Extension Updates

To assure that all of you are kept up to date on a regular basis, the three regional directors and the state Extension Administration Office provides bi-weekly Extension Updates. This forum is for all Extension announcements, so if you have something to distribute, please forward it to Lori Bates with FOR EXTENSION UPDATE noted.

September 3, 2015

On Behalf of CJ Mucklow:

• Fair season is almost over!
• Support Staff Training on October 5-7th in Keystone
• Vacancies in the Western Region
• Douglas County Extension Director Vacancy
• America’s Grasslands Conference
• Salary Task Force Update – Eric McPhail, Salary Task Force chair
• Performance Appraisal System (PAS) Committee Update – Travis Hoesli, PAS chair

Fair season is almost over!

Click here as we wind down another 4-H year. I thought this author wrote a good prospective article on 4-H and county fairs.

Support Staff Training on October 5-7th in Keystone

Look for an email from Kellie Clark on September 2 about registering for the Support Staff Training in Keystone. I echo Director Swanson’s earlier email this week and encourage as many support staff to attend as possible.

Vacancies in the Western Region

• Garfield County Ag Program Associate – the position description is waiting approval from CSU HR.
• Western Region Range Specialist – the position announcement is waiting approval from CSU HR.

Douglas County Extension Director Vacancy

The vacancy announcement for the Douglas County Extension director position has been posted to our website and can be viewed at: https://jobs.colostate.edu/postings/17633. The vacancy will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on 09/22/2015.

Colorado State University (CSU) Extension and Douglas County work cooperatively to provide Extension programming and engagement in the county. The direction Extension programming takes is driven locally. CSU Extension contributes onsite and campus-based expertise, university and land grant system resources and connections across the state to enhance local programming. The Extension staff consists of the director, three agents (one horticulture, one 4-H outreach, one 4-H youth development), two support staff, and seasonal staff. Douglas and surrounding counties work as a team of educators to deliver programming and provide access to research based information and expertise in horticulture, plant and animal agriculture, natural resources, youth development, energy, nutrition and food safety, human development and family financial security, and other appropriate programming of local interest.

America’s Grasslands Conference

If you’re looking for a good opportunity to learn more about the nation’s grasslands and some of the issues around them I encourage you to look at the agenda for the America’s Grassland Conference.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Partnerships for Grasslands Conservation will take place September 29th – October 1st, 2015 in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Conference announcements:

• The draft conference agenda is now available! Check out the incredible lineup of speakers, panels, roundtable discussions, posters, and more.
• Registration for the conference is only $185 if you register by September 10th. After that, the registration rate goes up to $225, so don’t wait.
• The deadline to reserve a room at the group rate at the Hilton Fort Collins has been extended by one week until September 4th.
• Thanks to our sponsors, we are able to offer assistance for registration costs and potentially for travel to ranchers who want to attend the conference. To learn more, email Lekha Knuffman at KnuffmanL@nwf.org.
• We still have a limited number of spots for exhibitors- you can sign up for an exhibitor booth when you register ($30/non-profit; $60/commercial)
• Field trips are going fast! Don’t wait to register for them.

About the conference:

America’s Grasslands Conference: Partnerships for Grasslands Conservation will bring together natural resource managers, ranchers, policy experts, conservationists, and researchers to discuss the conservation of North America’s grasslands, with a particular focus on collaborative partnerships to conserve grasslands. This year’s conference program will feature over 60 speakers, optional field trips to explore local grasslands with experts, roundtable discussions on timely issues related to grassland conservation, a poster session on cutting edge research and projects, and much more. Topics at this year’s conference will include: success stories of partnership efforts to conserve grasslands, maintaining healthy grasslands for grazing, grasslands in federal policy, landscape level planning for grassland conservation, grassland-dependent wildlife, monarch conservation, and many more exciting topics. You can register online here and find out more information about the conference at our conference website, including information on field trips, lodging, exhibitors, and more. Please help us spread the word about this exciting event!

Salary Task Force Update – Eric McPhail, Salary Task Force chair

The salary task force is currently moving forward on two of many initiatives. The first one is a proposal to change the way salary raises are calculated by regional directors and the Extension finance department. This proposal was presented at all the regional meetings and at DAC. The regional directors will be sending out the proposal, as it was presented, one more time to get anyone’s feedback. Then it would be implemented for a two year trial period starting July 2016. The other initiative is to allow each region to give four or five awards based off of a nomination process. Categories and nomination procedures are still being worked on. However, the first thoughts are that each of the award winners will receive $500 and not be allowed to receive the award the following year. There are many details to work out, however the committee will try to get something out for review around the end of the year.

Performance Appraisal System (PAS) Committee Update – Travis Hoesli, PAS chair

After getting feedback from regional meetings the PAS committee met at the end of May and finalized a draft PAS document and guidelines. This document was then presented to the Director’s Administrative Council (DAC) on August 10. After reviewing the document DAC had several comments and suggestions for changes. The committee is going to review them and try to have a draft copy out to some selected agents and directors for a test use. The committee hopes to have a more finalized document to the entire Extension staff for review the first of October and then take comment to Forum in November. After Forum, the committee will meet and make any changes that still need to be made and have the document ready for use by the end of 2015. The new document will be used in January 2017 to evaluate the 2016 year. For more information contact Travis Hoesli.