Program Impacts

Agricultural Programs

Douglas Extension Bee and Pollinator Program – A community needs assessment conducted by Lindsay Chichester, Douglas County Extension Educator, indicated a need for more information and outreach on bees and pollinators. This project began in January 2020, and includes the management of four hives, educational teaching hives, an observational hive, numerous outreach events and 35 family memberships. Our office created the National Pollinator Week Program for Douglas County, including numerous educational outreach events. Additionally, a 4-H bee and pollinator SPIN club reached 10 youth in 2024.

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. We partnered with Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce. 2024 marked the 23rd year of this program with over 360 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. The 2024 update reached over 275 livestock producers. The event is hybrid, with one day being virtual and four days are in-person. The topics vary annual, but we try to provide speakers and research that is timely and important for decision making.

Rural Heritage and Quality of Life - The needs assessment indicated a strong need to preserve agriculture and the rich rural heritage in Douglas County. Lindsay served as an agricultural liaison for the Carson Valley Visitor’s Authority, works on local programming with the Carson Valley Historical Society and the Dangberg Home Ranch.

Agriculture Stress, Mental Health, and Resiliency – No doubt agriculture is a stressful profession. In Nevada, very little research has been conducted, and limited resources are available for persons in need. Brenda Freeman, Ph.D. and Lindsay Chichester worked collaboratively on the Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP) with 13 states and 4 territories to collect baseline data, determine outreach and engagement opportunities, and establish a plan going forward for Nevadans. In 2022, the results of a producer survey were published (FS-22-01). In 2023, several presentations were given and several interviews made on the topic, and in 2024 the team had booths and presentations at conferences, as well as co-produced a documentary on ag stress.

Natural Resources

The Living With Fire Program (LWF) bridges the gap between science and action, we convene communities and stakeholders to address the challenges of wildfire. Through trusted partnerships, we created science-based education and outreach programs that equitably address emerging social and ecological needs. 

During this fiscal year, LWF presented to five different community groups in Douglas County, attended nine different community events reaching a total of 412 residents.

LWF Curriculum Developer Spencer Eusden attended the Nevada Agriculture Science Teacher Summer Meeting on June 23, 2024 and met with Whittell High School about starting a CTE Fire Science Program on July 18, 2024.

LWF piloted its first Living With Fire High School Art Competition in partnership with Douglas High School, engaging 40 students in a creative exploration of wildfire. After a presentation on historical fire regimes, wildfire trends, and home ignition science, students were tasked with creating artwork that depicted what "Living With Wildfire" means to them. The competition received 33 submissions, and the top 15 pieces were showcased at a public exhibit on May 30, 2024 where students were recognized for their efforts. Monetary prizes were awarded to the top three artists, while fourth and fifth place earned honorable mentions, celebrating the creativity and insight of these talented students.

LWF helped coordinate the first Washoe Intentional Fire Training, scheduled for September 30 – October 4, 2024, at the 4-H Camp in Stateline, Nevada. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California planned the event in partnership with LWF, The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, The Watershed Research and Training Center, and The Nature Conservancy. This fiscal year, LWF facilitated 10 planning meetings. Funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, The Nature Conservancy, Tahoe Fund, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and National Forest Foundation, the training aims to blend Indigenous knowledge with modern fire management techniques. Participants will gain hands-on fire certifications while focusing on reintroducing cultural burning practices, building workforce capacity, and fostering ecosystem resilience in Washoe homelands.

Horticulture

Monthly Email – Jessica Gardner, UNR Extension Horticulture Outreach Coordinator, organized a monthly email for the general public to share horticulture programming and resources to the community.  

Pollinator Week – 3rd annual Pollinator Week celebration. This program is always offered the 3rd week in June.  5 programs were offered throughout the week. Pollinator themed movie, local youth pollinator week logo contest, Pollinator Art Camp for youth, pollinator rock painting activity at Heritage Park Garden and a BioBlitz at The Nature Conservancy – River Fork Ranch. 34 participant’s total. 

Vegetable Gardening Talk – Douglas County Public Library – May 1, 2024, Jessica Gardner, Horticulture Outreach Coordinator, provided an educational hour on Vegetable Gardening to 21 participants and gave out 21 fact sheets. 

Urban Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Safety Education Programs. 

Northern NevadaScapes and the Certified Applicator Pesticide Safety Education Workshop.

We had 1 Zoom participant from Douglas County at our Certified Applicator Pesticide Safety Education Workshop (Nov. 14, 2024)

Fall Harvest Festival- September 2023, at Dangberg Historic Home Ranch Park was a huge success with 75 participants attending. Participants mingled with local producers with a chance to purchase products from each of them. There were three in-person demonstrations:

• Staci Emm, Extension Mineral County- Extension Educator, along with Mobile Harvest Unit team members, Jamie Lee and Austin Yohey, provided a demonstration on cutting, preparing, and cooking animal protein.
• Lindsay Chichester, Extension Douglas County - Extension Educator, demonstrated different techniques for harvesting honey.
• Jessica Gardner, Extension Douglas County – Horticulture Outreach Coordinator, demonstrated how to plant fall bulbs

Master Gardener Program

• Heritage Park Garden Question & Answer sessions - Program runs from May – October of each year. UNR Extension Master Gardener Program has partnered with Main Street Gardnerville Heritage Park Garden volunteers to bring a 1-hour long educational program each week during the growing season about horticulture. This class is designed to provide a 30-minute educational talk followed by a 30-minute question & answer session. During the 2022-2023 fiscal year 122 participants attended, 72 fact sheets were provided, and 16 classes were offered.
• Dangberg Historic Home Ranch Garden Talks – June 2024 a Seed Saving class was offered to the public by UNR Extension Master Gardener.  4 community members attended.
• Seed Swap - The third Douglas County Seed Swap was hosted on January 27, 2024. We had 161 participants and provided 250 fact sheets on research-based horticulture information, gave out horticulture books and gave out millions of seeds.
• Educational Outreach – UNR Extension Master Gardeners hosted 2 educational outreach events for the Douglas County Community.  Winter Sowing...Growing in a Milk Jug Greenhouse and Rose Care Class.  38 participants and 40 fact sheets were provided.
• Dangberg Historic Home Ranch – Gertrude’s Garden and other flower bed areas were designed, planted, and maintained by UNR Extension Master Gardeners throughout the year.
• Heritage Park Gardens – UNR Extension Master Gardeners continue to help maintain the general operations of the community garden and are always looking on how to improve the garden for the Douglas County community.
• UNR Extension Master Gardener – December 2023 – 3 Master Gardener Interns received their certification. January 2024- 9 new Master Gardener Interns entered the program.  9 Certified Master Gardener & 9 Master Gardener Interns. 
• Native Plant Sale – May 18, 2024. UNR Extension Master Gardeners provided a Native/Adaptive Native Plant Sale at The Nature Conservancy – River Fork Ranch.  1500 Plants were sourced from The Washoe Tree Nursery.  400 participants are estimated to have attended. 100 fact sheets were provided.  In preparation for this sale, a 3-part virtual educational series was offered for community members to learn more about each plant.
• Master Gardener Newsletter – UNR Extension Master Gardeners of Douglas County put out quarterly newsletters to the public for 2023-2024 fiscal year.  Each quarter had a common theme, for example, water conservation.  
• Junior Master Gardener Program – 10 youth participated. This program provides hands-on learning experiences that promote a love of gardening, develop an appreciation for the environment and cultivate the mind. Located at Heritage Park Garden Children’s Garden.
• Horticulture outreach via walk-in, email, or phone calls – Logged total: 113 people and 68 fact sheets were provided.

4-H Youth Development 

“To Make the Best Better” is the goal in 4-H Youth Development and Douglas County 4-H’ers set out with this goal in mind for all of their projects. In return, we hope to help provide them with the best opportunities for learning and growth. By coupling positive adult relationships with real-world learning experiences and leadership opportunities, 4-H Youth Development allows youth to explore new worlds and gain knowledge while also growing their confidence, civic engagement, leadership skills, and sense of responsibility. 

In order to help continually make the best better, Douglas County 4-H has put an emphasis on reaching more youth in the community. This has been done by continuing to grow existing 4-H Clubs while offering new 4-H learning opportunities by delivering Short-Term Special Interest (SPIN) Clubs in the summer. Douglas County 4-H also helped 4-H exhibitors with scholarships for the Nevada Junior Livestock Show in May for their livestock projects and again with State Expo expenses. Partnering with the Douglas County Quilters Guild and the Kiwanis Club of Carson Valley benefited several youths as well by assisting with camp scholarships to the Northern Area 4-H Camp at Lake Tahoe.

Douglas County Livestock Clubs and our Douglas County Extension Office hosted Leggett’s You Gotta Believe Youth Livestock Showmanship clinic, bringing in one of the country’s most successful and well-known livestock judges and clinicians in the livestock show world. This event was held at the Douglas County Fairgrounds at no cost to us. The Carson Valley Inn was the host hotel, filling up all room blocks requested, plus more. Families traveled across Nevada, California, and Oregon to come to this event, with over 200 youth traveling to Douglas County in March. The event was incredibly successful and all the participants and their parents requested to have it come back in 2025! 

Along with allowing us to hold the Nevada Junior Livestock Show official weigh-ins and YGB Clinic, Parks and Recreation let the equestrian and livestock clubs use the arenas at no cost for club meetings and clinics. Their support for 4-H is greatly appreciated by our office and all of our 4-H members and families. It allows us to keep the cost of 4-H minimal, making it more accessible to all demographics.

We would like to highlight the partnership with the Douglas County Community Center for letting our baking clubs use their kitchen and their ceramics room for our sewing clubs. We would also like to thank them for their allowance of letting us hold our annual 4-H Information Night and our annual Awards Night. The relationships formed across several departments in Douglas County make a large impact for the youth and their families, as they are multi-beneficial for everyone.

2023-2024 4-H Enrollment and Participation Numbers

Youth Members: 206
Adult Volunteers: 22

4-H Clubs
4PAWS Dog Club: 28 members
Baking Club A: 9 members
Baking Club B: 21 members
Bee and Pollinator Club: 24 members
Carson Valley Shepherds: 9 members
Cloverbuds: 37
Equestrian, with/without Horses: 30 members
Junior Master Gardeners: 10
Goat and Poultry Club: 19 members
Rabbit Club (including Cloverbuds): 41 members
Sewing Club: 10 members
Shooting Sports: 96 members
Speaking with Confidence: 18 participants
4-H Summer Camp SPIN Club- 20 participants
Number of Youth at State 4-H Camp: 35 youth, 5 teen leaders, 2 adult volunteers
Nevada Junior Livestock Show Participants: 14
Nevada State EXPO Participants: 42

The University of Nevada, Reno Douglas County Extension office is committed to youth growth and opportunities. We will continue to expand programming, clubs, and camps and offer more 4-H and youth development options as awareness and involvement increases. We are committed to the 4-H Motto, “To Make the Best Better,” which we will continue to strive for every day in Douglas County.  

Radon Education 

• Received proclamation on Jan 10, 2024
• Community education event at Douglas Community Center on February 12, 2024
•  In 2024, Douglas had 339 results; 90 were greater than 4, 26.6%, and the highest Radon reading was 44.5
• Total mitigations in 2024- 37

NEAP- Nevada Economic Assessment Project

The Nevada Economic Assessment Project (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.

Visit the NEAP Webpage

State Parks Visitor Use Surveying

NEAP has partnered with State Parks since early 2022 for visitor use surveying across all 27 State Park locations in Nevada. State Parks staff recruit visitors at each park to take an online survey. The survey gives an extensive look at the visitors’ experience at the park, preferences for future change, and spending on their travels.

The statewide data profile and economic and fiscal impact reports are available online.

Park-specific infographic fact sheets will be available in October 2024

State Parks Visitor Use Survey

• Cave Rock
• Mormon Station
• Spooner Lake
• Van Sickle

Foundational Public Health Services

NEAP and NACO conducted a survey of public health infrastructure across Nevada's rural and frontier counties. 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. The survey asks participants to provide expertise, capacity, and implementation ratings for each of the Foundational Areas and Capabilities and also provide free responses on services/programs they know about in each Area and Capability at the county, state, and community partner level.

Statewide report will be available October 2024. County fact sheets will be available by the end of 2024.

Online surveying and in-person community review and verification workshop

In-person workshop September 22, 2023