The Natural Resources Program at Central Lakes College and the Baxter Field Office of the National Resource Conservation Service were honored Wednesday with the Chief’s Field Office National Earth Team Volunteer Award.

This national award, handed out by the United States Department of Agriculture, recognizes the outstanding work of only one group of volunteers from across the nation.

The partnership between the college and the city’s NRCS field office began back in 2019, when Natural Resources students and people from the field office spent a day on a producer’s facility near Jenkins. Students participated in silvopasturing projects, pasture assessments, and toured the dairy farm operations. NRCS field office staff organized the day and brought in a variety of resource professionals to work with students, giving them a very broad perspective on the issues discussed.

Kent Montgomery, a Natural Resources Instructor as CLC, wanted the program to give his students more real-life experiences.

“The goal was to incorporate agriculture experiences into our program,” said Montgomery. This was a great way to start and we are adding more experiences, including working to develop a stackable certificate for our NR students that would allow them direct entry into a NRCS position with their two-year degree from CLC.”

By — Chris Burns