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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 3/10/2021Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting 03-10-21 Page 1 of 8 BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, March 10, 2021 4:00 p.m. Microsoft Teams meeting Minutes 1. Call to Order The Chair, Jeff Silbert, called the meeting to order at 4:04 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, Evelyn Flesvig, Tracy Henegar, Mary Johnson, Kaylie Lukas, Ian Meeker and Kellie Pederson. 2. Approval of Minutes of January 13, 2020 meeting (action item) Motion (Sandstrom, Snilsberg) to approve the minutes of January 13, 2021 meeting. Minutes approved. 3. Public Comment No public comments 4. 2021 UW-Extension Budget Update Report The 2021 year-to-date budget report included both the 100 fund and 292 fund accounts. 5. Area Extension Director Report A. Extension State and Area Updates COVID- 19 • Meeting Protocols – Starting April 1st, UW-Madison Extension has updated their COVID-19 in-person rules. Indoors - In-person meetings can increase to 50 people or 30% of the room’s capacity and meetings may last up to 4 hours. Outdoors-In-person meetings can increase to 150 people. Social distancing, breaking into smaller groups, masks, and other safety protocols are still in effect. Overnight camp type activity protocols will be decided by the end of the month. • COVID Toolkit – UW-Madison Extension Health & Well-Being Institute is putting out some messaging on vaccines. Area 1 • Douglas County held interviews last week for their Support Staff position. • Ashland County – An evening listening session is planned for March 23rd at 5 pm. Discussions will be on the Ashland County budget and potential budget cuts. • Tribal Relations Committee- Jeff & Steve are on this committee. Joy Schelbe, Extension Ashland County Bad River FRTEP Educator and others are going to attend the Tribal Relationships Committee on March 18th to discuss expanding FRTEP to the Red Cliff Reservation. • Virtual WI Water Week is this week. There are over 1,100 registrants for this Lakes & River Conference. A few of the workshops will be hosted by local residents. Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 2 of 8 B. Staffing Updates • The Superior Adventures Seasonal Intern position can be filled for this year. • Sarah DeGraff’s temporary agriculture/horticulture position has been extended to June 30th. • Extension Ag Institute Statewide Changes – Heidi Johnson, Ag Institute Director, and others are planning to attend the May Extension Committee meeting. Discussions will center on the changes that the Ag Institute is planning on regarding county centered general agriculture educators and how these changes will affect Bayfield County and the other surrounding counties. The Assistant Dean has stated that there will be support for the general ag position for 2021. The restructuring of the ag positions across the State has not come about specifically because of the way Jason’s job is split and funded. Because of the State budget cuts, it is impossible to support the same number of ag agents throughout the state, as there has historically been. Because of these budget constraints, the Ag Institute must make hard decisions on where to put their resources. They are looking at creating additional Regional/State specialized ag educators and funding less general county-based ag educators. If Jason were to become an Emerging Crops Specialist, this would then open the general county-based ag educator position in Bayfield County. However, the Ag Institute is deciding to not replace the county-based general agriculture educator in Bayfield County. The Ag Institute is basing this decision on the Census numbers that show how many are involved in agriculture business. The Institute does not feel that there are enough ag-related businesses to have a general ag educator in the County. The County funding that is currently being contributed to the State for the general ag educator position would now go to funding the Emerging Crops Specialist position. This will not affect Sarah, as she is pursuing her master’s degree through UW-Madison and is expecting to be attending in-person classes this fall and will be living out of the area. Housing a specialist in the County office can offer some positive benefits to the County. The traditional services that the general ag educator has offered such as Master Gardener training, identifying insects or plant diseases, tractor safety may still be offered, but in different ways by State or regional specialists. This may include contacting a specialist with photos of disease or insects, online training for Master Gardeners and tractor safety. With budget cuts, there must be a cut in services somewhere. Although there are currently two bills in the Wisconsin Legislature regarding budget funding for UW-Madison Extension, one is for adding additional county ag agents, and one is for adding additional campus-based specialists. Pardee did note that Counties may totally fund any position if they so desire. These employees are considered Extension employees and their fees are paid to UW-Madison Extension through the contract. Iron County currently is funding their 50% ag educator. The Bayfield County general ag educator position is being used as a test case by the Ag Institute. As other counties go through losing their current ag educator, the Ag Institute will use Bayfield County as an example on how to handle the transition to using State/Regional specialists. Strand did note that the committee should have information, questions, and/or concerns to present to the Ag Institute representatives at the May meeting. Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 3 of 8 The Ag institute provides specialized services for farmers. How are the needs of the fruit growers and forage growers in our area be taken care of? Can a State specialist in a different part of the State be able to focus down to our local level? Would they be aware of the local mini-climates, soils, etc. Is Census data the only metrics that the Ag Institute should look at? What about including other factors into this decision, such as the size of the economy, lack of other service providers (agricultural consultants), etc.? Sandstrom noted that agriculture is really important, and there is a huge opportunity in agriculture for our County. The County Board may have to look at putting more money into an agricultural position. Silbert noted that the Bayfield County Economic Development had just discussed the importance of a diversified economy at the last meeting. There is a need to look into the Federal funding possibilities that may be able to be used for some types of agricultural projects and education. Strand noted that Bayfield County should be looking at Agricultural Economic Development vs Sustaining the current Agricultural Businesses. 6. Budget Reduction Scenarios Discussion The three budget reduction scenarios were discussed. Mark had asked for each department to do a 2%, 5% & 7%. Mary took the current budget and worked out the potential budget reduction scenarios. At 2% items reduced included printing, teen court, 4-H awards-funding to come from Leaders Assoc. At 5%, all the 2% reductions would be used plus the part-time staff would be cut. At 7% all the 5% reductions would be included plus Superior Adventures part-time staff and program funding, as well as Superior Days funding would be cut. The Committee members commended Mary on the layout of her Budget Reduction Scenarios. They stated that the report was very easy to read and follow and very impressive. The administrator is being proactive in looking for ways to cut the budget if needed. It is good to know what the options may be but are hoping that we won’t have to follow through any of the reduction scenarios. These scenarios also highlight so much of what Extension is doing. Mary noted that Bayfield County puts a lot of money into youth programming, which emphasizes that Bayfield County thinks that youth programming is important. 7. WEXA Update – Jeff Silbert Wisconsin Extension Association replaces the former Wisconsin Association County Extension Committees (WACEC). This new association is facilitated by the WI Counties Association to be a liaison between the Counties and UW-Madison Division of Extension. Jeff Silbert, Bayfield County and Charlie Ortman from Ashland County have volunteered to be WEXA Directors for the district. This is an opportunity to make our voices be heard more efficiently. 8. Issues and Program Ideas Discussion • Mary Johnson – Financial Security Educator Starting to set up programming. • Encouraging Financial Conversations – This April workshop’s registration just opened today. Currently have 10 people registered with 4 from Bayfield County. • Planning AHEAD – This workshop is about planning AHEAD for the end of life. Mary will be co-teaching a pilot course in May. Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 4 of 8 • Red Cliff Housing –Mary is working with WNLF & Red Cliff Housing on providing education to tribal members on home buying opportunities. • Financial Education – Mary is being contacted by individual clients wanting to take part in financial education classes. • “Caregiver and Family News: Living Well in our Best Years” newsletter articles – Provided articles for the Living Well newsletter. • Tribal Liaison meeting – Introductory meeting with Aaron Berger, Tribal Liaison, UW- Madison & UW-Madison Division of Extension. Mr. Berger works with both the Red Cliff tribe and the Bad River tribe. • Theresa LaChappelle, Office Manager • “Caregiver and Family News: Living Well in our Best Years” newsletter- This newsletter is a collaboration between Extension Bayfield County and Bayfield County Human Services, ADRC. Theresa collected all the articles, laid them out, added images, proofed, and made recommend edits to the newsletter. The 300 copies of the newsletter were printed on Tuesday and taken down to Human Services to be readied for mailing. A copy of the Living Well newsletter is on our website. The link is in the staff reports. • Multiple other items – General office duties and giving support to educators where it is needed. • Stephanie Bakker – FoodWIse Director of Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron Counties • Annual Report – The FoodWIse Annual Report is included in the meeting packet. The FoodWIse year runs from Oct 1, 2019 to Sept 30, 2020. COVID-19 has changed many things this past year. There has been a16% increase in food share participation since COVID. This year has been about transitioning education to virtual presentation. • WI Chili Lunch – This event is a week-long event held in February. It is supported by Farm to School program and local food producers. Deb in Iron County piloted this event in Iron County. • Staffing – Still working on hiring on the new FoodWIse. • Strong Bodies – Stephanie along with the Douglas, FoodWIse educators have been offering the Strong Bodies program for the last few months. They have seen an increase in participation and have extended this program through April. • Red Cliff Food Distribution – Stephanie has created a partnership with the Red Cliff Food Distribution Center and FoodWIse. As well as volunteering during distribution day, Butch Bresette, Director of the Red Cliff Food Distribution has allowed FoodWIse to connect with the tribal cooking group. The FoodWIse program provides nutrition information for the items that have been selected to be cooked. • Annual FoodWIse Coordinators Conference – This year the annual event has been held online, each Wednesday, over the past 4 weeks for 3 hours each time. This has been very useful for getting direction on the 2022 budget and the three-year plan. • Kellie Pederson – Community Development Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 5 of 8 • Washburn Branding Project – Eight community members have agreed to follow the process on this project. The people all come from a variety of walks of life, with little overlap. The most common denominator seems to be Northland College. • Housing - Enough housing surveys have been returned to get over the 30% mark. Surveys can now be tabulated, and the results should be available soon. There are many county residents interested in the housing conversation. Iron River is always searching for ways to increase the town’s housing abilities. • Red Cliff Economic Development Board– This Board has been meeting twice a week for over a year. There is new leadership and some realignment of goals which should bring on an exciting new year. • Liz Lexau – Interim Justice Involved Families Outreach State Specialist • Literacy Link Expansion – Liz has been working with educators in other counties to explore expansion of the Literacy Link program to other WI counties. • Dad’s Podcast – This program was developed through Literacy Link. The “Anywhere Dad’s” podcast workgroup is developing a podcast series for incarcerated fathers, featuring child development specialists and the voices of incarcerated fathers. Four of the 11 episodes were piloted with a focus group of Milwaukee dads with positive feedback. The rest of the episodes are being edited and will be released, hopefully for Father’s Day. • Prepared a six-month report and met with funders to deliver to update the American Family Institute for Corporate and Social impact on our activities under their sponsorship agreement. The Institute sponsorship is for the Literacy Link Milwaukee project, but products developed there will be used in other Literacy Link counties including Bayfield. • Facilitated monthly meetings of the state Literacy Link Leadership team • Completed several orientation items with Extension’s new Justice Involved Families educator. • Working with Heidi Ungrodt, Ashland County, on a new text messaging project for caregivers of children of incarcerated parents (often grandparents and other relative caregivers). Through the Literacy Link, caregivers who sign up will receive a regular series of texts sharing resources on self-care for them, information on parenting and child-development, helping children cope with family incarceration and stay connected to parent through letters, visits, phone calls etc. • Worked with team to develop protocols/tips for conducting “Making Reading Memories Recorded Book Reading” program via Zoom. Videos were made face-to-face pre-COVID but are now being made using Zoom • Working on a pre-recorded version of the Interactive Reading Workshop to be available for use at jails whose residents have access to tablets/devices for viewing educational material. • Co-wrote end of year report on The Literacy Link for the Family Engagement and Relationship Program to be used for national reporting to NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture), which supports Cooperative Extension. Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 6 of 8 • Worked with Literacy Link evaluation specialist on several projects including updating our Preliminary Findings Report and working on follow up evaluation for caregivers whose children receive videos of their incarcerated parents reading to them. In addition to quantitative data, we frequently receive feedback like this comment from a caregiver: “They loved being able to touch and hold the same book that their dad was reading.” And “She was so happy to see her mom. She's learning to read. Seeing her mom read helped encourage her to read.” • Liz noted how much of a generational cycle she sees in the jails. Sometimes teaching both a parent and an adult child at the same time. • Sarah DeGraff – Interim Agriculture & Horticulture • Internal Cross-Climate Change Working Group – Sarah has been developing a course for other Extension educators in addressing state and local climate issues. She has been creating resources for climate education that educators can incorporate into their lesson plans. • CSA Virtual Fair – The CSA Virtual Fair is set for March 24, 2021 via Zoom. This is a way to for people can take the opportunity to connect the public with local producers. • Ag Newsletter – Sarah has just finished the Ag Newsletter. Articles that assist in connecting Extension, community members and producers. • On Farm Vegetable Trials – Sarah is finishing up with the 2020 data. Planning for the 2021 Vegetable Trial season is under way. • Jason Fischbach- Hazelnut Specialist and Agriculture • Annual Hazelnut Conference – This conference was held virtually over 3-days. There were 220 + registered for the conference. • Strawberry Growers Workshop - The workshop was held virtually on March 4th. With the workshop being virtual, Jason was able to bring in a commercial strawberry specialist from River Falls. This also allowed for individual consultations with growers on Friday. • Go First Farm Hazelnuts – To prepare the ground for the Go First Farm plantings, there will be strips -2 ½ to 3 feet wide – worked up to get rid of the weeds. The actual planting will be done in fall. • Ian Meeker – 4-H and Youth Development • 4-H Program – This year the number of individuals enrolled in 4-H are as follows: Cloverbuds-44, Youth Members-175 & Adult Volunteers-52. • CANSKI has been the most active club this year. 56% enrolled are from Bayfield County. 43% are from Ashland County. • Gear was checked out to 65-elementary youth, 28-middle school youth, 17-high school youth & 14-Adult/Parents. • Six middle school skiers (3-boys, 3-girls) races at the Northern Conference Ski meet. • Three middle school skiers skied at the WI HS/MS Nordic Championship at the Birkie start in Cable. • Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 7 of 8 • 4-H Thriving Model –Bayfield County, one of eight WI counites, participated in this model’s evaluation of the 4-H program. A score between 5-7, means that you are hitting the thriving elements. Bayfield County scored a 5.7 as was determined by the answers provided by youth members 13 and up who took an online survey. • Super Days – Continuing to work on the research paper with Neil KLEMME, Doug Liphart that documents the impact of Superior Days on youth participants. Jeff has seen the impact of the youth being engaged during Superior Days. Jim noted that the more impact Ian has, the less clients Liz has. • Bayfield County 4-H member, Morgan Martens was the winner of the Junior Iditarod Dog Sled Race. • Tracy Henegar, Human Development & Relationships & Evelyn Flesvig, UW-Superior Intern • Evelyn Flesvig is a UW-Superior Social Work program student in her last semester of school. She is working with Tracy as an intern for this semester. Evelyn’s focus is Justice Involved Families. She has been working a lot with the Literacy Link program but has also been involved in other programs as well. • Aging Mastery Program – This program has run in the past as an in-person class in Douglas County. Tracy has reached out to colleagues around the state, who have run this program as an online class to discuss positives and negatives using the online format. These discussions have cumulated in offering the class online. The online ability to offer this program to Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas & Iron counties at the same time provides a greater chance that enough people will sign up to hold the class. Registrations opened today and 9 have already registered with 6 being from Bayfield County. • Mental Health First Aid – This is an all day workshop. It has been adapted to work online. This is one program that is better offered in person but will work on an online platform. Tracy will continue to offer it virtually until she can offer in person. Of the 30 registration slots available, 22 have been filled, 14 from this area. • Triple P-Positive Parenting Program – This is a pilot program funded through a grant. In January there were three workshops. March & April will include four discussion groups on parenting challenges. There are about 15 spots filled out of the 25 available spots. A handful of those registered are from this region. • Other Reports • Mary Pardee noted that Sara Wartman, Bayfield County Health Department Director has invited Extension educators to make their Covid appointments. • Jim Crandall was asked to explain about this year’s Fair. Jim stated that the current plan is to have the Fair in person. There will be Carnival rides. Everyone will be asked to wear masks, keep hands sanitized, and for carnival workers to wipe down the rides. There will not be any big grandstand shows, except perhaps the Dirt Dash. Social distancing if needed will be practiced in the grandstand for grandstand events. There is a need for Jr & Open Superintendents for Poultry, Rabbits, Photography and Cultural Arts. LaChappelle gave an overview of the duties of a Superintendent. Extension Bayfield County Committee Meeting 03-10-2021 Page 8 of 8 9. Next Meeting Date and Time The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 12th at 4:00 pm. In person in the County Board Room or as a virtual meeting. To be determined as we closer to the date. 10. Adjourn Motion (Sandstrom, Strand) adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm. # # #