DONNA RISE RETURNING TO MONTANA

News Date February 18, 2008

         Nevada Agriculture Director Donna Rise has announced she is returning to Montana to resume a job as a bureau chief for that state's agriculture agency. While Rise called her brief tenure as Nevada agriculture director an "amazing experience," she added, "I guess down deep I'm still a Montana girl." Her resignation is effective Feb. 20.

       "When I took the job, it was with the intent of finishing out my career, as director, for the next 15 ears," Rise wrote. "One cannot, however, predict whether a role or experience is a good fit until such time as they are tried."

       She said while she valued the experience, "it has become clear to me that the position of director is not a particularly good fit for me."

       "I come from a state where cattle outnumber people and amber waves of grain has a true meaning for me," Rise said during a board meeting last week in Reno.

       Under state law, Nevada Deputy Agriculture Director Rick Gimlin will assume the post until the board recommends a permanent replacement to the governor, who makes the final selection.

       Prior to her appointment as director, Rise served in a number of different capacities within the Montana Department of Agriculture. She began with the department in 1992 and served as an agriculture specialist. She later went on to serve as a groundwater specialist, groundwater specialist III, programs manager, and, most recently, the commodity services bureau chief. She earned a bachelor's of science degree in horticulture from Montana State University, Bozeman.

       Throughout her 15 years with the Montana Department of Agriculture, Rise's career includes several industry-related accomplishments including authoring the Montana Generic Management Plan, coauthoring the Montana General Agricultural Chemical Groundwater Management Plan, drafting the administrative rules for the state's first Agricultural Chemical Groundwater Management Plan, establishing quality control/quality assurance policies and standard operating procedures for the groundwater program, establishing an employee recognition and appreciation program, the development of enforcement case development procedures for apiary and nursery programs and standardizing case development procedures for all regulatory programs. (Contact: Rick Kirchhoff)