Ms. Hynes, began her professional training with a Bachelor of Science in Botany from Oregon State University. For graduate school, she decided to “dig” deeper and explore the below ground environment. She obtained her Doctorate of Philosophy at University of California, Davis in Soils and Biogeochemistry in 2009. She has worked as a consulting soil scientist since 2010 and obtained her Certified Professional Soil Scientist certification in 2013. She began her own company “Talus Soil Consulting” in 2014. During this time she also began teaching at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB).  From 2020-23, Meagan  was an adjunct research faculty at CSUMB for a project implementing healthy soil practices. Currently, her teaching has focused on soil management. To keep her sanity outside of work, Meagan enjoys hiking and mountain biking.

After a short time working construction and in law enforcement, Nathan Jones finished his degree in Environmental Soil Science at the University of Georgia.  He started working for NRCS in Wyoming in 2006 mapping soils on an initial soil survey crew.  In 2010, Mr. Jones and his family then moved to South Dakota where he worked on updating soil survey information until he was selected as the State Soil Scientist in 2014.  Mr. Jones is responsible for anything soil and soil health related across the state.  He enjoys teaching most anywhere, but especially at the local middle school where he talks each fall about soil and why we need to take care of it.  He and his wife have four children, only one left at home now.  They enjoy pretty much anything related to the outdoors.

Ms. Konjevoda has been with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) since 2018, first as a student intern in Waite Park office in Minnesota. After graduation, Annie joined the Peace Corps and served in Senegal as an Agroforestry volunteer. She came on full time with the agency in 2020 after her time in Senegal. Annie started her career in Puyallup, WA where she served as a Soil Conservationist. Annie later moved on to Fresno, CA where she also served as a Soil Conservationist. During her career with NRCS, she has had the opportunity to gain experience working in various agricultural settings from as small as 0.25 acre farms to operations over 1,000 acres. Annie has worked on various landscapes – crop, forestry, dairies, range, pasture etc. Most of her planning experience is from working with small scale producers in urban areas outside of Tacoma and Seattle. There she worked on a variety of different projects – agricultural waste, soil health, forestry, wildlife habitat and more. Annie recently started as the State Urban Conservation Program Manager in Davis California this June and am excited to take on this new role.

Mr. Minshew serves as California State Conservation Agronomist (2016-present) for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  Hudson holds an M.S. in soil science from Oregon State University, and a B.S. in molecular biology from Humboldt State University.  He is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS) and a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA).  He provides agronomic technical support to California NRCS field employees, including nutrient and pest management, water quality, soil health and soil erosion.  Minshew’s career with the USDA includes serving as a soil microbiology research technician with USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Oregon, a Water Quality Extension Specialist at Oregon State. He also served as the NRCS Hawaii and Pacific Islands Area Water Quality Specialist in Hawaii and as the NRCS District Conservationist in Los Angeles County.