Travis Thomason, director for the Pacific Islands Area at the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, has been named state conservationist for NRCS-Vermont. He succeeds Vicky Drew, who retired last July after nearly 38 years of service.
In his new position, Thomason, who has been with NRCS since 2005, will oversee more than 70 federal soil conservationists, engineers and program administrators in 11 offices throughout the state.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who has championed USDA conservation programs as the senior-most member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and former chair of the committee, said: “I welcome Mr Thomason to Vermont and look forward to supporting his work. NRCS programs are tremendously important to Vermont farmers, especially as our farm sector has moved quickly to address water quality concerns.”
“I look forward to working closely with all of our conservation-minded employees and partners in Vermont, and I want to help build on the strong commitment to natural resources that people expect when they work with NRCS,” Thomason said. “NRCS is already focused on issues that are important to Vermonters — from water and soil quality, to climate-smart agriculture — and our team will continue to work through strong partnerships to achieve those goals. I appreciate the opportunity to continue the impactful work already being done by this team of professionals.”
Thomason is originally from Idaho, where he grew up in a small farming community. He majored in agronomy at Brigham Young University and began his career with NRCS in 2005 as a soil conservationist in Utah. He later served as a district conservationist in Utah and Pennsylvania, and then returned to Utah in 2011 as assistant state conservationist for field operations. During this time he also held other leadership assignments, such as acting state conservationist in Idaho and acting environmental quality incentives program team lead in Washington, DC.