Featured Wyoming Employee Vignette

Featured Volunteer:  DeMont Grandy
Job Title/Location:  District Conservationist, Cokeville, Wyoming
Date:  March 2008

Meet DeMont Grandy

We should all do our part for conservation

Conservation is important to me because since childhood, I was taught to take care of what was given to me as best as possible by wise parents who lived through the Great Depression of the 20s and 30s.  This home-taught principle fit well into the conservation of natural resources.  Sometimes we take for granted that abundant food will always be part of our lives.  Our forefathers planned and conserved for our welfare.  We should do our part.

I’ve dedicated my professional life to conservation because of my love for the land and what it can produce on a renewable basis if taken care of properly.  It is amazing to me how far production agriculture has come the last century.  By conserving and wisely using our natural resources, our nation will remain strong and viable.  I felt that I could make a difference conserving natural resources due to my rural background and concern for people’s welfare.

The best thing I enjoy about working for the NRCS is the opportunity to work with agriculture producers.  I feel the ranchers and farmers I work with in my district are the best people in the world.  They are dedicated, hardworking people who have a love for the land.  These individuals want to be good stewards of their lands because their family livelihood depends upon it.

I help people help the land by assisting them to recognize the resource limitations and concerns on their individual properties.  I try to help them look at their ground using a holistic resource management system approach.  Once the initial natural resource inventory is completed, a conservation plan is developed and then installation of best management and structure conservation practices are started.  This results in the protection of our nation’s grass and farmlands for future generations of people. 

I’d like my conservation legacy to be one of being knowledgeable and giving sound technical advice to solve resource problems on district cooperators’ lands.  I have had the opportunity to serve in a county now for 26 plus years as the district conservationist.  Not only have I had the opportunity to plan numerous conservation practices but also install them.  I have learned from my mistakes and now feel my efforts have had a positive influence in the conservation of our nation’s natural resources.  There is hardly a farm or ranch in my district that I have not had some involvement in their conservation efforts.  I know the cooperators appreciate my efforts.