Progress 04/01/07 to 03/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: VEGGIES FOR KIDS Veggies for Kids provided a series of 10 in-school nutrition classes to second and third grade students in the Schurz Elementary School located on the Walker River Indian Reservation and the Natchez Elementary School on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.Studies show that intakes of vegetables and fruits are significantly less than recommended, variety is limited, and use of traditional foods - derived largely from plant sources, fish and lean wild game-is waning. WEBER RESERVOIR WETLANDS RESTORATION The Walker River Tribe with the aid of the University of Nevada FRTEP program, the Mineral County School District, and the Western Nevada Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) program provided required restoration activities using sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from the Schurz Elementary School to restore a portion of the wetlands taken out to repair Weber Reservoir on the Walker River Indian Reservation. A similar program will be utilized for futher
restoration activities for 2008. PYRAMID LAKE NATURAL RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION The Nevada FRTEP program instructed students in invasive species identification and control and team building at the Wadsworth Enviro Fair. This program was in addition to the ongoing Enviro Friendly 4H Club at Wadsworth and the Earth Guardian 4H Cub at Nixon. WEED MANAGEMENT WALKER RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION The UNCE FRTEP program participated in a weed management program offered by Mineral County for the Walker River Indian Reservation. The FRTEP program made contacts with the Walker River Paiute Tribe and individual land owners wishing to participate in the weed program, identified selected weed varieties, and coordinated spraying efforts with Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel in the areas to be sprayed. OUTREACH WORKSHOPS Outreach workshops were held on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and the Duckwater Indian Reservation. Workshop presenters were from UNCE Indian Programs, Farm Service
Agency, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The workshops educated the reservation residents of available programs offered through the different agencies and to receive feedback of identified needs and problems associated with the administering of these programs.
PARTICIPANTS: VEGGIES FOR KIDS The program is funded through USDA and is administered through the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension college, Western Area. The following participated in admisistering the project. Kerry Seymour - Principal Investigator; Trish Freed, Joe Dibble - Project Dietitians; Staci Emm - UNCE FRTEP Coordinator '07; Leslie Allen - Project Horticulturist; Heather Graham - Nutritionist (TMCC); Leslie Brewster - Community Based Instructor, Schurz; Dehan Domingeuz - Community Based Instructor, Nixon; Collaborators for the project were: Truckee Meadows Communtiy College University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Washoe County School District Mineral County School District Natchez Elementary School Schurz Elementary School WEBER RESERVOIR WETLANDS Collaboratoring agencies included UNCE FRTEP and Extension,Walker River Paiute Tribe,NRCS, US Fish and Wildlife, Schurz Elementary School, and Community Members of the Walker River Indian Reservation. Participants
were : UNCE : Randy Emm,Kelly Zuniga, Staci Emm; Walker River Paiute Tribe : Vicki Moyle,Neletta Aguilar,Claudia Nez,Gina Wachsmuth, Dave Schildt,Herbert Dini: Community Members : Joe Rogers,Tony Hughes,Jeff; NRCS : Dan Kaffer,Patty, Bill Conlin; Fish and Wildlife : Linda Conlin WEED MANAGEMENT WALKER RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION Collaborating Agencies included University of Nevada Cooperative Extension,Bureau of Indian Affairs,the Walker River Paiute Tribe, Mineral County, and individual land owners on the Walker River Indian Reservation. UNCE and BIA personel recieved training in the application and safety of spraying chemicals for weed control. Individual land owners received education identifying specfic weeds and available control methods. Individual participants of the program were : UNCE : Randy Emm, Leslie Brewster,Staci Emm; BIA : Wilbur Thom, Victor Guzman, Steve Brown, Mat Spalding; Walker River Paiute Tribe : Raymond Montoya, 27 landowners OUTREACH WORKSHOPS Collaborating
Agencies included the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Farm Service Agency, and the NRCS. Individual agency representatives are following : UNCE : Randy Emm, Amy Meier; Farm Service Agency : Jeff Groat, Tyler Seal, Mark Williams; NRCS : Chuck Peterson
TARGET AUDIENCES: VEGGIES FOR KIDS Participating schools had 50% or more of the student body eligible for Free or Reduced Price Meals. Fifty nine 2nd and 3rd grade students (and 4 teachers) received nutrition education, while 250 students and 25 teachers experienced school wide fruit tasting events and displays, with 94% of students being Native American. Target audiences were children,parents,and teachers. WEBER RESERVOIR WETLANDS RESTORATION Target sudiences were educating the youth and community members about what the wetlands is and how it could be restored,developed, and maintained. WEED MANAGEMENT WALKER RIVER RESERVATION Target audiences were the landowners and community members of the Walker River Indian Reservation educating and training them in weed management and control methods. OUTREACH WORKSHOPS Target audiences were the reservation farmers and ranchers who would utilize the programs offered by each agency.
Impacts
VEGGIES FOR KIDS The program resulted in 32 contact hours of nutrition instruction, reaching 59 students. 250 students and 25 teachers participated in the school wide fruit tasting event. Pre- and post-test data was collected on 57 students. Preliminary data analysis showed an improvement in recognition and identification of the My Pyramid food groups, identification of selected vegetables, and increased preference (from baseline to post-testing) for selected vegetables. Statistical analysis for significance is in progress. A second year curriculum has been developed and is in the implementation phase. WEBER RESERVOIR WETLANDS RESTORATION The first phase of the wetland restoration project was conducted on November 16, 2007, which included planting of bulrush, cattails, spreading and planting wetland grass seed, testing water quality, and conducting actual soil tests. Students learned planting techniques, how to test soils, how to test water quality , and were able to
plant trout provided by the Fish and Wildlife. Students were taught valuable conservation and restoration lessons and the project assisted the Walker River Paiute in restoring the wetland area. Twenty eight students, 3 teachers, 4 volunteers, and 13 representatives from the different agencies took part in this activity. PYRAMID LAKE NATURAL RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION One hundred and forty seven K-6 students were instructed about invasive species identification and control and team building at the Wadsworth Enviro Fair, with 14 high school students participating in restoring native plants to the Numana Wetlands at Pyramid Lake. WEED MANAGEMENT WALKER RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION The WRPT Tribe signed onto a CWMA joining Mineral County as well as 27 reservation land owners (allottee - reservation land owners of 20 acre parcels). The CWMA was extremely helpful to reservation land owners in a year when all fields were fallowed due to the reconstruction of Weber reservoir. This meant
no irrigation took place on the reservation. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provided two spray applicators (two personnel) for about two months. BIA also provided a truck with a boom sprayer, a quad with a tank sprayer and hand sprayers during the three month period for the weed control program. The CWMA program provided all the chemical and some parts for the boom sprayer when it broke down. UNCE Indian programs coordinated the program on the reservation while working closely with UNCE, Mineral County and BIA personnel. UNCE Indian program staff plotted (gps) spray sites and coordinated spray activities with the local land owners. The WRPT Environmental Department created maps using the gps points obtained by UNCE and BIA staff showing the sprayed areas. The coordinated effort sprayed most ditches for whitetop,willows and knapweed; roadways for knapweed; and fallowed alfalfa fields for tamarisk, whitetop knapweed, and african rue. OUTREACH PROGRAMS Nine Duckwater and 15 Duck
Valley operators were educated the reservation residents of the programs offered through the different agencies and received feedback of identified needs and problems associated in implementing these programs.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 04/01/06 to 03/31/07
Outputs
From 4/1/06 to 3/31/07 Extension efforts on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation have concentrated on youth & adult programming in agriculture, environment, natural resources and civic engagement. MOA renewals were signed FOR Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiute Tribe Reservations. A part-time staff person was hired to create an Extension satellite office on the Walker River Reservation. There were 180 Native American 4-H group activity contacts on the Walker River Reservation at the end of the 4-H year for 2006. Randy Emm was hired to facilitate MOU development with the Duck Valley and Moapa Reservations. Neither has signed as yet. This was the 1st year of the Pyramid Lake youth public policy education curriculum; Project Citizen. Research clearly shows youth, particularly lower socio-economic youth, are disengaged and fail to learn the civic habits necessary for effective participation in democracy. Six students participated in the program and were taught core
learning components regarding issue identification, selection, analysis as well as information gathering, and gaining public support. The goal was to develop student commitment to active citizenship and governance by providing knowledge and skills required for effective participation. Participants identified a community project and used their new skills to develop a plan, gain public support and Council approval and acquire funding for implementation which was initiated. Program evaluations from the pilot program indicate the following impacts on participants: I learned how to work with a group and brainstorm and agree with others. I felt like a businessman, and I am surprised that we succeeded in our project too. I felt I gained the privilege of knowing that I helping out my Rez. I feel I gained and learned the knowledge and the steps to helping out my community. In addition to civic engagement, 4-H programming in Pyramid Lake Reservation schools involved embryology, fisheries and a
Veggies for Kids program which was designed and implemented in collaboration with UNCE and University of Nevada, Reno nutritionists. The Veggies for Kids program was also implemented on the Walker River Reservation. Thirty 2nd and 3rd grade students participated at Schurz elementary school. Beginning with a pretest of all kids, sessions were held weekly for 8 Weeks. A post test measured students respondse to learning about and consuming vegetables. At 10 weeks the students will plant the community garden at the Schurz health center. A 4-H Enviro-Friendly group has been established at the Wadsworth community on the Pyramid Reservation. An intergenerational program connecting tribal elders with youth has also been initiated. Sense of Place programming has been initiated at the Pyramid Reservation Numaga Center. This program involves Tribal elders in traditional activities that connect people with their culture and the land and its resources. A Survey of Residents needs assessment was
completed for the Walker River Paiute Tribe and the results were shared with the Tribal Council and Staff. The results were also presented at the 2006 national FRTEP.
Impacts
* Native American youth will consume more vegetables to improve health * Native American youth will become healthier due to improved nutrition * Native American farmer/ranchers will have enhanced efficiency and profitability * Protected or improved environmental conditions on tribal lands * Sense of place enhancement for reservation residents * Improved civic engagement of tribal youth
Publications
- Emm, Breazeale, E. Smith 2005. Walker River Basin Research Study: Attitudes Toward Walker River. FS-05-37 Emm, Breazeale, M. Smith 2005. Walker River Research Study: Willingness of Water Right Owners to Sell or Lease Decree Water Rights. FS-05-54 Emm 2006. Walker River Indian Reservation: Community Needs and Issues. FS-06-62
- Emm 2006. Walker River Indian Reservation: Quality of Life and Community Development. FS-06-64 Emm 2006. Walker River Indian Reservation: Youth Development. FS-06-63
- Emm, Breazeale, M. Smith, 2005 Walker River Research Study: Willingness of Water Right Owners to Sell or Lease Storage Water Rights. FS-05-55
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