Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

      Rick Swenson was selected as the regional conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s East Region, based in Beltsville, Md. He succeeded Humberto Hernandez, who served in that position from October 1998 until July 2000, and who is now the regional conservationist for NRCS’s South Central Region, based in Fort Worth, Texas.

      From April 1994 until his recent selection, Swenson served as the NRCS state conservationist for New York, based in Syracuse. He was the agency’s deputy state conservationist for Colorado, based in Lakewood, from 1992-94, after having been the deputy state conservationist for Massachusetts, based in Amherst, from 1990- 92.

      Swenson served as an NRCS area conservationist in Fresno, Calif., from 1987-89, after having served as an area conservationist in Las Cruces, N.M., from 1982-87. From 1980-82 he worked as an NRCS district conservationist in Phoenix, Ariz., after having worked from 1978-80 as a district conservationist in Clovis, N.M. He was a soil conservationist for the agency in Albuquerque, N.M., from 1976-78. He began his NRCS career as a soil conservationist trainee in Los Lunas, N.M., in 1976.

      A native of Chandler, Ariz., Swenson holds a B.S. degree in agricultural science from Arizona State University and an M.A. degree in public administration from Syracuse University.