2003 WACD Annual Convention

"Wyoming - Conserving the Best"

Outstanding Employee

(pictured from left to right, Dorothy Rhodes, District Manager, Hot Springs Conservation District, Outstanding Employee; Olin Sims, WACD President.)

Dorothy Rhodes, District Manager of the Hot Springs Conservation District, is the 2003 Outstanding Employee of the Year.  Dorothy began working for the Hot Springs district in May 1999.  Since she began working, the Hot Springs Conservation District tree sales have more than doubled.  They now sell more drip systems than ever before and have expanded their list of sales to include tree protectors and wildlife repellant.  Dorothy plans a number of meetings and tours that were non-existent before she started working.  Each Kirby Creek CRM meeting and tour is planned through the district office.  Dorothy was also the first person WACD called when they needed help planning the NACD Northern Plains Regional meeting. When the Big Horn River Ranch Wetlands Reserve Plan needed extra funding, Dorothy set to work trying to find it.  She wrote a grant to the Wyoming Department of Agriculture for water quality funding and the district received $12,000 to complete the project. 

Dorothy is also crucial in the role she plays in proposing projects and managing paperwork for pilot projects involving Wyoming Water Development Commission Funding.  These projects involve livestock pipelines, multi-purpose dams and water storage facilities.  She has been instrumental in completing the very first conservation practice installation under WWDC funding. 

From computerizing the District’s work to helping NRCS complete over 25 conservation contracts in the last 2 years, Dorothy goes beyond the call of service and is truly an outstanding employee.

Dorothy is also active on the Wyoming Quarter Horse Association Board of Directors, serving as Secretary for many horse shows, is bookkeeper for the Hot Springs Recreation District, and is also employed by the Hot Springs Foster Grandparents Program.