National Volunteer Week - Message from the Chief

National Volunteer Week began more than three decades ago through an executive order establishing an annual celebration of volunteering. Since then, every President of the United States, as well as many governors, mayors, and other elected officials, has signed a proclamation promoting National Volunteer Week.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has been utilizing the assistance of volunteers since 1982. Our Earth Team was formally organized in 1985 in response to the workload increases of the Farm Bill legislation passed that year. As we look ahead to the 2007 Farm Bill, we want to encourage you to remember and recognize our volunteers. These valuable partners will assist us in helping people help the land and, as potential employees, provide us with an opportunity to promote NRCS as the "Employer of Choice."

The 2007 theme is "Earth Team Volunteers - Caring Is Always In Season" and will be celebrated April 15-21, 2007. This is a great opportunity to thank our volunteers, as well as our volunteer coordinators, who provide this service as a collateral duty. The National Earth Team office has distributed a packet to assist with promoting National Volunteer Week.

During 2006, Earth Team Volunteers helped in areas such as field work, data collection, resource survey and analysis, planning assistance, contract and project support, monitoring and evaluation of Wetlands Reserve Program habitat characteristics, conservation engineering assistance, administrative support, and conservation education. Last year, approximately 45,000 volunteers donated an estimated 996,000 hours - equivalent to $17 million worth of service to our Agency. Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia each reported at least one volunteer in every office in fiscal year 2006. Congratulations and thank you for promoting this resource!

We believe that our volunteers will continue to be an integral part of the conservation team. We encourage you to take this opportunity to thank our Earth Team members and our staff who support this effort during National Volunteer Week.

If you have questions about the Earth Team, please contact your area administrative specialist.

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National Volunteer Week - Message From the Chief (PDF; 44 KB)

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Last Modified: 09/18/2008