Nevada Report

SARE Professional Development Program Annual Report for Nevada
January 1 - December 31, 2010
 
State Extension Leader for SARE:

Summary of 2010 PDP Activities and Result

SARE PDP-supported activities in 2010 were primarily focused on letting key faculty participate in various professional development activities related to sustainable agriculture needs/issues in Nevada.

Context and Overview

The primary target audience is Extension faculty/staff, NRCS and other federal land management agency personnel, as well as ag professionals working for Nevada tribes.

In 2010 the Nevada SARE-PDP focused on providing travel scholarships for individual professionals to attend sustainability-related training provided by other organizations, associations or groups. Some funds were also used to print curriculum materials (“People of the Land”) for use in training ag professionals in Nevada. These are all directly related to findings of the Western SARE Professional Development Survey results.

Major expectations are for participants to improve their knowledge of “sustainability principles” and use it in their programming with clientele.

Cooperative Extension website.

NRCS website.

There is no SARE-PDP website for Nevada. 

Activities and Methods

SARE PDP-supported activities in 2010 were primarily focused on letting key faculty participate in various professional development activities related to program needs in Nevada. Cooperative Extension in Nevada is small and has only a limited number of faculty/staff with programming responsibilities directly related to agriculture sustainability. Some other Cooperative Extension faculty/staff may have some agriculture-related responsibilities but not the specific background. Therefore, a major focus of the SARE-PDP program is to help Cooperative Extension faculty/staff, NRCS and other agency professionals improve their knowledge/understanding of SARE principles, and/or to share this with other ag professionals. This included supporting:

Brad Schultz (County Extension Educator) used SARE-PDP funds to attend the annual meetings of the Society for Range Management and the Weed Science Society of America (meetings were co-located). The two largest components of his education and research programs are noxious weeds and rangeland resources. Some specific topics related to his programming included rangeland restoration, weed biology and ecology, and grazing management. He will share this information with other ag and agency professionals in his area, as well as incorporate it into his existing educational programs. He also hopes to establish some weed demonstration plots for both educational programming and research.

Steve Foster (County Extension Educator) attended the 2010 California Alfalfa & Forage Symposium and the Alfalfa IPM Intensive Pre-Symposium Workshop. This was a comprehensive conference, featuring 42 speakers on important innovations for forages, industry meetings and extensive industry exhibits. The IPM workshop was an intensive, one-day training in Integrated Pest Management for alfalfa, including IPM principles, pest biology, specific strategies and techniques, diagnostic skills, and an emphasis on protection of air and water quality. Steve wanted to increase his knowledge of western/intermountain production of alfalfa and forages and to develop a collaborative partnership with other extension/industry professionals in the western region. His goal is to help local forage producers improve their management systems and increase their efficiency and profitability through Extension-sponsored educational programs in his county where alfalfa is the dominate agricultural industry.

John Cobourn (Area Extension Specialist, Water Resources) attended the 2010 Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) conference, which focused training sessions on climate change, invasive species education, sustainability, natural resource education, watershed management, alternative energy, outreach education tools and working with diverse cultures. Water is a major issue in Nevada, and maintaining Lake Tahoe water quality is of great importance to both California and Nevada. John works with a variety of programming efforts related to water sustainability, not only for Lake Tahoe but the Carson River and other natural water resources in Nevada. He is using what he learned to help people in these areas be better watershed stewards and good land managers.

Sherm Swanson (State Range and Riparian Extension Specialist) attend the Western Rangelands Partnership eXtension Community of Practice (COP) meeting. He is one of the leaders in the COP, and they are developing materials to be launched on the web via eXtension. This was both a learning and working meeting. While most of the work is done via electronic or other means, some needs to be done face to face. This was beneficial both for programming as well as professional development.

Jonathan Chodacki (Extension Orchard Manager) manages Extension’s orchard in Las Vegas with over 600 fruit trees and vines used in demonstrations and research. Orchard uses are both commercial and residential. He was offered a no cost (except for travel) two day intensive training at the Dave Wilson Nursery in Modesto, CA which specializes in Mojave Desert horticulture.  Since he is new to the Mojave Desert area, this provided him the opportunity to learn skills and knowledge that he can apply in the Extension demonstration nursery and in teaching others.

JoAnne Skelly (County Extension Educator) participated in the 2010 Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) conference, which focused training sessions on climate change, invasive species education, sustainability, natural resource education, watershed management, alternative energy, outreach education tools and working with diverse cultures. She is working more and more with urban agriculture, alternative energy and climate change for small farmers and producers. She plans to use the information learned in programs with small producers to address profitable sustainable gardening and reducing the urban agriculture environmental impacts.

Kent McAdoo (Area Extension Specialist, Rangeland Resources) participated in the Society for Ecological Restoration (SERNW) and the Washington Chapter of the Wildlife Society Regional Conference in Marysville, WA.  Some of the educational sessions attended included grazing public lands to benefit wildlife and using livestock and herbicides to enhance native plant seedings. Information will be shared with audiences including agriculture producers, tribal land managers, NRCS range conservationists and public land managers (BLM & US Forest Service). He is focusing on teaching new and improved methods of land management that promote food and fiber production while maintaining ecological integrity of rangeland plant communities.

Kent also attended the National Association of County Agriculture Agents annual professional improvement conference where he attended educational sessions in diversified ranch operations, prescribed burns for forage and wildlife habitat improvement and improved forages for sustainable agriculture. His goal is to teach advantages of vegetation/forage management that promote food and fiber production and maintain integrity of rangelands. Information will be shared with audiences including agriculture producers, tribal land managers, NRCS range conversations and public land managers (BLM & US Forest Service).

John Burton (Assistant Director) participated in the annual Western SARE-PDP Coordinators Meeting and the tour provided. Information was shared with UNCE ag professionals for their information and use.

PDP-funded Publications/ Educational Materials and Products

 Printing of curriculum “People of the Land” but no new publications.

Changes in Ag Professionals’ Knowledge, Skills and Action

Given the small number of individuals participating in Western SARE-PDP related training or professional development programs, the use of survey instruments is not practical or useful. Other than verbal or other feedback from participants about how useful or helpful the training was it is unlikely there will be much in the way of impacts until the following or later years as they apply or use what they learned in their programming.

Involvement of others in state PDP planning and implementation

Nevada does not have an identified Western SARE-PDP advisory committee. Given the urban nature of Nevada (86%), the vast open spaces, 87% of land Federally owned and with only small pockets of diverse agriculture, soliciting stakeholder input is an ongoing process rather than a specified “advisory group.” Cooperative Extension and state/federal agencies are all small in number of both personnel and subject expertise. As a result, there is already a close working relationship between all professionals at both the county and state levels, and joint or cooperative programming is the rule in Nevada not the exception.  Additionally, these same agency professionals include producers and agriculture organizations (Cattleman’s Association, Farm Bureau, etc.) on their agency advisory or planning committees. There is ongoing discussion with these entities throughout the year on programming needs and the expertise required. The State SARE-PDP Coordinator also talks directly with NRCS and other agency professionals at the state level.