Brian Baiamonte - Changing the world one individual at a time

Brian Baiamonte may now be a district conservationist in Shreveport and acting district conservationist in Mansfield, but it wasn’t too long ago that Brian walked into an NRCS field office for the first time. “I got introduced to the agency by accident. I was taking a soil science class and needed a soil survey manual. I stopped into a field office and met a fellow student who was actually volunteering in that very field office,” said Brian. “He recommended volunteering and…next week I did.”

One week after his graduation from Northwestern State University, Brian was employed as a district technician. Six months later, he was hired by NRCS as a soil conservation technician. “It is very important to have a volunteer mechanism in place to introduce our work, jobs, agency and conservation to the public, community and future partners and potential employees,” said Brian. “Volunteers help us accomplish our goals on many levels, and volunteering benefits – it helped me get exposure to the agency and to find a career.”

As a district conservationist, Brian establishes and nurtures new partnerships, customer relations and expands our conservation efforts. Recently, Brian worked closely with the conservation districts in both DeSoto and Caddo Parishes to conduct locally led conservation meetings, which helped to identify natural resource concerns throughout both parishes. Brian sees locally led conservation as a positive way to get residents within the parishes to participate in conservation, to become involved in conservation efforts, and to become aware of the conservation partnerships that are working hard to get conservation on the land.

“Our locally led conservation meetings went extremely well,” said Brian. “We had active participation in the meetings and gained valuable information from the community.”

Brian also sees conservation partnerships as a vital step towards implementing our programs and helping people help the land. “We’ve recently partnered with Ducks Unlimited to help with wetland activities. We are working with Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, our Soil and Water Conservation District, and Earth Team volunteers – it takes strong partnerships and volunteers.”

When asked what he likes most about being a district conservationist, Brian will simply state in his calm and quite manner, “I like working directly, one on one, with the landowners, community and partners. I like seeing the individual put conservation on the land and assisting them in their efforts.”

For Brian Baiamonte, success isn’t measured by how far his career will take him; instead he sees his achievements through the success of the individuals and partners he strives to assist.
“I can’t solve the world’s problems, but I can help one individual at a time to solve his or her problems. I can help the individual make some real positive changes that will have positive effects on a larger scale, and that is success.”

Brian Baiamonte - volunteer, district conservationist, father…helping people help the land and succeeding along the way.