For more than three decades, Dave Bucklin dedicated his working life to the Cottonwood Soil and Water Conservation District, helping local landowners balance agriculture and sustainability — often one tree at a time.
Bucklin’s journey to the district wasn’t exactly planned. After graduating from Austin High School in 1975 and studying baking and culinary arts at Mankato Technical College, he returned home to work in his parents’ donut shop in Albert Lea.
He later moved to Mt. Lake with his wife, Joyce, where they raised four children — Anna, David, Dimitri and Nadia — and built a life centered on community and conservation.
When a position opened at the district in 1990, Bucklin was ready for a new chapter.
“I’d always been interested in trees and wildlife plots on our own place,” he said.
His passion for planting trees and restoring land made him a natural fit, even if he had to learn the technical aspects of surveying, engineering waterways and understanding wetlands on the fly.
For more information on this story, please see the Aug. 6 edition of the Citizen.
