Communications
On Sept. 1, Joel will start a well-deserved retirement from state service. He leaves a legacy of regulating pesticide use to protect the safety and health of ag employees and the public.
“While supporting agriculture, we are obligated to keep people safe from pesticide exposure,” he said. “It is this balance that can sometimes be challenging.”
For the past six years, Joel has been the program manager for the Pesticide Compliance Program. Since starting with the division in 1990 as an investigator, he has served in a number of positions, including case review officer, assistant program manager, registration program manager, and policy assistant.
He also did two short stints with the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Division, as a food safety officer and a compliance officer.
“I have appreciated Joel’s approach to detail in his work and striving for our program to be at its best,” said Tim Schultz, who is now acting manager of the Compliance Program, where he has spent many years. “His leadership has improved our program. It has been an honor working with Joel.”
Happily ever since
Joel graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in crop science. He worked in industry jobs and ran his own business for three years.
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| Joel during a chemigation tour in 2008 pictured with Monte Spence, who was then with Windflow Fertilizer, Mattawa. |
“But I never landed a position that really satisfied me,” he said. “I decided to give WSDA a try and have happily worked here ever since.”
Along with pesticide compliance investigations and enforcement, Joel earned a reputation for the non-glamorous, but crucial, work of developing the laws and rules that regulate industry and guide government activities.
He recalled that he had only been on the job for about a year when he was assigned to draft rules for wood destroying organism inspections for the pest control industry. He spent three years working with industry leaders to simplify and consolidate “very old, archaic rules” for restricted use herbicides in Eastern Washington.
“It seems each project we work on has an impact on our stakeholders and sometimes the impact can be pretty major,” he said.
Robin Schoen-Nessa, Pesticide Management Division assistant director, has worked with Joel since 1991. She remembers a collaborative project on which they were simpatico, and another where “we butted heads constantly and argued like siblings!”
She added, “We both matured and got to a place of appreciating each other’s perspective. I will miss him and his knowledge, expertise and friendship.”
Joel has plenty of ideas for ways to keep himself busy after he leaves WSDA. He plans to do more volunteer work, especially at his church. More fishing, traveling, golf, hiking, hunting, painting, gardening, cooking……Whew! Enjoy yourself, Joel. You will be missed.
In summary: In his quiet, earnest way, Joel Kangiser has made a lasting impact on Washington State’s agriculture industry over his 30 years with WSDA’s Pesticide Management Division. On Sept. 1, Joel will start a well-deserved retirement from state service.
