Jon Barten -- NRCS Wisconsin Earth Team Volunteer

NRCS Wisconsin Earth Team volunteer Jon Barten  (NRCS image -- click to enlarge)

University of Wisconsin at La Crosse (UWL) geography major Jon Barten has been working as an Earth Team Volunteer at the Onalaska Field Office since 2007.  Jon came to NRCS to satisfy an internship requirement at UWL and to learn more about geographic information systems (GIS) used by NRCS in Wisconsin.

Jon volunteers an average of 4 hours per week creating conservation map and soil map layouts for the field office customer files.  Jon uses ArcMap GIS software to accomplish these tasks.  He has also helped out with field surveys and designs using the GPS differential receiver to collect data points.  This has been very helpful in getting correct distance measurements for such practices as grass waterways and streambank protection.  Besides his GIS work, Jon has been an asset to the field office creating and organizing customer files.

By the time Jon’s internship is complete, Jon will have volunteered 120 hours on the Wisconsin NRCS Earth Team.
Your contact is NRCS public affairs specialist Renae Anderson at 605-662-4422, ext. 227.