Candy DenOuden

Tripp was one of the communities that participated in Horizons, the foundation of SDSU Extension's Community Vitality capstone. (SDSU Extension photo) Twenty years ago, SDSU Extension did not have community development as a formal area of expertise. That began to change in 2004 when SDSU Extension Director Karla Trautman, then a program leader, started discussing the potential of community development as a capstone. Then the phone rang. The Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, wante

In other words, trees are taking over the grasslands. To meet that threat, SDSU Extension recently received a $1 million contribution agreement from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to combat the spread. Sandy Smart, SDSU Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Senior Program Leader, said most of the contribution agreement will fund a new field specialist who will work with landowners to identify where there is a threat and to preserve their own land. It will build on the work alre

If you look at the individual ways SDSU Extension has helped its partners in Fort Thompson through its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention High Obesity Program funds, they seem small.

“Individually they’re small. But without those things you can’t enhance physical activity, or opportunities for nutrition,” said Lindsay Moore. “Without those little things the big goal doesn’t get achieved.”

Moore, SDSU Extension Community Health and Obesity Program Director, said CDC HOP’s goal is “to en

RENNER-Chris Richards lays a still-hot horseshoe against a black gelding's hooves, his face focused through the freshly billowing steam and smoke.

Cactus, the horse, seems mostly unbothered. His owner, Marianna Finn, pretends to cough from the smoke, which draws a response from Richards.

"Oh, c'mon," he said, drawing laughter from his audience.

It's typical of the light-hearted banter between Richards and his clients. Richards, 41, the name behind Chris Richards Horseshoeing, is a farrier. He