Extension Update: June 2008 Archives

One objective of the scheduled fall county/campus staff visits with the administrative team is to gather information from staff on organizational support issues as they relate to our ITDE, Staff Development, Program Development and Evaluation, Business Service Center, Volunteer Management and Communication offices.

This objective stems from UNH Cooperative Extension’s Strategic Plan Goal 2, which calls for Extension to provide effective outreach through high-quality programming. To help accomplish this, we want to clarify the roles and responsibilities of support units and teams so they can effectively communicate and collaborate with program staff to manage projects from conception through evaluation and reporting.

To assess successes and challenges as well as future needs for how we provide support to program staff (technical, staff development, etc.,), a staff questionnaire will be developed. We have a list of potential questions we would like you to consider. Prior to our scheduled campus/county visits, we would like you to prioritize the questions so we will be able to address the most important issues as they relate to your program needs.

The following questions have been submitted to date. Please take a moment to review, and send any additional questions for consideration, to Associate Director Jim Grady at jim.grady@unh.edu

The last of three regional meetings for UNH Cooperative Extension staff took place Thursday at the Memorial Union Building Thursday. Five topics, Civil Rights, a financial update, a communications and information technology update, a Strategic Planning Implementation Team update, and an afternoon session on the public value of Extension, were the focus of the day-long meetings.

With USDA planning a Civil Rights audit of UNH Cooperative Extension in August, Paul Bonaparte-Krogh asked staff to take a moment to do a Civil Rights compliance self-assessment tool and talked about the updated resources on our Civil Rights web page.

Hugh Christian provided staff with an update on Extension’s finances, and I took the opportunity to announce that the University has approved filling those positions vacated through the University’s Separation Incentive Plan.

David Foote showcased some new technology staff may find useful, such as the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, as well as the current efforts to create a repository database and promotional efforts focused on our weekly radio spots with WTPL.

Mike Koski, a member of the Strategic Planning Implementation Team, provided an update, noting that the first round of Significant Issue Grants resulted in three awards. (Darrel Covell and Charlene Baxter presented this information at the previous two regional meetings.) As part of the update on the Strategic Plan, an issues identification/prioritization process for staff is in the implementation stage.

The Public Values workshop in the afternoon, led by Paul Bonaparte-Krogh with assistance from Charlene Baxter, Jim Grady and David Foote, looked at how Extension can explain the value of its program to direct participants and to those who don't directly benefit from the programs. (George Morse, retired Minnesota Extension associate dean, presented this workshop at the previous two regional meetings.) Further public value training will take place later this year.

Our Forestry and Wildlife Program staff is busy getting the word out on habitats identified as critical to species at risk as defined by the NH Wildlife Action Plan. Grasslands are one such critical habitat on the decline in New Hampshire.

Whether we call them hayfields, pastures or grasslands, open fields in New Hampshire are becoming increasingly rare. The most common grassland habitats in New Hampshire are agricultural fields. Without farmers using these lands for agricultural purposes, they would quickly revert to forest.

Grassland habitats are featured in our Habitat Stewardship Brochure series, extremely popular with landowners and municipal officials. The Hayfields as Habitat workshop builds on the information in the brochure. The workshop targets farmers, landowners and land managers who work with open fields and are already acting to maintain this important resource.

Participants will learn to recognize wildlife that depend on fields, discuss the challenges of balancing agriculture and wildlife habitat management, and learn about cost-share programs available to farmers and landowners to help pay for management practices beneficial to wildlife, such as mowing.

The workshop is offered twice, on July 16 at the Rockingham County Farm in Brentwood or July 18 at Prescott Farm, Audubon Center in Laconia. The workshop cost is $10. Pre-registration is required. New Hampshire licensed foresters will receive one CEU for attending. The registration brochure and workshop information is available on the Forestry and Wildlife Program web site.

The workshop is co-sponsored by NRCS, NH Fish and Game and NH Audubon Society.

Through two programs, the Community Profiles and Master Plan Visioning, UNH Cooperative Extension's community assistance program works with a limited number of communities to help them organize, facilitate community planning and hold public visioning forums.

Applicants for either program are selected based on the community's readiness to start working on public involvement activities and a willingness of local decision-makers to participate. Application deadlines are August 15, 2008 and January 15, 2009.

The fee structure is based on population and is as follows:
  Town/city population of 2,499 or less: $500
  Town/city population of 2,500-24,999: $750
  Town/city population of 25,000 or more: $1,000

Fees will cover technical assistance from UNH Cooperative Extension to:

• help form the community-based steering committee that manages all details of the event,
• facilitate the event,
• train community facilitators to manage small group work at the event, and
• provide follow-up, for up to one year, to the project/action groups formed as a result of the event, including follow-up meetings and a one-year celebration to determine success.

The American Tree Farm System recognized six UNH Cooperative Extension educators for their significant contributions toward sustainable forestry on private lands.

Extension Educator Phil Auger received the Tree Farm Silver Hard Hat award for his certification of 50 new Tree Farms.

Receiving the Tree Farm Bronze Hard Hat award for certification of 25 new Tree Farms were Extension Educators Jon Nute, Sam Stoddard and Nory Parr, and Extension Specialists Matt Tarr and Karen Bennett.

Private landowners now own 57 percent of this nation’s forests. In New Hampshire, 75 percent of our landscape is privately owned. Nationally, the 80,000 private landowners who are certified in the American Tree Farm System are managing their forestlands for wood, water, wildlife and recreation. New Hampshire has 1,600 Tree Farmers managing more than 800,000 acres.

These Tree Farmers are contributing every day to the timber production we need to help meet the increasing demand for forest products, and doing so while caring for our wildlife, water and recreational resources. Learn more about the New Hampshire Tree Farm Program.

Congratulations to these staff who help make this program such a success in New Hampshire!

Seacoast Youth Services in Seabrook was the site Monday for the Rockingham County Conversation. Everyone attending was greeted by the youth who attend the after-school and other programs available to them at the site.

They led the visitors to the various presentations they had set up for the county conversation, showcasing how they are involved in the Seacoast Youth Leadership Project at Seacoast Youth Services. Their presentations showcased food and fitness that emphasize healthy lifestyles through exercise and good nutrition (and a first place win in the firefighters’ annual Chili Fest), leadership, team building, and a Techno-Team, which explores various computer, remote control, rocketry and photo/video technologies.

Following the tours, Susan Turner, chair, Rockingham County Advisory Council, welcomed the over 50 county advisory council members, public officials, representatives from partnering organizations, and volunteers attending. UNH President Mark Huddleston addressed the group, complimenting the youth giving the tours as “very professional young men and women.”

The program, “Strengthening Lower Seacoast Youth and Families,” was facilitated by Extension Specialist Paula Gregory, who set the stage for the group of speakers, including 4-H Youth Development Educator Rick Alleva, Vic Maloney, executive director of Seacoast Youth Services, Stephanie Charron, UNH graduate and program coordinator for Seacoast Youth Services, and Dr. J. Eric Vance, chief consulting psychiatrist, NH Division of Juvenile Justice.

The Seacoast Youth Leadership Project provides New Hampshire's lower Seacoast towns with positive youth development and a special effort is made to involve young people who could benefit most from, but are least likely to attend, positive youth development activities.

While Alleva talked about mobilizing the resources to forge a partnership with Seacoast Youth Services, Maloney praised Extension for its support. Charron talked about her positive experience of first being a UNH intern at the site and was a positive “journey” it had been for her. Dr. Vance noted that Seacoast Youth Services had become a community resource.

Several parents whose children attend the programs also were on hand with positive testimony about how these programs have helped their children.

In the top left photo, UNH President Mark Huddleston takes part in the tour, while in the top right photo, he and 4-H Youth Development Program Leader Wendy Brock taste the award-winning chili.