The Skamania County – WSU Extension CLOVER REPORTER December 2007 Ole T. Helgerson, Skamania County WSU Extension Director 509-427-3931, helgerso@wsu.edu

READ THIS (please)! We are building our 2008 4-H email list. If you want email notices, please send an email message to 4H@co.skamania.wa.us, with “4-H list” as the topic or in the message body and we will add your address to the Skamania County 4-H users email list. Also please include your email address on the paper enrollment form for the state folks.

INSIDE

· TRANSITION; what, so what, now what?

· KUDOS; “can do” guys and gals

· GOT 4-H? Cougars and Clovers need you!

· ON THE HORIZON: Things that go moo in the night….New club, Horizons Unlimited

· RE-ENROLLMENTS: Here they are….

· CALENDAR: neat stuff coming up

· CERTIFICATE DUE DATES: Yep. It’s true. Time and tide wait for no man (or 4-H’er). There be deadlines….

· LIVESTOCK ADVISORY DRAFT MINUTES (attached)

TRANSITION

What. As most of you have probably heard, our long-time Extension Program Assistant, Lenora Bringman, resigned from public service at the end of September of this year. She accomplished much positive youth development during her time with Skamania County and WSU Extension.

Under her tenure, our 4-H leaders expanded our local program in several important directions. These included

· Increased participation in “Know Your Government” and the LABO Japanese exchange programs. Although we are a small county, our participation in these programs consistently ranked near the top for the state of Washington.

· The Title III-funded Youth Summer Forest Success, Forest Explorer Summer Camps and afterschool forestry education programs. Developed with the Stevenson-Carson School District and the Northwest Service Academy, these have taught forestry knowledge and marketable life skills to more than 400 young people in five years.

· Development of a Teen Leadership Curriculum for older members. Our more experienced 4-H’ers learned additional leadership skills and mentored younger participants.

· The overnight camping program has successfully taught leadership and practical horsemanship to over 200 youth in a five-year period.

· The Skamania County Fair and Puyallup State Fair 4-H participation remains strong and continues to provide our youth and adult leaders with valuable life skills.

You may have also heard that Skamania County is facing unprecedented budget constraints.

So what. It is again clear that 4-H makes a positive difference in peoples’ lives. And, 4-H is a mission that our Skamania County decision-makers support even as they face significant budget challenges. Our volunteers, that’s you ~ leaders and parents, have made it happen.

Now what? The immediate outcome of all this is that I am taking on additional 4-H management responsibilities. To fill Lenora’s position, we anticipate having a 50 percent fte Program Assistant funded by Skamania County, but hired by WSU with clerical assistance provided by the Rock Creek Center staff pool. Skamania County WSU Extension 4-H will continue. Timeline? We want a person on board by end of February, 2008.

KUDOS

As many of you may know, our LAC President, Mike Dudley, stepped down from 4-H leadership this fall. Mike’s contributions to positive youth development are manifold. In our 4-H program, he consistently demonstrated high quality leadership with good humor and a “can-do” attitude. Good job, well done!

Next, cheers for Amy Burtalow. Amy came on board at short notice to lead the Summer Forest Youth Success program. Under her leadership, local youth and mentors had another very successful year. Amy has kept the momentum going that Alice Meyers developed and has plans for expanding the school-year after-school forestry education program.

And to all of our 4-H youth, parents and leaders: Thanks again for your commitment and participation in just about the best youth development program that I can think of.

GOT 4-H?

Cougars and Clovers need you! Our 4-H program success clearly hinges on the volunteer efforts of our 4-H parents and leaders. We have been most fortunate in having highly committed and capable leaders. Simply put, however, to maintain our program’s excellence, we need new leaders to step forward to carry the torch from those who have served so capably.

One might ask, why should I bother? Well, because, our local 4-H program offers outstanding leadership development opportunities. Not only for youth, but also for adults. We learn by doing. The skills learned in planning and conducting activities ranging from club meetings, 4-H participation in the county and state fairs to overnight camps are transferable to a variety of other tasks in our lives.

Well, ok, I am interested. So what do I do now? If you are new to 4-H, please contact me at 509-427-3940 or helgerso@wsu.edu for details

For old hands, during this Holiday season, please take time to talk up the benefits of our local 4-H program with friends and family who may be interested. 4-H offers structured youth development curricula for just about any activity that you can think of. Horses, pigs, cattle, llamas, rabbits, dogs, cats, shooting sports, art, photography, “you tube,” cooking, forestry wildlife….you name it, and chances are that 4-H has got it!

RE-ENROLLMENTS

This newsletter also includes the 2008 4-H year re-enrollment forms. Fill them out and return to WSU Extension 4-H, POB 790, Stevenson, WA 98648, FAX 509-427-3935, by 5:00 P.M., Friday, close of business, January 25, 2008. Also include a check payable to (Skamania County 4-H Leaders Council) for insurance; $1.00 for general enrollment and $2.00 for horse enrollments. This low cost insurance covers initial emergency response during scheduled 4-H activities (those involving two or more families). Our Leaders’ Council then writes a single check to the insurance company.

ON THE HORIZON

Things that go moo (or oink, meow, bark, honk or skwawk) in the night…..our 4-H Livestock Advisory Committee met before the 4-H Leaders Advisory council held their meeting November 12, 2007 (draft livestock minutes enclosed). A number of very positive ideas came forth for the 2008 program year. These included:

· a livestock camp, similar to the horse camps that have been held

· a livestock clinic

· videos, you-tube clips, or dvd’s produced by our 4-H’ers to show others in our program practical “here’s how you do it” side of things

Horizons Unlimited. A new club for youth interested in leadership, videography (“you tube” for us older types), public speaking and whatever the horizon holds. This is an outgrowth of the WSU-led Horizons anti-poverty program. Horizons volunteers Bill Brueggemeyer and Lynea Moat have engaged youth in the program and Bill, trained in computers and digital video, is ready and willing to share his knowledge. If you are looking beyond the Horizon, give me a call.

Skamania County WSU Extension 4-H CONTACTS

Skamania County Leaders Advisory Council

· President: Bev Gadbaw

· Vice-president: Kay Day

· Secretary: Sherry Allen

· Treasurer: CharlineWright

Committee Chairs

· Homemaker Committee: Charline Wright

· Horse Committee: Kay Day

· Livestock Committee: Colleen Garwood

· Teen Leadership Committee: Charline Wright

For past issues of the Clover Reporter, minutes, upcoming events and generally cool 4-H stuff, tune in to http://www.skamaniacounty.org/4H/4h_cooperative_extension_office.htm

CALENDAR
WHAT	WHEN & WHERE	CONTACT
Horse Advisory	December 10, 2007, Skamania School	Kay Day, WSU Extension office
Know Your Government	December 16, 2007, planning	Marie Dixon
	February 16-18, 2008, Olympia
Re-enrollments due	January 25, 2008, WSU Extension office	WSU Extension office
4-H Leadership Council	February 11, 2008, Skamania School	Bev Gadbaw, WSU Extension office
4-H Fundraiser Horse Show (benefits all clubs, please help out)	June 28-29, 2008, Skamania County Fairgrounds (tentative)	Horse Advisory,
Teen Horse Camp (need Director, Charline will mentor)	July 10-15, 2008, Skamania County Fairgrounds	Charline Wright
Youth Horse Camp	July 17-20, 2008, Skamania County Fair Grounds	Kay Day
2008 Skamania County Fair	August 13-17, 2008, You guessed it…..	Fair Board
JEX (Japan Exchange Program)	December, across the Pacific Ocean	Bev Gadbaw, WSU Extension office

CERTIFICATE DUE DATES: 2008 Skamania County Fair

Learning to schedule and to meet deadlines is a most useful life-skill. For some of us, it remains a life-long learning opportunity (speaking personally…). Why is it useful? As my Air force drill instructor said, “if you can’t fold your socks right, what makes you think you can work on a jet aircraft?” With all that in mind, the list follows.

CATEGORY	DUE DATE & WEIGH-IN TIME	DEADLINE NOTES
· Market Beef, · Breeding Beef, · Dairy	Saturday, April 12, 2008, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.	· 120 day minimum · Except dairy replacements
· Equine · Llama · Swine (except Breeding and Market)	Wednesday, May14, 2008, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.	· 90 day minimum
· Dairy Heifer replacement · Goats · Sheep (Breeding and Market) · Cats · Dogs · Cavies · Alpacas	Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.	· 60 day minimum
· Rabbits · Chickens ·	Tuesday, July 1, 2008 time not yet set	· 45 day minimum

Please note that these due dates are the “bare bones” minimum before the Skamania County Fair. Certificates must be postmarked or received at the Skamania County, WSU Extension office, POB 790, 710 Rock Creek Drive, Stevenson, WA 98648 on or before the due date. FAX copies are acceptable (509-427-3975). Certificates must be correctly filled out and signed to be accepted. It is the exhibitor’s responsibility to ensure that certificates are complete and submitted by the due date. Time constraints may prevent WSU Extension staff. Exhibitors not making the 4-H deadline can show in open class at the Skamania County Fair, but are not eligible to go the Puyallup State Fair. And always remember, certificates are not “green cards.”