We are proud to announce recipients of this year’s awards to two very deserving ARCSE members.
Gregory Westfall receives the President’s Community Service Award for sustained and outstanding contributions in local, state, and regional community service
Greg is a New Jersey Lifetime Member of ARCSE and served in USDA/NRCS in New York and New Jersey in various positions including Soil Conservationist, District Conservationist, and Water Resource Specialist from 1975 through 2015 when he retired.
Greg earned an M.S. in Water Resources from State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry in 1976; and a B.S. in Soil Science and Natural Resource Conservation from the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, Cornell University in 1972.
Greg is a founder and member of the New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management, where he has become a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM).
Following his retirement in 2015, he ran (as an Independent) for and was elected Mayor in Allentown, NJ. During his four-year term, the governing body approved an upgrade to the 50-year-old wastewater treatment plant and permanently preserved and began development of a 3-acre park. He also identified and recruited approximately 85 individuals to serve as volunteers on Borough government boards, committees, and commissions.
Greg continues to be an active member of the local environmental commission, watershed association, and church council. Additionally, he is actively involved with land preservation in the Allentown Borough vicinity.
Mark Jensen receives the President’s Distinguished Service Award for uniquely outstanding contributions to the long-term organization, stability, viability, and progress of ARCSE.
Mark Jansen became a member of ARCSE upon his retirement in 2008. He has served as Iowa’s ARCSE representative for 12 years. At that time, Iowa had 42 ARCSE members in 2014, compared to the current membership of 72. After accounting for those members who have passed, or moved to other states, over 50 new members have been recruited or joined during Mark’s tenure.
One of Mark’s primary objectives as Iowa’s ARCSE representative is to promote communication and connection among fellow retirees. Initially all communication was done with “hard copy” mailings, until slowly building a list of email addresses for as many retirees as possible. Having converted to electronic communications over time, Mark has continued to push to increase the number of retirees on the spreadsheet he maintains with contact information for 235 Iowa retirees.
Mark believes that soliciting content for newsletter is one of the most important parts of the state representative role and accordingly invests significant effort into getting ideas for inclusion in each bi-monthly issue of the newsletter. He also occasionally sends out old pictures, mostly from meetings, for folks to enjoy. With the help of others, he attempts to find retiree obituaries, their spouses, and even sometimes their children, and sends the announcements to all individuals on his email list. Mark also organizes an annual Christmas/Holiday Party, which is attended by 40 – 45 retirees each year.
Early during his role as Iowa’s representative Mark realized the difficulty getting the names and contact information of new retirees. He found the most reliable method was finding retirement announcements in the “personnel actions” section of Iowa’s Current Developments published by the NRCS State Office. He found copies of the publication dating back to 2005 and created a spreadsheet with the names of all retirees since that time. Iowa has had over 295 employees retire in that time frame.
One of Mark’s most successful efforts to obtain contact information was conducted over the last couple of years. Mark created sample letters (emails) that he and other current members can use to reach out to new retirees. This proved so successful that Mark shared his approach with all his fellow state representatives in 2025. These sample letters have been made available to all members on the ARCSE website for their use in contacting new retirees and recruiting new members.
Congratulations Greg and Mark!
ARCSE 