Local Resources for Farmers & Ranchers Panel

Meet Joni Burr (pronounced ‘Johnny’)

Joni is the Resource Conservationist in the Salida NRCS office. She spent four years in the Pueblo NRCS office as their soil conservationist, and worked on a lot of irrigation projects with some forestry and rangeland projects. Prior to that, she was the technician in the Longmont office in Boulder County, where she worked with small acreage folks and vegetable and specialty crop growers (high tunnels, drip irrigation, and soil health practices).
She grew up on a farm south of Rocky Ford, CO.. She has an agricultural engineering degree with a minor in horticulture from CSU in Ft. Collins.

Meet Kara Harders

For the past four years, Kara has served as the Small Acreage Management Specialist for the Peaks and Plains Region of Colorado, and her office is located in Canon City. In her position, she works closely with landowners and managers to design plans to best help their properties while keeping in mind their values, budget, and time. Prior to this position, she worked in production agriculture for 10 years and earned a Master of Science in Ag Education and Communications.

Meet Natalie Allio

The focus of Natalie’s work is “keeping working lands working” through innovative and collaborative programs with Central Colorado Conservancy and the Upper Arkansas Conservation District. Drawing on her own experience in agriculture and her education in Ecopsychology and Collaborative Solutions in Natural Resources, Natalie leads innovative and collaborative programs that support water quality, water quantity and soil health in the Upper Arkansas Watershed.