Working as a Soil Scientist

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helps private land owners in the US conserve soil, water, and other natural resources. Established in 1935 as the Soil Conservation Service, the NRCS provides financial and technical assistance for conservation activities, manages natural resource conservation programs, and offers expertise in a variety of agricultural arenas (animal husbandry and clean water, ecological sciences, and social science, to name a few). The Department of Agriculture division additionally participates in international scientific and technical exchanges with foreign governments. The agency's budget is about $3.6 billion per year.

The University of California, Riverside is not among the best known of the 10 UC campuses, but it is home to about 17,000 students, including some 2,000 graduate students. The campus covers 1,200 acres and is located 50 miles east of Los Angeles. A branch campus is located in Palm Desert. The school has its origins in a citrus agricultural station established in 1907, where grad students did coursework. A college opened for classes in early 1954, and it was designated a university in 1959. UC Riverside offers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as Ph.D. programs. Students can choose to study a variety of subjects including engineering, agricultural sciences, business management, or education.

Responsible for managing more than 190 million acres of national forests and grasslands, the USDA Forest Service is the largest agency of the US Department of Agriculture and has the conflicting mission of both preserving public forest lands and overseeing the commercial harvesting of its timber. The National Forest System consists of 155 national forests and 20 grasslands in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Through various programs, the agency, which began in 1905, provides states and private landowners with technical and financial assistance to promote rural economic development and improve the natural environment of cities and communities.

From the mountains to the prairies, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is on the lookout. Started in 1946, the BLM manages about 250 million acres of public land (about 13% of total US land surface) and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, most of it in Alaska and other western states. The bureau also performs soil and watershed management on more than 260 million acres, administers some 57 million acres of commercial forest, and is responsible for fire protection and wildfire management of public lands in Alaska and the West. Part of the Department of the Interior, the BLM manages energy, minerals, timber, forage, wild horse and burro populations, fish and wildlife habitat, and wilderness areas.