After leading the Gunnison County CSU Extension office for more than 15 years, director Eric McPhail is moving on to oversee most of the offices across Colorado’s western region. His last day was Sept. 12.
McPhail has spent over a decade as the “the broker of knowledge” at the local extension office — answering questions about everything from bed bugs to what’s killing trees, how to market cows and the cost of land. In that time, he has gained not only a wealth of expertise about the area’s natural resources and agricultural industry, but an appreciation and love for the Gunnison Valley community.
He said he’s tried to come up with a 20-second elevator speech about his role at the extension office forever. Despite his varied responsibilities, from leading numerous educational programs for youth and adults and serving as a knowledge resource for residents that need help, the goal is “always to better people’s lives,” he said.
The CSU extension is often a hub for local events, 4-H programming and the annual Cattlemen’s Days rodeo. It also runs numerous educational programs for youth and adults and is a knowledge resource for residents that need help.
McPhail moved his young family to Gunnison from Texas in 2006 to work as the county ag agent, specifically focusing on cattle and hay. Although he had never visited the Gunnison Valley, his wife recalled the beauty of the area from a camping trip she took in junior high, and they blindly relocated when he got the job.
McPhail arrived in Gunnison without any knowledge about local industries, the valley’s natural resources or the deep cold of the winters. He didn’t know what an aspen tree was, or a livestock judging competition. But shortly after starting his position, he ran those same programs, learning about horticulture and how to garden in Gunnison’s particular climate.
In addition to providing the Gunnison Valley community with the newest research, tools and information within the natural resource and agriculture industries, he has also been a vital part of Gunnison County’s 4-H youth program.
During his first county fair, he remembered a 12-year-old participant who wanted McPhail to take a look at his steer. The conversation made a big impression on McPhail, who watched the youngster move through the 4-H program each year, win grand champion and pursue a degree in animal science at Colorado State University. Now he’s married with two kids, who will soon move into the 4-H program themselves.
“It is fun to watch a kid grow, write letters of recommendations, get to know them, help them get scholarships to college and be someone that's involved in their life as they're growing up,” McPhail said. “I've always really enjoyed that.”
His 16 years have been filled with too many memories to recall, he said, from the rush of Cattlemen’s, to collaborating with local stakeholders and 10-minute phone calls for help that turned into hour-long conversations.
“And then you don't hear from them in a while, but next thing you know, they're one of the biggest major donors to your 4-H program, because they just liked what the office did and stood for,” he said.
Other highlights include leading the push to do major renovations to the 4-H building in 2017. Early on, McPhail decided not to apply for large grants, and instead leaned on the connectedness of the community and the heart of the youth program. Suddenly, anywhere from $5 to $25,000 donations from more than 100 donors flowed in.
“It, to me, felt a whole lot more community bought-in,” he said. “I did take pride in that … we were able to get it done for one, but two, we were able to get it done with so much community support.”
4-H leader Shelly Sabrowski has been involved with the program since McPhail first started. When the arrival of the pandemic threatened the continuous history of the Cattlemen’s Days rodeo, Sabrowski said McPhail worked tirelessly to figure out a way to make the 4-H programming happen.
“It was impressive what he had to do to make that happen for the kids,” she said. “That was impactful, because if he hadn't, my kid wouldn't have been able to show [during] his last year. And so it meant the world to me.”
Although McPhail will continue living in the valley, he will supervise most of the extension offices across the Western Slope out of CSU’s regional campus in Grand Junction. He said he hopes to have a satellite office in Gunnison as well.
McPhail’s colleagues said he will be sorely missed at the extension office. Gunnison County 4-H youth development agent Perri Pelletier said McPhail has been a rock since she started her position in the middle of the pandemic.
“It's hard to start a job on that note,” Pelletier said. “I really appreciated his positive attitude through all of that, and it's not changed at all. It's continued every day.”
(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)
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