L-R: Retired Conservation Director Joe Hanner, Conservation Board President George Hemmen, Director Brad Halterman.

The new Guthrie County Conservation Director has had a busy first month on the job, as the department continues working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse flood damage expenses and budgeting for the next fiscal year.

Though Brad Halterman couldn’t be more pleased to be at the helm and working with the Conservation Board and his staff. Halterman has been working in conservation for over 25 years, which the native began as a seasonal employee for the County, and then zig zagged across Iowa working for the Des Moines and Jones county conservation departments, having a stint in Greene County and then working several years as the natural resource manager for Guthrie. Halterman spent the last few years as the project manager for the Lake Panorama Association, but when Joe Hanner announced his retirement, he felt it was time to apply for his dream job in his favorite county.

Halterman comments that the department was already moving in the right direction when Hanner handed over the reins, and he hopes to continue the department’s journey down the right path, “To be, first and foremost, fiscally responsible, being fiscally responsible and also supplying Guthrie County residents and other county residents who come to our parks and our wildlife areas and our boat ramps and all of our areas have the best experience possible. So constantly keeping on top of things and looking at ways to continue to improve our areas, doing it obviously within the budget confines and continuing to move forward and be fiscally responsible by doing it.”

Halterman credits the Conservation Board for making his job easier, as well as his fellow staff Tylor Nelson, Kristine Jorgensen, and Ted Scheuermann. You can hear more from him during a two-part Let’s Talk Guthrie County program on-air and at raccoonvalleyradio.com.