2023-2024 Urban Agriculture Conservation Planning Grant Report
Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD), located in Sundance, Wyoming operates mostly through grant funding, along with some income from county funding. Grants applied for usually focus on traditional, but important work for the area involving forestry management and watershed improvement. CCNRD’s Conservation Resource Coordinator, Jessica Halverson said “the NACD Urban Agriculture Conservation planning grant was a fun grant to fulfill, because it was non-traditional.” The grant was received in 2023, with completion in October 2024.
A total of $10,000 was received to further develop an educational site called the Learning Lab, located in Sundance. This site was started by University of Wyoming Extension staff as an informative gardening area that’s utilized to educate people and supply some food to the local school and 4-H programs for education. A high tunnel and geodome existed on the site but the geodome needed planter boxes. This grant allowed funds to purchase materials to build the planter boxes and the local Sundance/Bearlodge FFA chapter volunteered time to fill them with soil. Funds were also used to purchase and plant fruit trees and shrubs in the Learning Lab to showcase what will grow in this area and provide fruit in future years. Other items purchased through this grant include a rain barrel that will be installed at the Learning Lab in the spring of 2025 to help promote water conservation and education, and a display board that will be utilized for future educational events.
CCNRD staff worked with UW Extension staff to plan educational workshops that would address community needs. A needs assessment was created, placed on our website, and promoted through emails and Facebook. Results showed that respondents were interested in the topics of trees and shrubs for Wyoming, landscaping and xeriscaping, native landscape plants, and container gardening. Results also showed that people preferred education through our website and social media, with in-person, hands-on workshops a close runner-up.
In order to relate to the Learning Lab, a container gardening class was held, followed by a pressure-canning class and a pickle-making class. Staff presented urban ag activities with youth at the local County fair and at the local elementary school as well. An urban agriculture page was created on CCNRD’s website, and more-than-usual Facebook posts were made in hopes of increasing engagement with Crook County producers. CCNRD staff were also able to increase their knowledge through attendance of a local urban ag conference.
The NACD UAC planning grant was a great success, improving partnerships with UW Extension and local schools and clubs. It also helped CCNRD staff realize the need and desire for urban agriculture education in the county and created a foundation of ideas for future urban agriculture work that CCNRD staff look forward to continuing.
