The idea of forming a national employees association was conceived in February 1984, in the basement of the Hilton Hotel in Denver. Three district employees met, discussed objectives and benefits and shared their visions of what roles district employees could play on the national level. Their belief was that district employees are very valuable tools, which could be used to implement conservation programs and assist district officials serving at the national level as advisors.

During the late 1980's employees and leaders of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) began exploring ways to increase communication and involvement between districts nationwide. In 1987, NACD President Clarence Durban appointed district employee Don Aron of Wisconsin, as the employee advisor to NACD District Operations Committee. Aron began involving employees at the national level and building an employee network through NACD.

It was soon realized that a structure was needed to communicate with the nearly 6,000 district employees. At the 1989 NACD conference in Salt Lake City, district employees in attendance agreed to distribute a survey, to seek input on the type of organizational structure needed. The results of the survey were overwhelmingly in support of a national employees organization affiliated with NACD. NACD President Robert Wetherbee established a Special Committee, to fully explore the issue of district employee involvement in NACD. The Committee was comprised of one district employee representative from each of the seven (7) NACD Regions and a non-voting chair. The Committee, during the 1990 NACD conference in San Diego, voted unanimously to form a national employees association that would be affiliated with NACD.

The Committee created a draft bylaw document for the formation of a national employees association at the 1991 NACD conference in Atlanta. After comments were received, he Committee held a conference call on August 21, 1991 with District Operations Committee Chairman Gerald Vap and Staff Advisor Ray Ledgerwood. Amendments were made to the bylaws and approved by the Committee. Employee advisor nominations were submitted from each Region, advisors were selected by the Committee and then approved by NACD President Wetherbee. This was the first time that district employees served as advisors to NACD Committees.

By laws of the National Conservation District Employees Association (NCDEA) were adopted by the Committee of seven (7) regional representatives on February 3, 1992 at the NACD conference in Reno. The next day NACD council Members passed an amendment to NACD bylaws establishing NCDEA as a NACD affiliated organization.

Don Aron of Wisconsin served as the first NCDEA President (North Central Region); Vice President was Kay Wasinger of Kansas (Northern Plains Region); Jim Armstrong of Washington (Pacific Region) served as Treasurer; and Shirley Ball from Arkansas (South Central Region) as NCDEA Secretary. The remaining Board of Representatives included Martha Buff of North Carolina (Southeastern Region), LeRoy Gross of Pennsylvania (Northeastern Regions) and Mary Jo Mills of Colorado (Southwestern Region).

Since the formation of NCDEA, district employees have been invited to participate in all NACD committees, tasks forces and special committees, various U.S. Department of Agriculture councils and committees, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's national committees.

With the program responsibilities we have, we must maintain and improve employee professionalism to strengthen district programs at all levels. We need communication to exchange information, learn from one another and create good innovative programs. We also need to work with our district officials at the state, regional, and national levels to ensure that district's remain the delivery system for natural resource management programs.
 

National Conservation District Employees Association - Presidents

2009 - Present  Connie Richmeier

2007 - 2009        Cindy Moon, Illinois

2004 - 2006        Robert Dobbs, New Jersey

2002 - 2003        Rich Baden, Washington

1999 - 2002        Martha Buff, North Carolina

1996 - 1999        Shirley Ball, Arkansas

1993 - 1996        Kay Wasinger, Kansas

1992 - 1993        Donald Aron, Wisconsin