Nevada's state conservationist on Jan. 4, 2009.  He brings 22 years of experience with him to Nevada. He started as a soil conservation technician in Minnesota, working his way up to soil conservationist then district conservationist. He also worked for several years as a technician for conservation districts in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Field experience has given him a good background in all sides of our agency, including the technical, engineering and Farm Bill program areas.

He has worked for the NRCS in Wyoming for 11 years, serving most recently as assistant state conservationist for operations. From 2001–2006, Petersen had responsibility for statewide oversight and leadership of all Farm Bill programs. In 2006, he also assumed the duties of partnership liaison to strengthen the relationship with conservation districts and the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts.

“My experience working for conservation districts has given me first-hand knowledge of the importance of our partnership,” said Petersen. “Strengthening the relationship between NRCS and districts, and with other partners in Nevada, will be one of my highest priorities.”

Petersen has a Bachelor’s of Science in geography from Minnesota State University and studied Agricultural Business Management at the University of Minnesota.

Messages from the State Conservationist

• It’s a New Day for Conservation in Nevada 

Reno, Oct. 27 — It’s a new day, a new Farm Bill, and a new way of doing business for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Nevada.  It looks like we will have an adequate budget this year.  2010 will be our agency’s 75th anniversary and I am optimistic that it will be a very good year.

Our Chief, Dave White, has asked us to work on three things:  implementing the new Farm Bill, getting our house in order at every level of the organization, and creating a climate in which NRCS can succeed by working closely with partners and forging new alliances.  In fewer words, he wants us to take care of business.

With that in mind, we want to promote more and different Farm Bill programs in Nevada, including the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) and the Private-Federal Grazing Lands Initiative that allows us to fund conservation practices on public land.  You’ll be hearing more about that initiative in future messages.

Our State Technical Committee Meeting will be held on Nov. 16, conducted by videoconference from several sites throughout the state.  I hope you will be able to participate and share your ideas on how we can take care of business in Nevada. 

I will be making presentations on the 2008 Farm Bill at the Nevada Assoc. of Conservation Districts’ Annual Meeting in Fallon, Nov. 3-4, and at the joint Nevada/California Cattlemen’s Conference in Sparks, Nov. 11-13.  The Fourth National Conference on Grazing Lands will also be held in Sparks, Dec. 13-16.  I hope to meet many of you at these meetings. 

 

• Natural Resources Conservation Service Provides Free, Voluntary Assistance to Agricultural Producers

Reno, July 21 - In January, I became the state conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Nevada.  These first few months have flown by.  I’ve had a chance to meet many of you as I’ve worked my way around the state, and I look forward to meeting many more of you.

One of the things I’m hearing consistently is that you don’t understand NRCS and Farm Bill programs. I’d like to help change that by writing monthly messages to help explain our agency, Farm Bill programs, our partnerships, and many more topics that I hope will give you a better understanding of what we do. 

Since this is my first message, I’d like to start off by giving you a general overview of our agency.  The NRCS is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Our primary responsibility is helping private landowners protect and conserve natural resources.  Here in Nevada, we have 9 field offices located throughout the state in addition to our State Office that is located in Reno.  We have about 70 full time employees and, during this summer, about 12 student employees.  I have a strong commitment to helping students apply their studies in the real world.  We also have 3 coordinators who assist local resource and conservation development councils.  I will cover their accomplishments in a future article. 

Each of our field offices is run by a district conservationist.  Some offices have additional staff, such as range conservationists, soil scientists, and engineering technicians, who help landowners solve natural resource problems.  Conservation technical assistance is the mainframe of our agency.  We work with landowners to identify resource issues and solve them on a voluntary basis.  For example, if your irrigation system needs improvement, you can call your NRCS field office and invite the district conservationist out to your property.  He or she will evaluate your system and make suggestions on how it can be improved.  They will also look at your crop productivity, potential for erosion, and other factors that may be affecting your bottom line and causing resource problems, and help identify ways to correct them.  This assistance is free and totally voluntary.

However, if problems are identified and you’d like financial assistance to help cover the costs of installing the conservation practice, that’s where Farm Bill programs come in.  I’ll cover that in the next edition.

Please feel free to contact your local NRCS office at any time with a request for assistance, resource concern or question.  We can be found on the Web at www.nv.nrcs.usda.gov, or in the phone book under US Government.  I can be reached at (775) 857-8500.  Call me if you want to talk.

• Nevada State Office Staff
   

Helping People Help The Land

Last Modified: 10/29/2009

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