Winds of Change - Spring 2017 - 23

All the companies on the Winds of Change Top 50 STEM Workplaces list are strong supporters of diversity. But
what are these workplaces doing that sets them apart? Here, we've taken a closer look at four of these employers
to highlight some of the ways they foster an inclusive climate at work and the initiatives they have put in place
to support individual staff members. To get an even clearer picture of what being part of a diverse workplace
can mean to an individual, we asked a Native American STEM professional at each of these organizations to
describe his or her experience.

USDA NRCS

PARTNERING FOR CONSERVATION SOLUTIONS
The primary mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) is to
benefit both the environment and
agricultural production by helping farmers
and ranchers make conservation part of
their success. And for the past 80 years the
agency has been doing just that, fighting
wasteful use of soil, water, graze land,
forests, and other resources.
The agency was instituted by Congress
as the Soil Conservation Service to help
desperate farmers during the devastating
drought conditions of the 1930s, and that
early part of its history was recently
portrayed in The Dust Bowl, a documentary
by filmmaker Ken Burns. Over the years
the agency took on responsibility for
resources beyond soil, and in 1994 the

agency's name changed to
Natural Resources
Conservation Service to
reflect its broader scope.
Today the NRCS
continues its legacy of
conservation. Agencydeveloped tools and
standards in a wide range
of fields - including
engineering, agronomy,
forestry, economics, and wildlife biology - help
NRCS conservationists serve effectively in the
field, working with landowners to develop and
implement a science-based conservation plan.
Because NRCS works directly with landowners,
the agency operates in numerous communities
around the country, and 90 percent of its
employees work outside Washington, D.C.

Rnature to Roylene Rides-at-

TOP: PHOTO BY RON NICHOLS, USDA NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

eaching out to others is second

ROYLENE
RIDES-AT-THE-DOOR

BLACKFEET AND SIOUX
______________
CONSERVATIONIST
U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE
NATURAL RESOURCES
CONSERVATION SERVICE

aises.org

the-door. As a Washington State
conservationist for the Natural
Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), one of many agencies
under the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, fostering stronger
relationships is a principal part of
her job.
Rides-at-the-door is responsible for 37 offices and 200 staff
members statewide. "I represent
the agency in Washington State to
partners, tribes, and others," she
says. "Helping support my staff,
partners, tribal members, farmers,
ranchers, and others with the
common goal of helping Mother
Earth for future generations to
enjoy and benefit from is the
highlight of my position."
Rides-at-the-door, Blackfeet
and Sioux, is a descendant of
Sitting Bull and grew up in the
Blackfeet Nation, near Glacier
National Park, in Browning, Mont.

As a 2017 Top 50 STEM Workplace,
NRCS embraces diversity and fosters
employee resource groups like the
American Indian Alaska Native
Employee Association. Candidates from
all walks of life are encouraged to
investigate careers at the agency, where
the culture reflects a collective passion
for stewardship of the land.

She explains that the Blackfeet prefer to call themselves Pukuni, the
name given to them by the
Creator. Her great-great grandfather earned her family's last name
by riding into enemy camps and
snatching the medicine bundles
kept outside their teepees. She now
lives in Spokane, Wash., but
frequently travels to her family's
ranch in Montana.
Her involvement with AISES
began in high school on the
Blackfeet Nation, when she
became one of two students
selected to represent the organization at the Intel International
Science Fair. "It was a great
opportunity to interact with
others who had similar interests,"
says Rides-at-the-door.
She followed in her dad's
footsteps by becoming the second
generation to attend Montana
State University, earning a
bachelor's degree in range science
with a minor in soil science. She

continued to support AISES in
college, where she was a student
chapter member, then served as
vice president and helped the
chapter earn Chapter of the Year
honors at the 1991 National
Conference.
Through her college experience
with AISES she saw that some
corporate recruiters at the
National Conference lacked the
cultural understanding to truly
relate to Native STEM students. So
after establishing herself with the
agency, Rides-at-the-door and a
few of her Native colleagues
encouraged NRCS to become a
national AISES sponsor.
That step opened the door for
Rides-at-the-door and others in
NRCS to work more closely with
AISES to forward the organization's mission as well as the
agency's diversity initiatives.
"NRCS is nationwide and has
members in Puerto Rico, Guam,
and Hawaii, as well as across the »
SPRING 2017 * WINDS OF CHANGE 23

http://www.aises.org

Winds of Change - Spring 2017

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