Mary grew up in North Central Nebraska on a dairy farm where her love of native plants and rangeland management began while tagging after her brothers to range judging events. She has turned this love into a career and began working for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as an intern while attending college at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. After moving through the ranks of the NRCS first as a Range Conservationist and then as a District Conservation, she now serves as the Assistant State Conservationist. She supervises a diverse staff of 19 field offices in Western Nebraska. Mary is an active Society for Range Management member and has co-directed the High School Youth Forum since 1999. She and her husband ranch northwest of North Platte. They have two children, Tess and Trent. In her free time, she enjoys scrapbooking and helping out on the ranch during branding and hay season.