Extension Update: February 2007 Archives
Five New Hampshire 4-H Teams each received $1,400 grants from Cumberland Farms, administered through National 4-H Council. Grants focus on development and implementation of a youth-designed and youth-led strategy that address a community need, incorporating and fostering 4-H's essential elements with a focus on one or more of the following areas: Citizenship, Education, Environment, Healthy Lifestyles, Safety or Workforce Preparation in the out-of-school timeframe.
The 4-H Green Thumb Team will use their grant funds this summer for seeds and plants to help 300 youth and 35 volunteers participate in the 4-H Green Thumb Team program through a partnership with agencies that include the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Girls Inc., YMCA, Latin American Center, Salvation Army and the Massabesic Audubon Center. The goal is to have over 1,000 pounds of produce directed to the Salvation Army's Kids Cafe and the NH Food Bank, with volunteer and staff help from the USDA Farm Service Agency.
Urban, underserved youth in Manchester and Nashua with limited access to outdoor education and nature experiences will be able to attend one of two days at Bear Hill 4-H Camp or Massabesic Audubon Center. Partnering with 4-H in this effort are the Appalachian Mountain Club, Massabesic Audubon Center and afterschool providers in Manchester and Nashua. This program, 4-H in Greater Manchester Explores the Outdoors, will be used as a springboard toward a full 4-H project. A follow-up project will take place using urban ecosystems and GIS investigations through 4-H club formation or as campers at Bear Hill 4-H Camp.
The NH 4-H Teen Council, who plans and runs the State Teen Conference, uses Bear Hill 4-H Camp for retreats and is aware it needs help to keep it a safe and affordable environment. This grant, State 4-H Teen Council Supports Bear Hill 4-H Camp, provides funding for the 2007 State Teen Conference group of at least 160 teens (ages 14-18) and 25 adults for about two hours of work for various projects at camp. Projects include painting buildings, cleaning and maintaining trails, cleaning and organizing buildings and supplies, and repairing/replacing screens.
4-H Get Up and Go responds to the need to combat childhood obesity by fostering healthy lifestyle choices through the 4-H Get Up and Go for WalkNH. It includes 1,500 youth, supported by a team of 50 teen/college and community mentors from all 10 New Hampshire counties. Dr. Susan Lynch, New Hampshire's First Lady, developed WalkNH - a walking program for schools coordinated by the NH Foundation for Healthy Communities. Youth are challenged to either walk 190 miles, the length of New Hampshire, or 70 miles, its width. This grant provides the out of school component for the initiative.
Souhegan High School 4-H Recyclers will involve Amherst and Mont Vernon in a community-wide recycling program in May, educating students about environmental benefits of recycling and their parents to its cost benefit. The kick-off activity, EarthCapades, a waste reduction production, will be presented to students from kindergarten through eighth grade, co-sponsored by Souhegan High School 4-H Recycling Team, Peabody Mill Environmental Center, Amherst PTA, Amherst Recycling and Waste Reduction Task Force, Boutelle Grant and this grant.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Arlen Lancaster created the first-ever "Two Chiefs' Partnership Award" earlier this year, an award highlighting successful conservation and forest stewardship collaboration between the agencies.
Of the 21 nominations submitted for this award, the partnership of NRCS New Hampshire, the N.H. Division of Forests and Lands, UNH Cooperative Extension and U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, Durham Field Office, was chosen as one of the best examples in the country of a "true conservation partnership."
New Hampshire ranks second among the states in terms of forest cover, but its NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) leads the nation in allocating resources to address forest land environmental concerns. With executive support from George Cleek, NRCS State Conservationist, Phil Bryce, New Hampshire State Forester, Lew McCreery, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry Field Representative and Bob Edmonds, retired Forestry and Wildlife Program Leader for UNH Cooperative Extension, the NH State Technical Committee dedicated over 15 percent of its Fiscal Year 2005 EQIP budget to forest land conservation practices (compared with between one and five percent in most states).
Statewide on-the-ground efforts to protect water and air quality, increase soil productivity, and sustain healthy forest land were led by Jim Spielman, NRCS EQIP program specialist, Karen Bennett, Extension specialist and Roger Monthey of Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry.
Shown in the photo, left to right, during the awards ceremony held at NH Farm and Forest Expo, are George Cleek, John Pike, Phil Bryce, Karen Bennett, Roger Monthey, Jim Spielman and Darrel Covell, accepting on behalf of Bob Edmonds. Photo courtesy of Edith Tucker.
Nominations are now being accepted for the following awards for all staff:
* Diversity and Pluralism
* Performance Beyond Expectations
* Professional Courtesy
* Program of Distinction
The Staff Recognition Committee has added a new award for 2007 called
"Program of Distinction." The Program of Distinction award will recognize an individual or a team whose work effectively uses both traditional and contemporary Extension strategies to produce actual changes in participant knowledge, skills, behavior, decision-making, practice, action and/or polices.
All staff are eligible for these awards with nominations due March 31. They will be presented at the UNH Cooperative Extension annual statewide conference on May 16 on the UNH campus.
These awards are a great opportunity for staff to recognize their colleagues who have done outstanding work and who have contributed to our success.
This is an opportunity to formally recognize those individuals who truly do make a difference in UNH Cooperative Extension. Take a look at the recognition page now and start thinking about nominating a team or individual for one of these awards. The forms are quick and easy to fill out.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.
The process for nominating an Operating Staff (OS,) Professional, Administrative & Technical (PAT) staff and Extension Educators for the 2007 UNH Presidential Award of excellence is now open.
You can submit your nomination of a UNH staff member through March 24.
If you are looking for an efficient and effective way to provide facilitation skills training to community citizens, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has a program for you. Over the past six years, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has successfully conducted the Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills series for community members in Maine. It was designed for community members who:
* have been placed in a facilitation role and were expected to help the group produce results
* have felt they could use more skills and practice in the art of facilitation
* recognized that being a group facilitator wasn't always easy and facilitation skills aren't routinely learned or practiced
* have experienced needing to help a group deal with conflict, lead a sensitive problem-solving session or help a new team in its start up phase, as well as other group situations
Two faculty members, Jane Haskell and Louise Franck Cyr, and Gabe McPhail, a graduate of the program, have been working to make this curriculum available to other Extension professionals across the country. It will be officially released August 14-17 during a four-day highly experiential train the trainer conference in mid-coast Maine.
This initial training is for any Extension professional interested in providing facilitation skills training in their community.
The website provides additional information about the conference and is now open to the first 50 Extension professionals who want to participate. Early bird registration by April 25 is $325. Registration deadline at $400 is May 28.
If you have specific questions about the train the trainer conference, e-mail either Jane Haskell (jhaskell@umext.maine.edu
In 2006, the NH Fish and Game Department and its partners, including UNH Cooperative Extension, completed the NH Wildlife Action Plan - the most comprehensive assessment to date of wildlife and wildlife habitats that occur within our state. Its purpose is to identify the wildlife species and their habitats in the "greatest need of conservation."
The overall role of the plan is to serve as a blueprint to guide the Fish and Game Department in efforts to restore and maintain populations of threatened and endangered wildlife species, and just as importantly, to keep common species from becoming endangered. Additionally, the plan was designed as a tool for use by communities and private landowners to help identify, conserve and manage critical wildlife and their habitats throughout the state.
This year, Extension will play a key role in its implementation. Supported through a grant from NH Fish and Game, Frank Mitchell, Amanda Stone and Matt Tarr will host educational workshops for communities and landowners. These workshops will teach communities how to use maps, developed as part of the plan, to guide local efforts for identifying and conserving critical wildlife habitat.
Landowners and consulting natural resource professionals will learn how to identify critical wildlife habitats in their field, and how to maintain and enhance those habitats for the wildlife that use them. Below is a list of dates and locations for upcoming Wildlife Action Plan workshops offered by UNH Cooperative Extension:
Westmoreland: March 31 - Westmorland Town Hall
Gonic: May 5 - Waste Management of NH
Lancaster: June 2 - North Country Resource Center
There also will be an in-service training March 8 in the Merrimack County Cooperative Extension office for Extension staff and Natural Resource Conservation Service staff to learn how they can use the plan to guide communities and landowners in conserving and managing critical wildlife habitats in our state.
Contact Matt Tarr (matt.tarr@unh.edu) for more information about the workshops listed above or for more information about the New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan.