Cascadia Conservation District
Serving Chelan County

Our Federal Partner

On April 27, 1935, Congress established the Soil Conservation Service, or SCS, in the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a federally led response to the Dust Bowl crisis.  Over time the SCS had to adapt and tailor its services to changing agricultural conditions, congressional mandates and public concerns.  In 1994, the name of the SCS was changed to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as a result of a federal agency reorganization act and to reflect the evolving scope of duties the agency is responsible for.

The role of the NRCS is to work cooperatively with conservation district staff and the agricultural community to conserve, maintain and enhance the quality of natural resources.  The NRCS is our primary federal conservation partner.  They provide us with technical assistance, in-kind services, personnel training opportunities, and practice standards that we use to help design and implement projects.  More importantly, they provide valuable technical and financial assistance to private landowners interested in implementing conservation practices on their land.  To learn more about NRCS programs go to http://www.nrcs.usda.gov or call the NRCS Wenatchee Field Office at (509) 662-1141 ext 123.

NRCS Wenatchee Field Office Staff

 

Joe Lange, Engineer
(509) 415-3687

Joe is the State Design Engineer for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provides a vast array of engineering assistance to landowners throughout Washington State. He is the Washington State NRCS technical lead for fish passage, hydrology, and hydraulics. Joe was raised on a fruit orchard in Yakima, has a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Washington State University (GO COUGS!), and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Washington. He started his career with the NRCS, then the Soil Conservation Service, in 1987 as an engineering student intern and has spent his entire 30+ year NRCS career providing engineering assistance in Washington State. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, many outdoor activities, and recently viticulture and enology.

Chris Wright, Resource Conservationist

(509) 415-3692

Chris started with NRCS as a Soil Conservation Technician in Montesano Washington in the fall of 2008.  I spent nearly 6 years working on diverse projects along the coast and learning from a great group of experienced NRCS employees.  In 2014 I became a Soil Conservationist and moved to the Chehalis field office.  I spent my time there assisting a diverse group of landowners with conservation planning. Most recently, November 2016, I made the move to Wenatchee and became the Resource Conservationist to service Chelan County. Up until moving to Wenatchee I had spent my entire life on the west side of the mountains, so this change brings about new challenges. The opportunity to work with completely different types of agriculture and with much different producer demographics as well as slightly different climate. When not at work I enjoy hiking, fishing and golf, outdoors and hockey and football indoors.