People in Extension

Jessica JJ Hendrickson joined the team as Extension County Coordinator for White Pine and Eureka counties on June 24, 2024. Her primary role as Extension County Coordinator is to work with community members to identify community-based educational needs and bring in programming that meets those needs in the areas of agriculture, children, youth and families, horticulture, community development, natural resources, and health and nutrition. Another role of the position is to supervise the White Pine and Eureka Extension offices and staff to ensure programming addresses community needs.   

As the county coordinator for White Pine and Eureka counties, Hendrickson looks forward to engaging with community members and introducing valuable programs tailored to the unique needs of each community.

Gary McCuin transitioned roles from a split appointment between Extension as the Eureka County Extension Educator and (GBREC) Great Basin Research and Experiment Station as Extension Center Director to Extension Agricultural Specialist on January 1, 2024.  

His principal role as an Extension Agricultural Specialist in Eureka County is to advance agricultural production in Eureka County and across Nevada by researching and teaching producers innovative, sustainable solutions to agriculture issues. Another role is to assist producers in identifying and understanding issues that are affecting their operations and research those issues to discover practical ways in which new knowledge can be applied to resolve or prevent those issues.

Yelena Hage is our Administrative Assistant here at the Eureka Extension Office. She has worked for the GBREC (Great Basin Research and Extension Center) since June of 2023 and recently in May of 2024 accepted a full-time position that has her working the Extension Office side of things, as well as still offering support for GBREC. She plays an important role in organizing, managing, and keeping our office running. While she is mainly responsible for the clerical side of things you can often find her helping the community with radon kits, signing up the local 4-H youth for program activities, or helping with the ram sale.

Please do not hesitate to stop in and say hello to her or ask for information on any of the Programs that we provide. She is here to help and link our community to the specialists in our area regarding a wide range of topics, including but not limited to; farming, ranching, soil heath, improving nutrition and food safety, water testing, how to prepare and respond to emergencies and protecting our environment, as well as everything else in-between.  

Tosha Kerby is our Community Based Instructor (CBI all). She works primarily with the 4-H Program and focuses on Youth Development within our communities. She started with the University in March of 2020. Tosha brings knowledge of the 4-H program as she is a 4-H alumnus. As the Extension CBI, she plays a vital role in supporting the development of area youth, particularly through 4-H programs. Her responsibilities include organizing community resources, overseeing the community clubs, and coordinating various extension and outreach programs for youth ages 5- 19 years old. These programs encompass workshops, after-school activities, youth mentoring, special interest programs, summer camps, and day camps, all covering a wide range of topics and themes. 

Please reach out if you are interested in volunteering and sharing your passions with the youth of our community or if you have a youth that you think would love to be a part of 4-H.

4-H & Youth Development

The key to the 4-H Program is the development of life skills that help participants lead productive and satisfying lives. The program focused on fostering skills that are healthy and productive for both youth and their communities.

This year we helped youth meet their basic needs and acquire the competencies important to their immediate and future success both within the 4-H program, as well as the community.

The Eureka 4-H Program had a total of 12 volunteers who helped 57 youths who are currently enrolled in the program, with over 175 projects done among them. Our 4-H workshops also included 28 non-4-H enrolled youth. Some of those projects include but are not limited to:

Sewing, Floral Arrangements, Hunter Safety, Wood-burning, Photography, Educational Posters, Horse, Market Livestock, Show Livestock, Shooting Sports and more!

During the year, we had several new volunteers join forces with existing volunteers and leaders, contributing to 800 volunteer hours being poured back into the Eureka County Community by way of teaching youth and helping them expand their knowledge through hands-on experiences. 4-H youth completed 540 community service hours directly benefiting the Eureka community. In total, both groups contributed 1,340 hours of time to the Eureka County community. The monetary value of a volunteer’s time in the state of Nevada is $29.76 per hour. The fiscal impact of the time contributed back to the community equaled $39,878.40. This means $39,878.40 would have been required to accomplish the time our volunteers and youth freely gave back to the community! Although this number is staggering, the positive impacts contributed by the volunteers, leaders, and youth into life-long memories, experiences, and knowledge outweigh the monetary value.  

Events

Some events this year included the Eureka Lyons Club Pumpkin Patch, where 4-H youth helped sell pumpkins and raise money by setting up fun games during the event, as well as a photo booth for the community to take family photos in front of. The youth and their families also baked goods to contribute to the bake sale.

We also had the Eureka Jr. Livestock Club Show and Sale this year with 22 participants. 26 buyers registered for the sale and showed up to show their support for all the hard work our youth exhibitors put into their market livestock projects. 17 total Market Animals were sold during the Sale.

A Valentine's Day Party was held on February 14th during school hours to provide activities and enrichment for some of the local homeschooled families. This was a successful event in which 12 youths and their families showed up to play games and pass around Valentine’s goodies to each other.

We had a very special guest at one of our Community Club meetings: Senator Pete Goicoechea! Senator Goicoechea came in to teach our Club Officers and Members about Roberts Rules of Order, the importance of leading a meeting, and the basics of how meetings work. We are very lucky to have members in our community that value the youth and take time to invest in them.

Curriculum

Eureka staff and others around the state are working on developing a curriculum and project synthesis for the Rangeland and Pasture Beef Breeding Project. This new project will focus on the production model utilized by cattle producers in the western states. It is based on learning about and utilizing range and pasture resources, business/enterprise budgeting and management and beef breeding and production.

Nevada Economic Assessment Project (NEAP)

NEAP is a statewide program with the mission to develop and maintain an extensive data archive with timely, meaningful, and consistent characteristics and a set of analytical tools used to provide Nevada’s communities with research and analysis of emerging issues through outreach and engagement.

Rural Housing Baseline Assessments

Housing affordability and availability is an ongoing issue in Nevada. NEAP and Nevada Rural Housing have worked together to gather and analyze data to present the current housing situation. Baseline data collection and initial analysis were performed for Eureka County. Reports and fact sheets will be available around December 2024.

Foundational Public Health Services

A national Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) framework describes the baseline level of services that should be offered through all governmental health departments. The results of the survey will help guide future public health advocacy and investment, including the development of regional public health services. Online surveying for Eureka County was conducted and an in-person community review and verification workshop was conducted on May 23, 2024. County fact sheets will be available around the end of 2024.

Integrated Pest Management

Noxious and invasive weeds are widespread throughout Nevada and threaten the productivity of cropland, pasture and rangeland. I continue to serve on the county weed and rodent committee and assist local producers, Nevada Department of Agriculture, and Conservation Districts to provide research-based information for weed issues they encounter.  

• Assisted Eureka County Public Works in location and treating invasive weeds.
• Participated in Pesticide Applicators workshops.

Agriculture/Sustainable Agriculture Practices Program

Agriculture is a primary economic and social component of Eureka County. Providing research-based information to stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of agriculture is important to all stakeholders in the county to assist the long-term economic and social viability of individual operations and the community.

• Provided soil health presentations in Eureka County and monitoring of soil health principles on farms in Diamond Valley and Cottonwood Ranch.
• Participating in an alternative energy review in Diamond Valley by the Nature Conservancy for location of solar energy projects in Diamond Valley that incorporate agriculture as a dual purpose of the project. Working on securing a grant to implement an agrivoltaics solar demonstration project with Eureka County Natural Resources department, The Nature Conservancy, and Extension, and a Diamond Valley producer to determine feasibility and potential dryland forage species to be utilized in agrivoltaics or dryland pasture locations.

Rangeland Resources

Rangeland resources on both private and publicly managed lands are a crucial resource for Eureka County agricultural producers, hunters and recreationists and community. As a rural county, rangeland resources provide the foundations for all agricultural enterprises and serve as the basis for rural life and the culture and customs of the community.

• Continued serving on the Eureka County Natural Resources Advisory Committee (NRAC) to review natural resource issues on federally managed lands in Eureka County. Assisting NRAC update of the Natural Resources section of the Eureka County Master Plan by drafting new natural resource policy section to be vetted through NRAC and submitted to the County Commissioners.

Great Basin Research and Extension Center (GBREC)

GBREC in Diamond Valley, Nevada, is home to the Rafter 7 Merinos, where our mission is to enhance profitability in the sheep industry through top-tier genetics. We focus on dual-purpose bloodlines that improve wool production, lambing rates, hardiness, longevity, and herding instinct. Every September, we hold a Ram Sale featuring high-quality purebred Merino rams and our Rafter 7 Line of Merino X Rambouillet rams, both yearlings and two-year-olds.

With over 30 years of experience, we’re dedicated to helping sheep producers improve their operations. Scott Huber has recently taken on the role of manager as of January 1, 2024, and Fabrizio Cartagena continues to manage our range and sheep operations, bringing over two years of expertise to the team. We look forward to supporting your sheep operation by being a resource for educational based knowledge, just as we have for our loyal clients!