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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 1/13/2021BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, January 13, 2021 4:00 p.m. Microsoft Teams meeting Minutes 1. Call to Order The Chair, Jeff Silbert, called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm Members present via Teams: Jeff Silbert, Tom Snilsberg, Fred Strand, Jim Crandall, and Steve Sandstrom Others present via Teams: Mary Pardee, Theresa LaChappelle, Stephanie Bakker, Sarah DeGraff, Jason Fischbach, Tracy Henegar, Mary Johnson, Kaylie Lukas, Ian Meeker.Kellie Pederson and Mark Abeles-Allison. 2. Approval of Minutes of November 18, 2020 meeting (action item) Motion (Strand, Snilsberg) to approve the minutes of November 18, 2020. Minutes approved 3. Public Comment No public comments 4. Out-of-State Overnight Travel Requests (action item) No Out-of-State requests. 5. 2020 UW-Extension Budget Update Report Still some outstanding bills to pay. $21,000 + remaining in the budget mainly due to furloughs, position vacancies and the inability to administer programming in the usual way. 6. 2020 UW-Extension Budget Resolution A. The “Chequamegon Go First Farm” Hazelnut planting (action item) Discussion. Jason had done a presentation to the Executive Committee which has approved the project. The funding being requested is for three years. The funding will come from some of the unspent money from the 2020 budget. The money was unspent due to furloughs, vacancies, and the inability to administer programming in the usual way. Motion (Sandstrom, Crandall) to approve the 2021 UW-Extension Budget Resolution as it pertains to the “Chequamegon Go First Farm” Hazelnut planting proposal. Motion approved. 7. Area Extension Director Report A. Extension State and Area Updates The message from UW-Madison regarding Covid telecommuting is the same. It is expected that by April 30th a decision will be made concerning in-person programming for the summer and for camp programming. B. Staffing Updates • Gina Nagro has been hired as the Ashland County office full-time support staff. Extension Committee Meeting 01-13-21 Page 2 of 6 • Sarah DeGraff has had her one-year contract extended to March 31st. Plans for this position are currently being worked on. Pardee recently had/and will continue to have meetings with the Administrator, Fischbach and various Extension people to determine the future of the position. Committee members expressed that the position is needed, and they would like to see the position continue. The 2021 contract and budget have been approved for the position at 75% for the year. • Sarah Tarkington has left the position of FoodWIse educator for Ashland and Bayfield Counties. The FoodWIse program is looking to fill this part-time vacancy. C. Resource Guide for Bayfield/Ashland Counties • Pardee noted that Silbert had asked about a Covid Resource Guide. She has discussed this with the Administrator, and he will bring it up at an upcoming Covid- 19 Cooperator’s group. • The Ashland/Bayfield Counties Family Resource Guide is currently being updated. It still needs to be checked and proofed. This Guide has been used for years by the public, human services, and jail programs. D. Budget Reductions • Pardee noted that the Administrator wants all the departments to submit potential budget reductions by March 31st, in the amounts of 2%, 5% & 7%. • A few committee members voiced their opinion that they do not want to see a decrease in the Extension budget at all. • Ashland County is moving forward with a referendum in April. Extension is listed in the Referendum as an item that could be cut if not passed. Bayfield and Ashland do a lot of programming together. E. Covid Toolkits Silbert mentioned that he had seen the mention of UW-Madison Extension Covid Toolkits. The toolkits included policies, checklists, etc. for non-profits and small companies. Is this something that can be shared with our local businesses? 8. Issues and Program Ideas Discussion Theresa Lachappelle – Office Manager • Chequamegon Bay Region COVID-19 Cooperators Response Team Meeting. This Team is made up of personnel from three counties, two tribes and one hospital who meet once a week to discuss the impact that Covid-19 is having on our communities. I continue to create weekly agendas and to take the minutes for this group. • 4-H CANSKI. Set up a registration form for families to pay via PayPal for their CANSKI membership and ski rental. Input data into a spreadsheet on Google Drive, so it is accessible to those in the 4-H CANSKI Club that need to see the information. Will transfer money to the Club when registration is completed. Currently 116 participants have registered. • Human Services “Meals on Wheels” Survey. Kellie Pederson worked with Human Services on developing a survey for the Meals on Wheels participants. Sixty-one surveys were returned to be tabulated. I tabulated the answers to the 20 questions on each of the surveys and I also included the many written comments to questions that did not ask for them. Extension Committee Meeting 01-13-21 Page 3 of 6 • Website, Social Media, Website and County Calendar. Continue to post and share programs, events & information to our social media pages, (FB-Extension, FB-4H, & FB-Ashland/Bayfield County Master Gardeners, Twitter and Instagram) our Bayfield County Extension Website and updates to the County website, mainly adding items into the calendar. Tracy Henegar -Human Development & Relationships Educator • Finished the Trauma Informed Class – 31 individuals signed up, of those 22 were from Bayfield County. At the first session 22 individuals showed up, at following sessions 15-20 individuals participated on average. Fifteen completed the entire course. • Co-Parenting – Participating in a group who is reworking the curriculum. The class is offered only once a month in Bayfield/Ashland Counties. The goal is to be able to have everyone across the region be presenting the same curriculum. Bayfield/Ashland Counties will be holding a class next week. • Highlights on Taking Care of You. This series is about reducing stress levels. It has been the most requested series. Within a week there were 25 registrations, eight of which either work/reside in Ashland/Bayfield County. She added a March session, so far seven have registered five are from the Ashland/Bayfield Counties. • WeCope – Currently taking the training for this UW Extension’s new 6-session stress and coping program for adults, which encourages practicing skills such as mindfulness, savoring, positive reappraisal, gratitude, and goal setting, among others. Looking at being able to offer this program in 2021. • Love & Logic - This series is wrapping up. • Literacy Link – The Jail staff has asked to reduce the number of in person visits as inmate numbers are down. The writing packets are still being offered. • Aging Mastery program – Taking the training to be able to teach this class. Technology is the biggest hurdle. Hoping to bring to Bayfield County soon. • Triple P Parenting Program – Douglas County was chosen to pilot this program. Sixteen registered for the first class, three from Bayfield County. After the first session, there is usually see an increase in registrations • ACE’s & Trauma Informed Care –Has given the class upon request to Brule Head Start, which has families from Bayfield County as well as Douglas County. Red Cliff has requested this for their police officers as well. They will be opening registration to other law enforcement individuals in the area. Kellie Pederson – Community Development Educator • Housing – The community survey sent out through the Housing group is in the communities and they are getting responses back. • Economic Development Summit – This was held virtually in the October. • HomeGrown Entrepreneurship Workshop planning is going on hopefully in late February. The HomeGrown Entrepreneurship Workshop from Extension helps to build and strengthen the local entrepreneurial network that funds entrepreneurial endeavors, looks at community-based funding, venture capital, and regional funding. • Community Branding – Pederson is working with a Specialist on the Washburn community branding. The Washburn Chamber, Business Alliance, and the City each Extension Committee Meeting 01-13-21 Page 4 of 6 asked Pederson separately is she could assist with this. Each of these entities have somewhat conflicting viewpoints on what the city should look like. This is an opportunity to bring a united vision to the community. Crandall mentioned that other communities in Bayfield County could benefit from this process including Cable and Iron River. • Local Government support – She included a copy of a Memo from Mayor Ringberg, as an example of the types of questions that she gets regarding organizational development, in this case the Bayfield Harbor Commission. This is the committee that oversees and makes recommendations to the City of Bayfield regarding Marina operations. • Service work - This year has been a lot more service work. Extension has a role to play in getting the systemized vaccine plan out there. This has brought changes to her long-term goals and plan of work. Mark Abeles-Allison thanked Kellie for reaching out to our Public Health Department and her assistance to them. Jason Fischbach – Agriculture Educator • Milk prices – Shared his screen comparing 2018 to 2020 milk prices for various dairy products, such as Class I-fluid milk, II, III-cheese, & IV-butter. Prices are extremely volatile. The complicated and convoluted the milk prices are bringing a very stressful time for the dairy farmers. • Nutrient Management – Working with local farmers on getting their nutrient management (manure) plans in place. • Hazelnut Growers– A grower’s meetings is scheduled for Jan 20th and 21sts • Hazelnut Processing – The processing is being done at Northland. There are nuts coming from WI and MN. He just sent 30# out to be flavor tested. • Go First Farm Fencing – The fencing around the biomass willow plantation will be transferred to the hazelnut plants. The fencing will consist of two rows of off-set fencing. The full 3-acres will not be fenced the first year. • Bio-Mass - The willows do not need the fencing that will be transferred to the hazelnut plantation. The willows need cutting every three years. Not an easy thing to do. The Poplar clone trials are much more of a success. They propagate easier and are the top varieties. There is also more of a market for poplar, than there is for willow. • CSA’s – There has been a huge interest in local foods because of COVID. Sarah DeGraff- Agriculture & Horticulture Educator • Vegetable Variety Trials-Charts were included from the taste testing. Some of the data collected is about how it grows, diseases, etc., but also just as importantly need to look at flavor profiles. Hoping to have all the data and research at end of Feb or early March. • CSA Fair – Meeting with local food producers, farmers, etc., to set up a virtual CSA Fair to be held on the last Wednesday in March. Will also be looking at using the Extension Committee Meeting 01-13-21 Page 5 of 6 FeastbytheBay.org website as a resource for people to find local growers, especially for those who don’t belong to a CSA. • WI Water Week, March 8-11 – Working on the planning for two breakout sessions on: Wolves-how they are linked to tribal water resources, and one featuring Tom Glazan who will speak about organic and sustainable farming. • Climate Change – DeGraff is helping to design a session for a course being created through “Canvas”. Her session will be in May and will feature the issues caused by the 2016 flooding. • Graduate School – DeGraff was recently accepted into graduate school and will be starting to work on her Masters in Organic Sustainable Agriculture. • Ag Plastics Collections – High tunnel plastic, silage plastics, shrink wrap from marinas, etc. working with Lissa Radke, Ashland Extension to find a feasible way get them collected and recycled Stephanie Bakker – FoodWIse Coordinator • Food Distribution – Bakker has volunteered at the Red Cliff Food Box distribution in December. • Indirect education – The FoodWIse Newsletters have gotten great responses, so will continue to do those. • Year-End Reporting continues. • Strong Bodies Program - Next week starts the Strong Bodies program. This is an 8- week strength training program that will done virtually. Bakker will be co-hosting this program with Douglas County FoodWIse educators, as they have offered this before. • State Tribal Nutrition Group – Bakker will be Co-facilitating this meeting later this month. This group consists of FoodWIse & Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC) educators from the state. Ian Meeker – 4-H & Youth Development • 4-H CANSKI- Approximately 150 people are registered, this includes 20 coaches, a few parents, and about 120 youth. The Washburn VFW building has been used for gear check out. Being able to have a dedicated layout, allows the equipment to be laid out. This has worked out very well. Youth are skiing in small groups of eight. • Zoom Meetings - Hosted several Zoom meetings for the clubs, the 4-H Ambassadors, and the 4-H Leaders. • Virtual State Learning Group – Collaborating on creating some online content. • Virtual Winter Camp –There was not much interest. He will have a trailer of Fat bikes available by Lake Superior View. • Ski trails – There are discussions regarding a possible trail from Valhalla to Ashwabay. Nothing concrete just discussion. Mt. Ashwabay will be a recognized virtual site for the Birkie race. Mt. Ashwabay has good trails only a few dirt patches. With snow coming, the trails will be good. The Birkie trail is used quite often and they have been making snow yet are offering the option of virtual sites. Extension Committee Meeting 01-13-21 Page 6 of 6 Mary Johnson – Financial Security Educator. • Resources and courses - Johnson has been learning about the courses and resources available to her and contacting, and meeting with contacts. She will be starting to offer a few courses in the next month. • Red Cliff Housing – Johnson will be co-teaching with Cindy Butterfield of Red Cliff Housing on Home Ownership and with Deb Morris of Red Cliff Housing on financial education. • Jail Education – She has met with Bayfield County Criminal Justice Coordinator, Barb Flynn to discuss offering financial education for the individuals wanting the classes. Mary Pardee – Area Extension Director • Children Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Grant - Mary Pardee and Mark Abeles- Allison have been discussing this grant. 9. Next Meeting Date and Time Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 4 pm. 10. Adjourn at 5:41 pm Minutes submitted by: Theresa LaChappelle, Office Manager Extension Bayfield County