Kristi Gay:  NRCS Employee National Earth Team Award Winner

NRCS Employee National Earth Team Award Winner Kristi Gay (NRCS photo -- click to enlarge)

"I love volunteers,"  says Colorado NRCS conservationist Kristi Gay.  "When you spend time in a rural area, there are few things that happen anywhere without people who care about their community and volunteer to get things done."

 Kristi has been fortunate to live and work in several rural communities during her 24 years working for NRCS.  As staffing declined in the Flagler Field Office over the years, it was a challenge to accomplish all the things the staff wanted to do. 

Eastern Colorado experiences blizzard conditions every winter so living snow fences need to be strategically planned to provide protection along roadways by capturing wind driven snow and keeping snow and ice from creating driving hazards.  In her career, she coordinated or participated in 36 living snow fence plantings.  Obtaining funds to purchase trees and fabric mulch was always a challenge, but utilizing volunteer community groups, such as the local chapters of Future Farmers of America, Girl and Boy Scouts of America, National Honor Society members, Pheasants Forever, Conservation District Board members, church groups, landowners, and neighbors to help has been Kristi's most rewarding activity.  Most of the plantings span six to twenty years creating a scenic, long term benefit for residents and travelers.  Even more lasting however, are the memories these volunteers have of being involved in the plantings and their association with a beneficial project for their community while they learned about conservation.

She has made it a point to include conservation education in all of her NRCS volunteer activities.  As an Earth Team volunteer herself, she have served as a merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts of America instructing for the Soil and Water Conservation merit badge since 1989, teaching about land stewardship and wildlife habitat to the annual High Plains District Camporee.  This camporee draws from the entire Pikes Peak Council with an average of up to 300 scouts attending.  Participating scouts may take their pick from a selection of merit badges and activities over the weekend camp out.

"My own family is not immune to the volunteer bug!  My husband is working on repairing a living snow fence sign that blew down in a blizzard and his help with a shovel is always useful," said Kristi.   "As my children grew they worked along side me and other scouts, helping to hand out staples, and serving as ‘runners’ back and forth to the truck to supply us with trees as we planted replacements and performed maintenance.  They were ‘unofficial’ volunteers just having fun being outside.  Now that two of them are 15 and 17, they are perfectly trained for the Earth Team volunteer program.  Volunteering 'grows good kids.'  Even my 73 year-old mother has spent time filing in my office and she loved being able to help!"

"A volunteer is who I am, and I want you to join me" exclaims Kristi.  "There’s no better feeling than to fill a need, create a memory, get some exercise, and do something good for the earth.  Join the Earth Team!"