News Release
For Immediate Release —October 16, 2008
State Forestry Association Honors UT Extension Agent
Each year the Tennessee Forestry Association (TFA) recognizes the County Agent of the Year. The recipient of the honor for 2008 is University of Tennessee Extension Agent Sheldon Barker of Sequatchie County.
According to David Mercker of the TFA, Barker has excelled in promoting responsible forest stewardship to youth, landowners and his community. Over the course of his 13-year career with UT Extension, he has trained over 3,000 youth in the 4-H program, including forestry and wildlife judging. In addition, in 2004 he helped organize the Sequatchie County Forestry Association. “His enthusiasm, his professionalism, his dedication to responsible natural resource management is worth recognition,” Mercker said.
Barker has been with UT Extension in Sequatchie County for six-and-a-half years. He oversees adult and 4-H agriculture and resource development programs. Youth in Sequatchie who participate in 4-H are among 335,000 Tennessee 4-H’ers who “learn by doing" through hands-on activities and community involvement that empowers 4-H'er's to develop and strengthen life skills.
You can learn more about UT Extension programs in Sequatchie County at http://sequatchie.tennessee.edu/, by calling (423) 949-2611, or stopping by its Dunlap office at 171 Church Street. In addition, UT Extension maintains a range of publications and informational resources at its central Web site, http://utextension.tennessee.edu/.
In Sequatchie County and Tennessee’s other 94 counties UT Extension operates as the off-campus division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. It is a statewide educational organization, funded by federal, state and local governments, that brings research-based information about agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and resource development to the people of Tennessee where they live and work.
Extension agents like Barker are supported by area and state faculty as well as by the educational and research resources and activities of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 74 land-grant universities, and 3,150 county units throughout the nation. The stated mission of the system is to help people improve their lives through an educational process that uses scientific knowledge to address issues and needs.
# # #
Contact: Sheldon Barker (423) 949-2611
Margot Emery (865) 974-7141