Excerpt
A century after first getting involved in conservation, society still expects government to play a role, and is willing to invest in conservation programs that work, both on public and private lands. Federal agencies must maintain an effective workforce of natural resource management professionals if they are to make this investment pay off for the American public. But staying effective will involve changes in the makeup, training, and deployment of natural resource managers within federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Several trends will determine the look of this workforce's changing face. First, the number of federal natural resource management workers is stabilizing after a period of decline in the 1990s. The budget crunch of the 1990s was not good news for those practicing or preparing for federal government careers in natural resource management. The federal workforce has been getting smaller for at least a decade, with the private sector taking on many kinds of work once done by the government.
Second, workers will be younger and, initially, less experienced. Agencies are preparing to meet the challenges presented by rapid turnover in natural …
Footnotes
Mark E. Rey, is a under secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Copyright 2003 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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