Gregory Bauer is retiring as the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s supervisory district conservationist out of the  Great Bend Field Office. He has served the NRCS for 32 and a half years.
He will be honored with a open house from 1-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 28, at the United States Department of Agriculture Service Center, 1520 Kansas Ave, Great Bend.
Bauer started his career at Lyons in 1980 as a soil conservation technician and in 1992, he was promoted to a soil conservationist in Leavenworth. Then, in 1994, he was promoted to a district conservationist in Anthony. In 2003, he transferred to Great Bend as district conservationist and later promoted to supervisory district conservationist.
He was born in McPherson, lived  in Great Bend as a child from fourth through seventh grade, and moved to a dairy farm east of Lyons. He graduated from Lyons High School, Hutchinson Community College (degree agri-Bbusiness) and McPherson College (degree ag business/ag economics) and is pursuing a masters degree from Kansas State University.
“My wife and I plan on staying in Barton County,” he said. “We love it here and consider it home.”
The couple doesn’t currently have any plans after Bauer’s retirement. “But, I plan on doing something to occupy my time.”