SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- Datil resident Anne Schwebke was given special recognition by the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, April 4, in Las Cruces for years of service as an Earth Team volunteer to area ranchers.

?For years the USDA-NRCS Datil Field Office was a one person office,? said Dennis Alexander, NRCS state conservationist. ?Schwebke, as a volunteer working with her husband ? district conservationist Bill Schwebke ? served as a rod person when Bill surveyed dams and erosion control structures. She walked the wheel measuring pipelines and fences.?



The beneficiaries of Schwebke?s volunteer work were the Datil ranchers who worked with NRCS to bring conservation improvements to their operations. She is being recognized for the example she has set in the NRCS agency for how volunteers working through the agency can benefit their communities.

?It is Anne?s can-do spirit that makes our ranching communities and people who live in them such special places in the American West,? Alexander said. ?We are proud to give her this small recognition for so many hours of dedicated service.?