Leslie Michel is a Soil Scientist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Agricultural Sciences Program (WSDA NRAS), where she has worked since 2019. She grew up on a farm and now lives on a dryland wheat and cattle ranch in Eastern Washington. Leslie earned her B.S. in Soil Resources Management from Oregon State University in 2012 and her M.S. in Soil Science from Washington State University in 2022.

With two decades of experience supporting agriculture, Leslie has partnered with farmers and ranchers across Washington to test practical, on-the-ground solutions, including cover crops and grazing trials. Much of her current work centers on the Washington Soil Health Initiative, where she supports soil sampling, training efforts and the Soil Health Ambassador project. She also provides technical support to the Voluntary Stewardship Program, helping counties integrate practical monitoring approaches into their planning efforts.