The center is the newest addition to the College of Agriculture’s family of research and extension centers statewide.

Created to support UI education, beef cattle research and the state’s ranching industry, the Cummings Center will offer educational opportunities in the Salmon River Valley. The 924-acre center will operate on the scale of a working cattle ranch.

Established through a donation from the Auen Foundation, the center is located on the former Hot Springs Ranch, which is six miles north of Salmon near Carmen, Idaho, along U.S. Highway 93.

The center honors Sherrie Auen’s late mother and her desire to expand educational opportunities in the Salmon River Valley. Sherrie Auen was raised near Arco, Idaho, and still has family in the Salmon area.

The foundation is donating use of the ranch to the university to establish the center. In three years when the university meets performance objectives for finances, research and education, the foundation will begin transferring the ranch to university ownership.

The college plans a public field day at the center beginning at 9 a.m. Speakers will include Sherrie Auen, UI President Bob Hoover, UI Agriculture Dean Larry Branen and UI Agricultural Experiment Station Director Dick Heimsch.

Idaho Cattle Association Executive Vice President Sara Braasch and Laurie Lickley of Jerome, a member of both the ICA and the center’s advisory board, will also speak.

The foundation agreement sets a UI performance standard that calls for the donation of 100 cows or heifers by the public. The standard is a test of livestock industry support for the center and its mission. The Idaho Cattle Association has agreed to support the university’s “Cattle Drive.”

Within the next three years under the terms of the lease agreement, the university’s goal is to build the ranch’s herd to 350 to 400 cows.

From 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., the agenda includes bus tours of the ranch and reviews of planned research projects. They range from new systems for electronic identification of cattle to goat grazing to controlling knapweed. Other topics include a beef cattle breeding program with estrus synchronization and pasture and forage management.

A noon lunch at the center will be followed by a dedication ceremony at 12:30 p.m.

The Cummings Center is the first research and experiment center added in 50 years to a statewide system of nine, and the first to specialize in education, said UI Agriculture Dean Larry Branen.

The college cooperates in managing two others, the Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station and the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station near Dubois, Idaho.

The value of the Auen Foundation’s donated use of the ranch is $619,000 over the life of the lease. The ranch is valued at $3.15 million. The gift is part of the Campaign for Idaho, a multi-year, $100 million fundraising campaign.