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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 10/12/2022UW Extension Committee Meeting October 12, 2022 Page 1 of BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, October 12, 2022 – 4:00 PM Bayfield County Board Room, Courthouse, Washburn, WI 54891 Minutes 1. Call to Order Meeting was called to order by the Chair, Jeff Silbert, at 4:05 pm. Committee members present: Jeff Silbert, Larry Fickbohm, Fred Strand, Madelaine Rekemeyer, and Steve Sandstrom 2. Approval of Minutes of August 10, 2022 Meeting (action item) (Rekemeyer, Strand)) Motion to approve the minutes of August 10, 2022. Motion Carried. 3. Public Comment a. Fred Strand – Fred and Renae Strand donate money towards the 4-H Fair Awards each year. This year they received a thank you card from a 4-H’er who had won an award that their money had provided. Strand shared the card with those at the meeting. 4. 2022 UW-Extension Budget Update Report Pardee noted that the Contractual Services for Educator salaries still needs to be paid out, that bill should arrive before the end of the year. Although the Superior Adventures budget is overspent. That amount will be taken care of by 4-H programming funds. Meeker is also looking at potential grants to be able to continue the program through much more of the year. 5. Area Extension Director Update a. Staffing Updates - Heidi Ungrodt and Tracy Henegar are now the permanent 50% HDR Bayfield County Educators. They have held meetings to discuss job duties being split up. Ungrodt will have Bayfield County Office as her home base but will also spend time in the Ashland County Office. Henagar’s home base will be Douglas County Office, but she will also be spending time at the Bayfield County Office. b. Ashland County – Ashland has hired a new 4-H educator, Kate Wallner. Wallner is an Ashland High School graduate who earned a BA in Philosophy from UW-Madison and is currently working on an MS in Sustainable Peacebuilding. Along with studying in India, she served in Kosovo as a member of the Peace Corps, where she worked with youth and families and mentored volunteers. c. Civil Rights Review – 10/26/22 All counties in Area 1 are undergoing a civil rights review process in October. There will be online documentation looked over with an in-person review meeting on the 26th. Since the UW-Madison, Division of Extension receives Federal monies; county offices are reviewed to ensure that civil rights processes and data are documented correctly. d. Small community Forum – 11/3/22 UW-Madison Extension is one of the partners in the small community forums that are being held around the state. The November 3rd morning forum will be held in Bayfield County at The Club in Washburn. There is a $20 registration fee e. Housing Educator Position Update i. The potential 2-year pilot project is moving forward on the State and County levels. moving forward. f. Demographic Data – Sandstrom would like to share with the Tribal Relations Committee the number of Native Americans participating in our Extension programs. The next Tribal Relations Committee meets next week on Oct. 26th. It is noted that giving demographic data is optional for participants in Extension programs. Educators will get what information they have to Sandstrom. 6. Update and Discussion on VFW Building a. The rotting door, frame and part of the wall have been removed. A double door has been added and the door frame and wall have been replaced. The gutters will go up tomorrow. More discussion needs to be had on the vision of the building. 7. Update and Discussion on Hazelnut Go First Farm project a. Emergingcropswi.org web site will be going live soon. The following crops have information for those interested in getting started in growing them: Bambara Groundnuts, Cider Apples, Food Grade Grains, Grapes (Ox Cider is a trial space for Seedless Table Grapes in Bayfield County), Hazelnuts, Hemp, Hops, Kernza, Malting Barley & New Berry Crops. b. Fischbach is in charge of the Northwest Grower Cluster for Hazelnuts. Hauser’s Superior View Farm has been a great nursery partner. About 5,000 plants have been sold. The plant breeding work continues. Fischbach was in contact with two people who had commented on one of our posts regarding the new hazelnut program in Bayfield County. They had mentioned that a few decades ago, a Bayfield County resident had started working on breeding hazelnuts up here. Fischbach did note that some of the new hazelnut plants originated from these original Bayfield County plants. c. Crowd Funding for Go-First Hazelnut Farms – Fischbach shared that there is a funding initiative in the works for the Go-First Farms. He shared the YouTube video that he created to explain the Go First Initiative. This can be found on the Extension https://jumpstart.supportuw.org/campaigns/upper-midwest-hazelnut-development- initiative d. Productivity and Picking – Fischbach noted that this year the original trial plantation had the largest crop of nuts yet. This year he had assistance from 36-5th graders who picked nuts as part of a class project. e. Nut Processor - The nut processor is housed at Northland College. It is stored when not in use and then wheeled into their kitchen area for the processing. This is the only nut processing facility in the area. 8. Staff Reports a. Stephanie Bakker /Marisa Perlberg, FoodWIse - Mary shared a picture of Stephanie’s new baby, Atlas. Foodwise –Marisa will be taking on the Great Apple Crunch on October 13th. b. Tracy Henegar, Human Development & Relationships–There is a growing demand for mental health and well-being education. The increase in the demand for this was happening before Covid and then since Covid, the demand has really increased. Henegar has been working with Washburn & Bayfield schools regarding Teen Mental Health First Aid. Both schools are prioritizing this program. She will be working with 10th & 11th graders from Washburn in February. Henegar will also be mentoring the Bayfield School staff. The Douglas County Youth Development Educator will be partnering with Tracy to bring the programming to the area. c. Theresa LaChappelle, Office Manager – Working on the creation of the Living Well newsletter. d. Kaylie Lucas, 4-H Assistant – The new 4-H year has started. The enrollment process has begun. The enrollment numbers will be down until the 4-H CANSKI members and leaders sign up a bit later in the year. Project days –Lukas has had good registration numbers for most of the projects. 4-H Leaders Association’s Annual meeting is coming up. The current President and Secretary are not running again, so filling those positions will be important. 4-H Awards and Recognition Dinner – Lukas has been coordinating all of the aspects for the Awards & Recognition Dinner being held on November 12th in Iron River at the Community Center. e. Ian Meeker – 4-H & Youth Development – Meeker is in Madison attending the national 4-H Educators Conference. Pardee noted that the Douglas County 4-H/YD Educator has been working with Meeker on finding ways to get youth involved in Superior Days. The Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas & Iron 4-H/Youth Development Educators will be working on the agendas/experiences for the youth to attend Superior Days. Ian Meeker, Doug Liphart, & Neil Klemme co-authored a paper studying the effects of attending Superior Days has had on Northern Wisconsin youth. This peer reviewed article will be published in the National Journal of Extension. f. Kellie Pederson, Community Development – Pederson has been attending a conference in Rhinelander. g. Heidi Ungrodt, Human Development & Relationships – Ungrodt has just started her position in Bayfield County. This has involved working with Henegar on desk shuffling and task division. Ungrodt is planning on handling Literacy Link in Bayfield County. She is planning on having some in-person workshops (including financial education) at the jail and will be joining the Criminal Justice committee meetings. 9. Next Meeting Date The next meeting is planned for January 11 2023, at 4 pm. To be held in the EOC, plus an online Teams option. 10. Adjourn – The meeting adjourned at 5:03 pm.