April 11, 2022 - Callaway Resort & Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA – The Georgia Association of Conservation Districts held their annual Hall of Fame Banquet on Monday, April 11, 2022 during their Annual Meeting to honor and award those individuals who have gone above and beyond to further conservation efforts for our state. The highlight of the evening is naming the Hall of Fame Inductee.
Tom Mims has been a District Supervisor representing Richmond County for the Brier Creek Conservation District since 2010. He currently serves as the District Chair. Tom also serves as the Feral Swine Committee Chair for the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts.
GACD President Mark Masters and 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee Tom Mims
Tom grew up on a small cattle farm in rural Hephzibah, Ga. He graduated from Auburn University in 1969 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Physics. Tom began his career with Sperry Rand as an Electronics Engineer. Tom was later offered a job working for the US Army Signal Corps at Fort Gordon, GA. It was at that time that he and his wife Pat moved the family to Tom’s hometown, Hephzibah, Ga where they built a house on their 175 acre Farm- Silver Bottom Tree Farm.
While working for the Army, Tom grew a small group of technical staff into the Battle Command Battle Lab with 22 Department of Army Civilians, five military officers, and 102 contractors where they worked to resolve communications problems between army units. Tom retired from The Department of Army Civil Service at age 60. He then built his own company, TacNet Consulting LLC and provided consulting services for the Army Battle Command Battle Lab for the next 10 years. Tom fully retired from his career in engineering and consulting in 2015.
Tom is a true leader in conservation and has devoted countless hours to promote stewardship within the Brier Creek Conservation District and throughout the state of Georgia. Through Tom’s leadership, an agreement was obtained with the city of Augusta and Richmond County to include Conservation Education Outreach in their StormWater Ordinance. This agreement provides $9k/year to Brier Creek Conservation District. Tom has been awarded numerous grants to improve water quality in the Augusta area through variable rate irrigation technology, and to reduce fecal pollution in the brushy creek watershed. One of his grants is the first federal 319h grant to include “removal of feral swine” as an EPA approved Best Management Practice to reduce fecal pollution.
In addition, Tom started a Feral Swine Control Program in the Brier Creek Conservation District and through a partnership with GACD, 14 Conservation Districts across the state are now able to provide feral swine control services to landowners. Since the program began in 2017, almost nine thousand feral swine have been removed from Georgia, saving landowners an estimated $2.5 million in damages to property and agricultural crops. Tom currently leads this program throughout the state for GACD.
Tom was named GACD’s District Supervisor of the Year in 2018, and was also named the 2008 Outstanding Forest Steward for Richmond County.
In his spare time, Tom loves spending time outdoors where he enjoys camping, hunting, fishing and hiking.
Tom and Pat will celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary in April. They have two children, Watson and Amber, and a 14 year old Grandson, Reed.
The GACD Hall of Fame preserves the history of the conservation movement in Georgia by recognizing individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to soil and water conservation.
Congratulations to Tom Mims, the 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee.