UNL Cooperative Extension - Dawes County Collaborative Projects

2008 Pine Ridge Teacher Institute: This project started in 2007 at Fort Robinson State Park to provide on-the-ground education and graduate credit to K-12 educators on issues of natural resource management and ranching culture.  The effort was a collaborative effort between UNL Extension, Running Water Ranching Coalition, NW Nebraska High Country, Panhandle RC&D, Upper Niobrara White NRD, Nebraska Game and Parks, and a number of supportive landowners.  These efforts will be continued this year, with a second institute scheduled for June 9-13, 2008.  30 teachers are projected to attend this great learning experience.  Thank you to everyone who helped to make this year's Teacher's Institute such a great success!

Cow Coffee/Range Tailgate Session: The UNL Natural Resource/Food Production Educators across the Northern Panhandle have formatted and scheduled a two-phased educational program that encompasses Sioux, Dawes, Sheridan and parts of Box Butte and Cherry Counties.  This effort will include monthly "cow coffee" sessions in each county at locations frequented by landowners.  During these sessions, UNL staff will have an impromptu discussion on a ranching/land management issue.  Range Tailgate Sessions will be designed to follow-up after the initial discussion and exposure at the Cow Coffee Sessions.  The Range Tailgate efforts will expand the learning opportunities into the field with an emphasis on range monitoring, grasslands conservation, herd management, and conservation of the rangelands and the family operations dependent on them.

Running Water Ranching Coalition Conservation Symposium: Development is currently underway of a one-day symposium on Conservation Easementsa nd Practices in the Harrison or Crawford area during early fall.  The target attendance is 40-50 landowners with 3-5 speakers.

Multi-species Grazing Demos and Tours: In conjunction with the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition, UNL Cooperative Extension has acquired funding to conduct demonstrations, hold tours, and generate factsheets on teh practices of grazing multiple species to enhance profit, better manage range condition and control weeds over the next two years.

Ranch Mentor Training: Also in conjunction with the NGLC, a Ranch Mentor Training will be formatted and in order to conduct trainings so ranchers can mentor other ranchers in conservation and production techniques that move them toward sustainability.

Drought Recovery Herd Management: During previous Drought Recovery Herd Management sessions in Chadron and Harrison lectures and discussions were provided to participating prdocuers in order for them to learn about the implementation of practices that could help mitigate drought impacts on their operations.  As a result, these landowners received active education and a take-home CD that included 14 software programs and 144 factsheets that can help with evaluating, alternative feeds, estimate real real cost of various feeds, monitor poisonous plants and re-design their herds to be more "drought tolerant."

Women in Ranching: This proposed project will be a two-three year program consisting of educational programming for female contributors to ranching operations.  In addition to providing education on finances, taxes, estate planning, lease rates, insurance, stress management and other issues every day, the sessions would provide basic livestock production practices while evaluating each educational delivery method in order to determine what works best for ranch women in the Western Nebraska.

Rural Community Disaster Response Training: Scott Cotton, UNL Extension Educator has been selected to help develop and demonstrate a new national curriculum for "Rural Disaster Response" by FEMA, DHS, USDA and the Extension Disaster Education Network.  After curriculum development, funding will be made availabe to implement training sessions of the new program.  This project will not only enhance our regional disaster survivability, but would generate funds and equipment that could be retained for actual incidents.

LANDHELP: This is an educational program developed by other states to help new small-acreage residents better understand manage their landscape by first working with coaches to make a plan and then engage in a formatted learning program.  This resource allows landowners to customize knowledge resources to meet their needs.