Program Impacts
AGRICULTURE
Farm to Fork—Eighteen persons participated in the first Farm to Fork tour event, which included tours of local ranches/farms while discussing the history of the ranch/farms, tasting of different varieties of blackberries and raspberries; lunch and talk from local Basque restaurant owner and native. A tour of Bently ranch, meat market, and the new Bently Heritage Distillery. A small Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant was obtained which help offset the tour cost to participants.
Eagles and Ag—A program to promote the benefits agriculture provides wildlife and the community, conservation and prosperity of ranching in western Nevada, and enhance participant knowledge in wildlife habitat and local agriculture. Partnered with Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce. 2020 marked the 19th year of this program with 413 participants.
Cattleman’s Update – Provides current research-based information about important management practices and issues that may affect the efficiency, productivity, profitability and sustainability of cattle production businesses.
Agriculture: Living Beyond a Pandemic— Created during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist agriculturists in making management and production decisions for future viability. Sessions included were: Ag risk and ag law; meatpackers, pricing, and availability; backyard poultry production; pork industry update; and Dairy: Milk dumping and National Dairy Month. This online program was new for Douglas Extension, kicking off in April 2020.
Douglas Extension Beekeeping Program — Why: A community needs assessment conducted by Lindsay Chichester, Douglas County Extension Educator indicated a need for more information and outreach on bees and pollinators. A portion of the Douglas Extension budget was earmarked to begin the Beekeeping Program. In addition to four hives full of bees that will be used as a teaching tool in the future, the educational hive is a chance to buzz into the world of bees and beekeeping- with no live bees! Each educational hive has 10 double-sided frames inside, which are numbered for easy access and put back!
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Leadership Douglas County – A community leadership program designed to develop informed, involved, and knowledgeable community members for Douglas County
Sustainable Living – Working with GreenACTnv, a local non-profit, to promote sustainable practices, renewable energy use, and environmental responsibilities in the way we work, live, and play.
Economic Vitality – In coordination with Douglas County Agrihoods.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Climate Change Partnership – UNCE collaborated with the Southwest Regional Climate Hub of the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) and with Cooperative Extension in six western states to build a partnership to assist Extension in incorporating climate science into Extension programming.
Flood Education and Planning – Working with the Carson Water Subconservancy District this educational effort helps citizens better prepare for flood hazards and understand the importance of keeping floodplain lands open and functional.
The Living With Fire Program (LWF) teaches Nevadans how to live more safely in wildfire-prone areas. LWF reached 375 direct contacts and distributed 790 publications within Douglas County. The LWF program attended one community event, assisted three communities (i.e. Holbrook Highlands, Job’s Peak Ranch and Skyland) with preparing for or helping plan events in their community, presented to one civic community group and provided Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District with the Ember House youth activity twice for their events. The Nevada Network of Fire Adapted Communities’ Fourth Annual Conference was held in Washoe County. This statewide event drew 16 Douglas County community leaders, civic group members and representatives of the local fire protection districts. During the conference’s afternoon session, participants had the opportunity to interact with their local fire district about how both could work more effectively towards becoming a Fire Adapted Community. As a result of the conference held by the Living With Fire Program, Douglas County residents, East Fork Fire Protection District and the Nevada Division of Forestry met to discuss the process and objectives of becoming a Fire Adapted Community.
HORTICULTURE
Master Gardeners – Provide consumers with up-to-date, reliable information and offers a fun and useful volunteer activity, which gives participants a sense of community spirit, accomplishment and intellectual stimulation.
Grow Your Own – A program to help citizens who want to get on a path to more sustainable, local, healthy living by growing more of their own food. Offered in the spring and fall.
Home Horticulture & Master Gardener Orientation 2020 Classes offered virtually.
Pesticide Safety Education – A program to help pesticide applicators obtain and retain their certification and teach safe pesticide use.
The horticulture walk-ins that were logged were 235 and the logged phone calls were 161. These number do not reflect the actual and are only the logged calls. There is an undocumented number of emails from Douglas County citizens. Ask eXtension has been used by many of Douglas County residents to upload photos and get answers to the questions they have regarding the landscape to be answered by our horticulturist. Our administrative assistant in the Douglas office is a master gardener and she is currently doing most of the horticulture calls and walk-ins.
A part-time horticulture position was filled at the start of COVID but has since been vacated, and will again be refilled.
4-H
2019-20 – Douglas County 4-H 164 youth members and 23 adult volunteers.
Shooting Sports Project had 8 volunteer leaders and 60 youth members
Livestock Projects had 4 volunteer leaders and 30 youth:
- 12 youth showing sheep
- 9 youth showing swine
- 5 youth showing steers
- 4 youth showing goats.
Community Gardening Project had 3 volunteer leaders and 14 youth.
Cloverbud Project had 1 volunteer leader and 54 youth.
Speaking with Confidence Project had 1 volunteer leader and 10 youth.
Sewing Project had 1 volunteer leader and 10 youth.
Baking Project had 1 volunteer leader and18 youth.
Cooking Project had 2 volunteer leaders and 6 teens.
The Hunting Skills Project had a full membership of 2 volunteer leaders 14 youth
The Fiber Arts Group was maxed out with 1 volunteer leader and 25 members.
Our Teen Ambassador Program was maxed out with 1 staff and 6 members.
Douglas County 4-H continues to partner with the community on a number of different levels: Our annual PINGO event had approximately 450 attendees, in cooperation with Carson Valley United Methodist Church, Joe Benigno’s Tree Service, C.O.D. Casino, and F. Heise & Livestock.
We partnered with The Nature Conservatory to bring awareness and raise funds to support our wetlands areas with 150 in attendance.
We partnered with Kiwanis of the Carson Valley for our annual portfolio judging contest. We had 10 members of the community served as judges for the event. The local Kiwanis of the Carson Valley donated $600 for the winners. A total of 62 Portfolio Record Books were turned in for judging. Completing a Portfolio is crucial to learning life skills and record keeping. It incorporates record keeping, resume writing, essay writing, creativity and time management skills.
This year during Community Club Night, a group of 320 (160 members and an additional 160 family members), once again partnered with Gold Star Moms to fill packages to send to Douglas County soldiers who are stationed overseas.
- We also partnered with Carson Valley Food Closet and hosted a food drive for the food closet and made cards for local senior living communities.
- We partnered with Tractor Supply Company for our annual “Paper Clover Days” to fundraise for 4-H and provide education to the community on what 4-H has to offer.
- We partnered with Battle Born Livestock to host a local youth livestock show with more than 400 in attendance.
- We partnered with Nutrena to present a local horse feed and care workshop with 30 youth and adults in attendance (maximum number of attendees that our facility would allow).
- We partnered with Rotary to bring awareness of local 4-H programs to the community.
- We partnered with Soroptimists to bring awareness of local 4-H programs to the community.
Partnered with Carson Valley Clays to host a shotgun match with more than 300 in attendance.
Even with the 4-H Program season being cut short due to Covid 19 response by state and local governments, we managed to fundraise more than $40,000 for our local programs.
RADON
Radon Education – A program to educate citizens about radon health risk which offers literature, educational programs and radon test kits. In Douglas County, 40.5% of the homes tested have elevated levels of radon, which is the third highest county in Nevada for radon potential. In some areas of the county, such as Stateline, Glenbrook, Zephyr Cove and Gardnerville, the ratio is higher, with 55% to 64% of the tested homes having elevated levels of radon.
Since program inception, more than 5,395 homes in Douglas County have been tested. This is 22.6% of the total housing units in the county (using 2016 American Community Survey 5-year estimates for number of housing unit estimates). At least 11,237 short- and long-term radon test kits have been distributed since the program’s inception, and at least 7,157 of the kits have been used, for a usage percentage of 63.5%. In fiscal year 2020, 410 short- and long-term kits were distributed, with 230 kits used, for a usage rate of 56%. At least 197 of the kits were distributed from the Extension office in Douglas County, while others were distributed from partners and program events by the Nevada Radon Education Program.
Of the homes needing mitigation (after confirmation testing), 438 have undergone mitigation, resulting in a 24% mitigation percentage. Also, there are a total of 778 reported real estate tests and 112 Radon-Resistant New Construction (RRNC) homes in Douglas County since the program’s inception. In fiscal year 2020, 55 homes were reported mitigated, 8 homes built RRNC, and 165 homes tested during the home purchase process.
Douglas County has provided the Nevada Radon Poster Contest with seven first-place winners since its inception in 2010. And, the Nevada contest has also garnered two national first-place winners, in 2016 and 2018, and two national second-place winners and three of the national winners were from Carson Valley Middle School. In January 2019, Nevada had its fourth national poster winner with Ana Marquez from the Carson Valley Middle School garnering a second-place win in the national contest. Ana had the winning poster for the Nevada contest and was automatically entered into the national contest.
