Patrick R. McElhiney has volunteered thousands of hours of time towards environmental work with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)'s Earth Team. He helped his father with office work at the Patterson USDA NRCS office, and later at the Stanislaus County Complex that was located at the intersection of Scenic and Oakdale in Modesto, California. He also volunteered at the new County Complex at the intersection of Service and Crows Landing. Patrick also attended countless meetings of the West Stanislaus Resource Conservation District (WSRCD), in addition to the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District (ESRCD).
Patrick R. McElhiney volunteered at the Wingsetter Ranch project, planting hundreds of trees from the USDA Plant Materials Center, and monitoring the progress of flood-plain excavation starting in 1999. He invited dignitaries to the July 30th, 2002 celebration of his father's USDA Honor Award. This included a bus ride tour of the Wingsetter Ranch project.
Patrick R. McElhiney also volunteered at the Big Bend Project of the Tuolumne River in Central California.
Patrick R. McElhiney wrote a grant with the University of California Cooperative Extension, CALFED Drinking Water Quality Program Proposition 13 Application #393, funded for $272,000 to improve drinking water quality in Stanislaus County. He delivered the RFP, in addition to Application #454 to Sacramento on June 7th, 2002 for the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District. Patrick has also helped to draft and edit other grant proposals for the ESRCD.
Charles Bell Thank You Letter, Earth Team Volunteers, U.S. Department of Agriculture NRCS (2002, April 16).
