Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conserve. Protect. Enjoy.
Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conservation Planning and Training Coordinator Carl Thiel-Goin.Growing up on the family farm, Carl Thiel-Goin always expected to have a career in agriculture or the outdoors.
While earning his bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University, he interned at the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, leading educational programs and working with school groups.
Thiel-Goin found a calling that merged his love of the outdoors with education.
“I like seeing the light bulb go on for people, when they see how things connect.”
He would go on to work in positions with 4-H, the Gloucester County parks department, and the Tidewater Soil and Water Conservation District. He earned a master’s in education from Virginia Tech.
In 2016, Thiel-Goin joined the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation as the conservation planning and training coordinator, a career move that enabled him to get back to his agricultural roots.
“The position was created to develop DCR’s — and Virginia’s own — ag-based conservation planning program,” he said. “The primary audience is employees of soil and water conservation districts and DCR staff.”
As part of his new job, Thiel-Goin was tasked with developing the program’s training and certification process from the ground up. This entailed months of planning the curriculum, building partnerships and navigating information technology hurdles.
“It’s exciting to get to come in at the ground level and create a program from scratch,” he said. “It was very challenging but also very rewarding.”
The Conservation Planner Certification program launched in July 2018. It features online and in-person courses and a system for tracking individual progress. The program enables participants to write conservation plans for farms.
Thiel-Goin explains conservation planning as the process of assisting landowners and producers with managing their resources, enhancing production, and protecting soil and water resources.
“It’s about helping people realize their actions do affect their business and the environment,” he said.
In addition to coordinating conservation planning, Thiel-Goin is in charge of developing regular training events for fellow soil and water conservation program staffers.
He lives in Mathews County with his wife and daughter.
