We salute our Senior Conservationists for building and maintaining a very strong agency. Their legacy continues on the land and in the people they continue to serve.

Any retiree who served in SCS or NRCS and who meets these criteria will be named a Senior Conservationist:

            ●  Must have served in the SCS or NRCS and be at least 83 years of age.

            ●  Must complete and submit the Senior Conservationist Questionnaire.

            Note: Retiree does not have to be a member of ARCSE to qualify.

For a list of current Senior Conservationists, click here

For a list of deceased Senior Conservationists, click here

Every Newsletter has a Senior Chronicles section highlighting the Live of a Senior Conservation. The Senior Chronicles are available below.

The Latest Senior Conservationist Chronicles

Senior Conservationist Robert T. Heidecker

Robert Heidecker was born on October 25, 1939 at Bethlehem, PA. He earned his BS degree at Penn State in June, 1961. His wife, Carole J., passed away 9/22. He has one son, one daughter, and two grandchildren and grew up on a farm near Quakertown, PA.

He started with SCS as a student trainee soil scientist in 1959 and was assigned to a field location as a soil conservationist in 1961. He served in the US Army beginning in 1962, six months active duty and 5½ years reserved duty, with honorable discharge in 1968. He served as a soil conservationist in 1962 and served as a work unit conservationist from 1962 through 1974, then as Area Conservationist beginning in 1974, and State Resource Conservationist in 1978. He retired in January, 1997, in Harrisburg, PA.

Bob did assessments of large National Pork Producers Association operations for three years. His hobbies include gardening and being an avid Penn State football fan. He is an active member of the Carlisle Reformed Presbyterian Church. He became a Master Gardener through the Extension Service in 1998, receiving his Master Gardener Emeritus status in 2008. In cooperation with the Cumberland County Nursing Home, he developed Extension Service trial and demonstration gardens and received an award as Garden of the Month featured on the front page of the Carlisle newspaper. The gardens were used to educate the public on gardening.

He is a past President of the Keystone Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and also past President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of ARCSE for five years. He has presented numerous technical papers at SWCS national meetings. Bob has had some serious health problems including advanced prostate cancer, for which he received a life-time dose of radiation treatments in 2003. Bobcan be reached at 6 Enck Drive, Boiling Springs, PA 17007’ 717-258-3328; [email protected]

Senior Conservationist Ross L. Ulmer

Ross Ulmer was born 02/24/1939 in Angola, Indiana. He earned his BS degree in agricultural engineering in 1961, at Purdue University. He grew up on a dairy farm in northern Indiana. He began his career on the SCS Engineering Staff in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1961. He served in the US Army in Germany from 1962 to 1964, then returned to the SCS as Project/Area Engineering from 1965 to 1970 in Sullivan, Indiana. He was a Planning Engineer from 1970 to 1974 in Paoli, Indiana. He served as Assistant State Engineer in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1974 through 1994, when he retired from the NRCS.

He worked part time for an engineering firm in Jackson, Mississippi from 1994 through 2002. He was also an engineering consultant on small dams in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1994 through 2002, and an engineering consultant on small dams in McDonough, Georgia from 2002 through 2020.

He currently serves as Deacon in his Church and also teaches Sunday School. He enjoys traveling, gardening, and fishing and says that he is blessed with good health. He cruised the Panama Canal in April of 2023.

You can reach Ross at 325 The Gables Dr., McDonough, Georgia 30253; 770-833-4955; [email protected]. He married Patricia in 1960. She died in 2014. He is married to Marilyn and has one son, one daughter, and two grandchildren.

Senior Conservationist John F. Rice, P.E.

Senior Conservationist John F. Rice was born December 10th, 1932 in Grundy County, MO. He currently lives at 1200 Homelife Plaza, Rolla, MO 65401. He graduated with a BS in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1962.

He married Margaret in 1954, and they have one son, three daughters, six grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. He was in the US Navy for 4 years before starting work for the SCS as an Area Engineer in Missouri from 1964 to 1972. He was the Assistant State Conservation Engineer in North Carolina from 1972 to 1984 and the Drainage and Water Management Engineer at the Midwest National Technical Center in Lincoln, NE from 1984 to 1992 when he retired.

After retiring from the NRCS he worked as a consulting engineer, farmer, and Grundy County SWCD Supervisor in Missouri. His hobbies are traveling, fishing, hunting, and gardening.

He is currently a church Deacon and Sunday School teacher. He is a board member for a local county museum. He has worked on short-term mission projects with a team to plan and design water supply facilities in three West African countries. He was elected to serve on his local SWCD Board of Supervisors from 1994 to 2022.

You can reach John at [email protected] or by phone at 660-339-2952.

Senior Conservationist Neil Sampson

Neil Sampson

Neil Sampson was born 11/29/1938 in Spokane, WA. He earned his BS degree in agronomy in June, 1960, at the University of Idaho. He earned his MPA in June, 1974, at Harvard University. He has been married to Jeanne Louise Sampson from 1960 to present. They have three sons, Robert, Eric, and Christopher; daughter Heidi; and seven grandchildren.

He started work with the SCS as a soil conservationist in Burley, Idaho i960 to 1962. He held the following positions: District Conservationist, Orofino, Idaho, 1962-1967; Dryland Agronomist, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 1967-1968; State Information Specialist, Boise, Idaho, 1968-1972; Program Manager, Land Use, Idaho Planning Agency (on IPA loan), 1972-1973; Soil Conservationist, Land Use Division, Washington, DC, 1974-1976; and Acting Director, Environmental Services Division, Washington, DC, 1976-1978, when he retired. He received the Hugh Hammond Bennett Award from the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

After retiring in 1978, he held the following positions: Executive V-P, National Association of Conservation Districts, Wash. DC 1978-1984; Exec V-P, American Forests, Washington DC, 1984-1995; President, The Sampson Group, Alexandria, VA, 1995-2000; and President, Vision Forestry, Salisbury, MD, 1999-2018.

He is the author of over 100 book chapters, journals, and popular articles, including Farmland or Wasteland: A Time to Choose (1981) and For Love of the Land (1985).

You can reach Neil at 5209 York Road, Alexandria, VA 22310; 703-971-8238; [email protected].

Senior Conservationist Ronald C. Page

Senior Conservationist Ronald C. Page was born November 22nd, 1939, in Paterson, NJ, graduated from the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ, received a BA in geology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and an MS in geology from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. In 1961 he married his college sweetheart Lois Mecum.

Ron’s began his career as a geologist in Harrisburg, PA, on the Susquehanna River Basin staff in 1963. Moving to Syracuse, NY, he continued his career in geology on the Watershed Planning staff and then to Somerset, New Jersey. From there he became the Watershed/River Basin staff leader in Lansing, MI, an Assistant State Conservationist for Watersheds in Athens, GA.

In 1980 he accepted a position on the Watershed Planning Staff at Headquarters where he remained until his retirement in 2001. Primary responsibilities included the keeping the watershed planning manual up-to-date, Coordinator of the RC&D program and finally as the EWP coordinator.

As a graduate student at WVU, Ron held a part-time lab assistant position with the WVU Geological Survey while compiling a geologic map of the Martinsburg, WV quadrangle which was published in 1965. He was also known for establishing a combined Watershed Plan and Environmental Impact Statement into one document in 1972.

Since retiring, Ron and Lois have remained in the Northern Virginia area where they are active in their church as choir members and elders. Otherwise, they can be found on the golf course, traveling, and volunteering. The family has increased to include three daughters, seven grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.

–1995 to present, Marion Soil and Water Conservation District Associate Director and Professional Engineer Volunteer.