The Steamboat Springs Kiwanis Club will be selling a specially designed Christmas ornament commemorating the 100th anniversary of Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp. This marks the 31st year the local club has been selling unique ornaments as its major fundraiser. The 2013 ornament is bright red and features a picture of world-renowned dancer Harriet Ann Gray. The ornaments are $8 each and will be on sale at the following locations: City Market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22; the Steamboat Springs Arts Council Craft Fair at Strawberry Park Elementary School, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and at the Steamboat Chamber Resort Association, Tread of Pioneers Museum, Insure Me and most area banks.

Steamboat Art Museum is looking for volunteers

The Steamboat Art Museum is looking for volunteers to help in the museum store as well as in the gallery. Shifts are usually limited to three hours. Those who are interested can call 870-1755 or email dottie@steamboatartmuseum.org.

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Parenting and Pizza tackles emotional development

The next program in the Parenting and Pizza series will focus on emotional development from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Soda Creek Elementary School, 220 Park Ave. Licensed psychologist Barbara Gueldner will discuss promoting your child’s emotional development during times of family stress. The program includes pizza and child care, and a $5 per person or $10 per family donation is suggested. Register by contacting Stephanie Martin at 970-870-5270 or smartin@co.routt.co.us with the number of adults and ages of children who are attending.

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Conservation Stewardship Program applications taken

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is opening the Conservation Stewardship Program for new enrollments for federal fiscal year 2014. Through Jan. 17, producers interested in participating in the program can submit applications to NRCS.

“Through the Conservation Stewardship Program, farmers, ranchers and forest landowners are going the extra mile to conserve our nation’s resources,” NRCS Chief Jason Weller said in a news release. “Through their conservation actions, they are ensuring that their operations are more productive and sustainable over the long run.”

The program is a Farm Bill conservation program that helps established conservation stewards improve both their agricultural production and provide valuable conservation benefits such as cleaner and more abundant water, as well as healthier soils and better wildlife habitat.

The program emphasizes conservation performance — producers earn higher payments for higher performance. In CSP, producers install conservation enhancements to make positive changes in soil quality, soil erosion, water quality, water quantity, air quality, plant resources, animal resources and energy.

To be eligible for this year’s enrollment, producers must have their applications submitted to NRCS by the closing date.

A CSP self-screening checklist is available to help producers determine if the program is suitable for their operation. The checklist highlights basic information about CSP eligibility requirements, stewardship threshold requirements and payment types.

For more information, visit the Steamboat Springs NRCS Service Center, 1475 Pine Grove Road, Suite 201A, or call 970-879-3225, ext. 105.

Steamboat Ski Town Lions Club seeks new members

The Steamboat Ski Town Lions Club is seeking new members who want to help make a difference in the community.

Each year, the local branch of the Lions Club plans or participates in numerous events and programs that serve community members, including the Routt County United Way Day of Caring, Relay For Life, the Thanksgiving turkey drive, highway cleanup days, Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup, Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast, the Hot Air Balloon Rodeo and the Christmas tree sale. The group also collects eyeglasses for those in need as well as provides free vision screenings for youths in Routt County, scholarships for high school seniors and funding for local youth groups such as Rocky Mountain Youth Corps.

“The Lions’ motto is ‘We serve,’ and the Steamboat Ski Town Lions Club has lived up to it,” club President Bill Crosby said. “Since 1922, the club has enjoyed serving our community in a variety of ways, and we’re always eager to welcome new members — with new ideas — into our organization.”

For more information about joining, contact ed@digthis.info or 970-846-2484.

Library participating in the Sketchbook Project

Bud Werner Memorial Library is participating in the Sketchbook Project, a global, crowd-sourced art project and traveling exhibition of handmade books that are filled with prose, photography, poems, drawings, doodles, paintings, thoughts and experiences.

The library has blank sketchbooks ($10 for adults and $5 for youths 17 and younger) available for members of the Steamboat Springs community who want to contribute thoughts, images and tales to the global project.

Finished sketchbooks must be postmarked by Jan. 15 for inclusion in the Mobile Sketchbook Library Tour, which visits the Bud Werner in August. For more information about the Sketchbook Project in Steamboat Springs, visit http://www.steamboatlibrary.org/events.

Military, veterans receive in-district CMC tuition

Active-duty military, veterans as well as their spouses and dependents can receive in-district tuition at Colorado Mountain College no matter where they live, according to a news release.

With in-district tuition rates of $56 to $95 per credit hour, CMC has been named the nation’s third-most-affordable public college offering bachelor’s degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Veterans or active-duty military can visit CMC’s veteran admissions website at http://www.coloradomtn.edu/web/admissions/veterans_military. The spring semester at CMC begins Jan. 13.