Cassiday receives Outstanding Conservationist award

Cassiday, a Chadron native, graduated from CSC in 2004 after studying Agriculture and Natural Sciences. He served as a teaching assistant in the CSC biology department and graduated in 2008 with a Master of Arts in Education degree. Cassiday said the most meaningful part of his master’s program at CSC was the statistics courses, which he continues to use.

His studies under Dr. Charles Butterfield, former CSC professor and department chair, led to a summer job for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) collecting rangeland vegetation and soil data as part of the National Resources Inventory project. This experience pushed him down the path to his current role as a public and private land conservationist in Sheridan with the USDA NRCS.

Cassiday works primarily with private landowners on conservation projects for agricultural operations. He also works with partner agencies and non-governmental organizations including Northeast Wyoming Invasive Grasses Working Group, University of Wyoming Extension, Sheridan County Weed and Pest, The Nature Conservancy, Wyoming Game and Fish, Sheridan Community Land Trust, Plank Stewardship Initiative, USDA Farm Service Agency, and the Sheridan County Conservation District.

Cassiday and the staff at the Sheridan Field Office provide technical assistance for planning, evaluating alternatives, engineering design, and other areas, and offer financial assistance through NRCS conservation programs. They have worked on projects to control invasive grasses, manage grazing land, update irrigation systems, conserve easements, and manage agricultural soil health.

The Sheridan County Conservation District nominated Cassiday as the Outstanding Conservationist of 2021 and the Wyoming Conservation District, a partner of the USDA, presented the award to him in late November.

“It was an honor and a privilege to receive (the award). A lot of fantastic crew members are with the conservation district and their board is a very positive and effective team, so it was an honor to be recognized by them and by the state association,” Cassiday said.

—Abigail Swanson, College Relations