04/22/05 Earth day - Earth team

Today is Earth Day. And while one may have the perception that Earth Day revolves around saving the environment and conserving our planet's natural resources from an extreme environmental bent, in reality all citizens are asked to make the effort to practice conservation steps. And it has been said that farmers and ranchers are among the best conservationists. Evidence of this is a group of volunteers created in 1981 under U.S.D.A.'s Natural Resources Conservation Service to help meet the workload of that year's Farm Bill. By 1985, this group of national volunteers had a name & the Earth Team. The goal of this N.R.C.S. program is using the volunteer's time, talent, and energy to reach agency conservation goals. KNIGHT: During Fiscal Year 2004, 41,000 Earth Team volunteers donated more than 980,000 hours of their time to conservation. N.R.C.S. Chief Bruce Knight says that translates to a value of $17 million dollars, or put another way a return of $86 to U.S.D.A. for every one dollar in federal investment in conservation efforts. So what is the model of a local Earth Team? If you based it on the annual Earth Team award sponsored by N.R.C.S. and the National Association of Conservation Districts to the local Earth Team who best exemplifies the partnership between federal employees and volunteers, it would be the Polk County Oregon Soil and Water Conservation District. Knight says their numerous accomplishments have not only aided conservation staffs but have helped reduced costs. KNIGHT: Polk County Earth Team volunteers have done the following. Creek clean-ups, park maintenance, invasive weed inventory, web page management, brochure and flyer publications, and office assistance and organization. Earth Team interns worked on specialized projects including fishery studies and improving G.I.S. applications in farming. In addition, Knight recognized Polk County Earth Team for developing a core group of volunteer instructors including Oregon State University extension staff, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department officials, and Soil and Water Conservation directors. Oregon State N.R.C.S. conservationist Bob Graham also admires what Polk County Earth Team has done. GRAHAM: Today, everybody seems to be busy with all of your family activities and trying to make a living and everything else. And yet, these dedicated people take time from their busy lives to do things to help in conservation.