WSU Thurston County Extension

Summary of Activities

5033 Harrison Ave. NW

Olympia, WA 98502

360-867-2151

thurston.wsu.edu

2016

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WSU Thurston County Extension LeadershipStephen Bramwell, County Director & Agriculture Facultybramwell@wsu.edu – (360) 867-2161

Dianna Ullery, 4-H Program Coordinatordianna.ullery@wsu.edu – (360) 867-2153

Erica Guttman, Water Resources & Native Plant Salvage Senior Extension Educatorericag@wsu.edu – (360) 867-2164

Tara Witten, SNAP-Ed Coordinatorwittent@co.thurston.wa.us – (360) 867-2160

Cori Carlton, Master Gardener/Master Recycler Composter program coordinatorCarltoC@co.thurston.wa.us – (360) 867-2162

Deborah Bordelon, Office Managerbordeld@co.thurston.wa.us – (360) 867-2177

Thurston County Staff

Winter 2016-17

Vicky McCarley, 4-H Program Assistantvmccarley@wsu.edu – (360) 867-2171

Melissa Davis, SNAP-Ed Nutrition Educatormelissa.davis2@wsu.edu – (360) 867-2172

Erika Whitney, Native Plant Salvage AmeriCorps Membernativeplantsalvage@gmail.com, (360) 867-2167

Giovanni de Rosa, 4-H AmeriCorps Memberderosag@co.thurston.wa.us – (360) 867-2154

WSU Extension Program Assistants

Our efforts would not be possible without our program staff and numerous volunteers

Miles Nowlin, Research Technicianmilesnowlin@gmail.com – (360) 867-2177

Lydia Beth Leimbach, Extension Educatorlbleimbach@gmail.com – (360) 867-2177

Temporary employees

Twelve county-based educators positively impact thousands of county residents each year by providing

unbiased, research-based information and delivering educational programs that give people the knowledge

to improve their health and livelihoods. Leveraging County support, WSU Extension brings in resources from

grants, contracts, fees, fund-raising, and the University to develop and deliver locally-relevant programs in 4-

H Youth Development, Agriculture, Food Safety & Nutrition, Master Gardener & Master Recycler Composter, and

Water Resources & Native Plant Salvage Project.

In 2016, WSU Thurston County Extension received $150,425 in direct funding from WSU, and leveraged

an additional $420,552 in programmatic, technical and organizational support from the University. Thurston

County provided $125,237 through the WSU-County MOA, and $546,267 in programmatic, technical, staff

and organizational support.

Thurston County Extension volunteers gave

approximately 33,118 hours of service†, which is

equivalent to 12 full-time employees. At an

estimated value of volunteer time of $27.98 per

hour*, that service is valued at $926,642.

† Not all volunteer hours have been reported to the WSU Volunteer

Database.

* Source: Independent Sector, www.independentsector.org

3February 15th, 2017. Prepared by Stephen Bramwell, Director and Agriculture Extension Faculty (360-867-2161, bramwell@wsu.edu).

5033 Harrison Ave. NW

Olympia, WA 98502

360-867-2151

thurston.wsu.edu

County investment

Leverage

Volunteer Support

Extension Programs: Organizational Collaboration, Community Buy-In

Thurston County Extension Funding Lines

*not including indirect support from WSU

or non-MOA funds from Thurston County

Trained, enthusiastic

volunteers are the backbone

of most WSU Extension

programs. In 2016, WSU

**Budgeted County funds include space use, IT, phones, waste

reduction program staff, front office staff, M&O, reserves, and other.

Thurston County 4-H Council raises funds to enhance and

expand 4-H Youth Development programs in Thurston

County. The Council and Program Committees add value to

the WSU Thurston County Extension program by providing

grants for innovative programs, and subsidizing

registrations fees for camps, leadership conferences,

volunteer leader training programs, and exchanges.

The Master Gardener Foundation of Thurston County, founded

in 2005, encourages sustainable gardening and

environmental stewardship practices through financial

support for the WSU Thurston County Extension Master

Gardener and Master Recycler Composter programs.

Major events sponsored by the Foundation include an

annual Plant Sale on the third Saturday in May, a Bingo

Night hosted by a local gardening personality (prizes are

garden themed), and periodic meetings with educational

lectures which are open to the public.

The Native Plant Salvage Foundation, founded in 2000,

promotes the use, preservation, knowledge, and

appreciation of native plants in the landscape through

financial support for the WSU Thurston County Native Plant

Salvage Project. The primary program areas of the project

include: Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI)/Low-Impact

Development (LID), Shoreline Stewardship Education,

Schools Programs, Sustainable Landscaping/Naturescaping,

Plant Salvages, and Plant Identification.

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Friends of Thurston County Extension

nativeplantsalvage.org

mgftc.org

Three foundations support the following WSU Extension programs in Thurston County: 4-H Youth

Development program, Master Gardener and Master Recycler Composter program, and the Native

Plant Salvage Project. Support is garnered through fundraising activities, accepting donations,

membership fees, and other approaches.

extension.wsu.edu/4h/foundation

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4-H Youth DevelopmentProgram coordinator: Dianna Ullery

2016 NUMBERSParticipation

• 450 youth members enrolled (up from

350) ~ 20% increase over previous year

• 17 Adult Volunteer Workshops (6 more

than previous yr); 30 new volunteers

• 267 adult volunteers gave over 16,000

hours resulting in a financial “contribution”

to the community equivalent to $447,680

• 100 additional volunteers helped at Fair

GRANTS AND AWARDS

• Received $4,500 NRA Foundation Grant

for new 4-H shooting sports program

• Food Smart Families grant reached 150

youth and 10 teens

• AmeriCorps award through Washington

Service Corps provided half ($3,200) of

the funding for member stipend. Thurston

County 4-H Council provided matching

funds

• Chevron Texaco Community Pride Grant

($1,500) used to develop spring/summer

break STEM and Healthy Living program

• Awarded Youth Voice, Youth Choice

Grant to provide healthy living program to

youth in rural county communities

WSU 4-H supports and develops community

leadership through volunteer programs focused on

delivering positive youth development.

Programs:

In 2016 Dianna Ullery applied for and was

selected as the as the state-wide 4-H international

program liaison. This will create additional funding

to provide more County 4-H programming in 2017

The Thurston County 4-H program established new

programs in 2016:

STEM Lego League

Horse Camp

Youth programming in 2016 included:

Three 4-H out-of-school programs (12 full

days)

Three Teens as Teachers training workshops

18 Food Smart Families Sessions

Club management & outreach:

Dianna managed forty chartered 4-H community

clubs and 10 family learning groups

She oversaw the 4-H Leaders Council

Weekly published the County 4-H Leaders Link

Newsletter

Awards:

South Sound Regional First Lego League

Cattle club member competed at National 4-H

Dairy Judging Contest; Horse Project members

competed at National Equine Public Presentations

$75,000 donations, sponsorships from local

businesses and individuals to support 4-H Clubs

The main aims of the Water Resources Program and

Native Plant Salvage Project are to provide hands-on

education to bring about on-the-ground changes that

protect and conserve water resources and habitat from

the prairies to the shores of Puget Sound. The program

depends on extramural funding raised through contracts,

grants, and fundraising by community volunteers. These

are the main focus areas:

Stormwater abatement and ground water recharge: By

law, jurisdictions are required to educate their citizenry

about stormwater pollution. Through workshops, volunteer

trainings, demonstration projects, applied research, and

technical assistance for onsite stormwater management

techniques, our program supports the County’s efforts

under its NPDES permit and realizes on-the-ground

changes that protect water resources and recharge

aquifers.

Stewardship of marine shorelines: By providing training

certified through the Dept. of Licensing to real estate

professionals and technical assistance to shoreline

landowners, we help in the efforts to protect critical

economic resources, such as Puget Sound’s fisheries.

Restoration of native ecosystems: Through re-

vegetation projects and water-wise landscaping with

native plants recovered from development sites and

provided to local jurisdictions, schools, community

organizations and individuals, we show citizens how to

make changes to their landscapes that add value and

protect water.

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Water Resources & Native Plant Salvage ProjectProgram coordinator: Erica Guttman

2016 in numbers

Funding

• Program coordinator secured $26,000 in small project

grants – largely restoration projects

• Native Plant Salvage Foundation fundraising efforts,

$18,100 supporting AmeriCorps placements and

supplies

• Department of Ecology Regional Stormwater

Monitoring Effectiveness Study, $12,280

Volunteers & events

• Engaged 660 volunteers in fields days, workshops,

restoration, and plant maintenance projects

• Program engaged volunteers in 48 field events

focused on ecological restoration and stormwater

management

• 27 workshops and clinics were offered for county

residents, businesses, realtors & waterfront property

owners

Value

• Managed 660 citizen volunteers who served 3,281

hours (an in-kind contribution of $90,000)

carrying out 48 field-based action projects to protect

local waterways, increase habitat, and provide

water-resources education to Thurston County

citizens of all ages.

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SNAP-Ed Program coordinator: Tara Witten

2016 in Numbers

• SNAP-Ed delivered 31 educational

trainings in the community, reaching 430

primarily youth participants

• Educators provided 7 different training

programs reaching low-income families

• PSE (policy, systems and environmental)

reach of over 2,200 across all sites

• 9 new partnerships were formalized, with

PSE interventions provided at 5 sites

• New 2017 partnerships were

coordinated through baseline data

collection at 2 sites and shared goal

establishment at 2 sites

• Student behavior change following

SNAP-Ed training:

• 44% observed their students

making healthier meal and snack

choices

• 52% observed an increase in fruit

and vegetable consumption

• 86% reported an increase in

students’ willingness to try new

foods

The SNAP-Ed program helps youth and families

make healthy choices within a limited budget and

lead active lifestyles through improved nutrition,

food preparation skills, gardening and physical

activity.

SNAP-Ed Policy, Systems and Environmental

Initiatives (PSE) included a Healthy Backpack

program with the Thurston Food Bank, providing

youth with 300 pounds fresh produce at 2

schools; assembled Student Nutrition Advisory

Committees at 2 schools; and began re-

establishment of a garden at Olympia

Elementary.

The SNAP-Ed direct education program provided

multiple class series to educate youth and adults

on basic nutrition, smart shopping, food

preparation skills, food safety, gardening and

physical activity, partnering with Pleasant Glade Elem, Garfield Elem, South Sound HS,

Evergreen Vista (Mercy Housing), Behavioral Health

Resources, Chehalis School District (Cascade, RE Bennett

& Olympic Elem), Toledo School District (Elem & MS),

and Centralia College Youth & Family Studies Dept.

(TEEN Program, ECEAP & Children’s Lab School)

CSA Series at Evergreen Vista: SNAP-Ed

Educator partnered with Battelle/Cornell Univ. to

implement a cost-share CSA program by

providing a complimentary educational series at

a low-income housing community.

We work to maintain and improve Thurston County

farming operations by generating and utilizing

science-based information and delivering this

information through outreach activities. We build and

maintain partnership with the Land Grant University

system as well as external partners.

Education/outreach:

Worked (during 2016) on the steering committee to

prepare for the January 2017 Cascadia Grains

Conference, the largest agriculture conference in

south Puget Sound; Cascadia Grains Conference

Coordinated a panel discussion on Climate Change

Affecting Agriculture in Puget Sound, attracting 45

participants

Developed the Cultivating Success Farm Planning

class to be offered in Thurston County in 2017

Provide one-on-one consultations with County

farmers on nutrient management, marketing, other

Research:

Grant submitted: Evaluation of unique barley

varieties for western Washington craft malting,

brewing and distilling ($40,000)

Unsuccessful grant: Assessing Contributions of

Agricultural Working Lands to Conservation Efforts

in the South Puget Sound Region of Western

Washington – resubmit in 2017

Agricultural producer needs assessment to guide

research and education programming; synthesis

report to be printed 2017

Extension bulletin initiated: “Listening Sessions as

Needs Assessment Tool for First Year Agriculture

Faculty”

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Commercial AgricultureProgram coordinator: Stephen Bramwell

2016 in numbers

Funding

• Established $2,000 contract with Port of Olympia

to complete and publish Ag Producer needs

Assessment

• Secured $14,100 contract with TCSU to assess farm

nutrient management opportunities in Deschutes

Watershed for 2017; linked to VSP

• Obtained $250 in sponsorships for County Fair

Bicycle Blender youth nutrition exhibit

Ag producer needs assessment

• Conducted 4 outreach events

• 70 Thurston County farmers provided input on their

production needs

• Conducted 19 one-on-one farmer interviews

County Fair

• Provided over 200 tasting plates featuring

Thurston County agricultural products at the Savor

South Sound event

• Served over 300 bicycle-powered smoothies

featuring local fruit as part of a youth nutrition

exhibit

• Soil science microscope activity for over 30 youth

to visualize soil insect communities in five different

soil ecosystems.

2016 In Numbers:

25 new WSU Master Gardeners and 0 new Master

Recycler Composters were trained. (MRC’s train every

other year. The next training will be in 2017.)

180 Master Gardeners and Master Recycler

Composters gave over 13,455, service hours.

165 question/answer clinics throughout the county

were staffed by our volunteers. From these clinics

11,489 public inquiries for gardening, recycling, and

composting information was recorded.

3,167 adults attended 82 presentations/workshops

presented by our volunteers.

1,053 youth increased their gardening skills.

1,114 pounds of food was donated to the Thurston

Co. Food Bank on behalf of the Children’s Garden

Program & Black Hills Grange Garden Project.

The Master Gardener Foundation of Thurston County

raised $33,095 through various fundraisers to help

cover the $40,000 worth of outreach, program and

garden expenses. The balance needed to cover costs

was raised through training/class fees.

Thurston County Solid Waste Department provided

$2,105 worth of Master Recycler Composter program

expenses.

WSU MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM Our Thurston County program is part of the

statewide WSU Extension Master Gardener

program which combines horticulture training and

public service. WSU Master Gardener volunteers

are trained and certified as community educators

to provide professional, unbiased, researched-

based home gardening and horticulture

information to the public through the following

avenues:

Question/answer plant clinics

Demonstration gardens (Closed Loop Park,

Dirt Works, Olympia Farmers Market Garden)

Youth gardening programs

Other outreach programs & education projects

MASTER RECYCLER COMPOSTER PROGRAMThis Thurston County based program trains

volunteers how to become community educators

on solid waste issues such as waste reduction,

recycling, and composting. In exchange for

on-going, researched-based, un-biased training,

participants agree to volunteer as community

educators to share waste reduction information

with the citizens of Thurston County. In 2016 the

focus for our outreach was sharing information

and answering questions about the Waste Less

Food Campaign.

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Master Gardener & Master Recycler ComposterProgram coordinator: Cori Carlton

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The Smith-Lever Act of 1914

The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 codified into federal law, and provided funding for, outreach endeavors

at the Land-Grant Universities founded by the Morrill Act of 1862. The act was introduced by Senator

Hoke Smith of Georgia and Representative A. F. Lever of South Carolina to expand the vocational,

agricultural, and home demonstration programs in rural America. Specifically, the Act stated as its

purpose, “In order to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical

information on subjects relating to agriculture, uses of solar energy with respect to agriculture, home

economics, and rural energy, and to encourage the application of the same, there may be continued or

inaugurated in connection with the college of colleges in each State, Territory, or possession . . .”

The appropriation for Cooperative Extension as established by Smith-Lever was unique in that it set up a

shared partnership among the Federal, State, and County levels of government. A formula funding

mechanism was designed to insure that there was support from each of the levels to help the fledgling

system achieve stability and leverage resources. The funding would flow from Congress to the United

States Department of Agriculture and then out to the Land-Grant Universities to be matched with monies

from the states and counties receiving programs.

The original formula called federal funding to be divided in the following manner:

• 20% shared by all States in equal proportions;

• 40% shared in the proportion that the rural population of each bears to the total rural population of

the several States as determined by the census;

• 40% shared in the proportion that the farm population of each bears to the total farm population of

the several States as determined by the census.

The unique nature of the Smith-Lever Act brought a systemic process for funding the on-going Extension

education work that had been started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by educators such

as Seaman A. Knapp, A. B. Graham, Jane McKimmon, and Booker T. Washington. The ideals

espoused by these educators were transformative in the manner in which the Land-Grant Universities saw

their role in their state. The move toward a model of cooperative extension education allowed for

professional educators to be placed in local communities in order to improve lives.

Although the original Smith-Lever Act was far reaching, it was later amended to be more inclusive of

schools beyond the original funding for 1862 Land Grant Institutions. In 1971, Rep. Frank E. Evans from

Colorado presented a proposal to USDA that amended the funding formula and gave an appropriation

in the amount of $12.6 million directly to the 1890 Land-Grant Universities for research and Extension.

Additionally, in 1994, there was a second revision to the language which added the Tribal Colleges in

order to increase the system’s ability to serve Native American communities.

Current information regarding the Act and its applications in contemporary society can be found

on USDA’s website.