Chris is currently the Manager of the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Cape May, NJ Plant Materials Center. He has been in this position for 17 years. Prior, he was an NRCS Regional Field Plant Materials Specialist for 18 years. He started his career with NRCS as a State Conservation Agronomist in Maryland.
Chris has been involved with the USDA Climate Hubs since their inception in 2014. He served as NRCS Project Liaison in 2019 with both the Northeast and Southeast USDA Climate Hubs. Chris led a project to assess the impact of sea level rise, coastal flooding, and saltwater inundation on agricultural producers in the Northeastern and Southeastern coastal states. Through the Plant Materials Program he continues to develop alternative adaptive management strategies and protocols that producers can implement to minimize the amount of crop productivity lost by increased coastal flooding and salt affected soils on marginal cropland. His early interest in the Climate Hubs was related to his interest in plant adaptation and migration as it relates to coastal ecosystem’s resilience to climate change. He has continued to be engaged with the Hubs since his detail assignment ended in 2020. Chris has greatly enjoyed learning and working collaboratively with the all the USDA Hub agencies and appreciates the synergy that exists within the Climate Hub network.
Chris has a B.S. in Agronomy (Soil Science emphasis) from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in Plant Science from the South Dakota State University.
