Connected - Newsletter of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

A highlight of April was the fire summit, Vision 20/20: A Fire Resilient California , sponsored by UC ANR and the California Fire Science Consortium . About 150 participants representing more than 50 organizations gathered in Redding April 16-17 to help build a cohesive vision for a fire-resilient California.

As our colleagues from the California Forestry Association wrote: “ We're excited to be at today's #FireSummit : Vision 20/20: A Fire Resilient California. This is an important event that's brought together a diverse collection of leaders to deepen our understanding of California's wildfire problem and increase our connectivity on the issue.”

The fire summit came about because many people from different walks of life began approaching UC ANR to find solutions to the wildfire crisis in California. People know that UC ANR — in particular our Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists — have years of experience conducting research and working with communities in California to find solutions to the big challenges we face. It was a natural fit for us to bring together a wide array of people from the private sector, government and academia to jointly look at the problem and try to find innovative solutions.

By the way, this is what we need to be doing to solve all of our big challenges. It’s not just fire . It’s water . It’s climate change . It’s invasive species . These challenges are getting more and more severe as the years go forward, and with climate change, are creating situations we’ve never seen before. We don’t have a history of what to expect or what to do. To find solutions to these problems, we need to be more trans-disciplinary, not just multi-disciplinary. We need engineers to be curious about what the biologists have to say. And the biologists need to be curious about what the economic development angle might be. People from a variety of disciplines need to share information and look for synergies and new ideas that cross multiple disciplines in ways we haven’t yet seen.

While we’re on the subject of fire: If you have cattle, horses, sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, poultry or honeybees and were affected by wildfire in the last 10 years, please take this short survey to help us better understand the economic impact of fire events on livestock production in California. The information will inform a county-based risk assessment for livestock producers in California. The results may help inform policy decisions toward resource allocation for emergency preparedness, response and indemnity in the future.

In other news, the first meeting of the new UC ANR Governing Council took place on April 8. This is a terrific group of people I’m honored to work with:

Chair: Kim Wilcox, UC Riverside Chancellor
David Marshall, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Santa Barbara
Roger Wakimoto, Vice Chancellor for Research, UCLA
David Ackerly, Dean, College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley
Helene Dillard, Dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis
Don Bransford, Owner, Bransford Farms
Jean-Mari Peltier, President, Environmental Solutions Group
Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture
David Lewis, Academic Assembly Representative, Director, UC Cooperative Extension Marin and Napa Counties; Watershed Management/Research Advisor; Strategic Initiative Leader for Water Quality, Quantity and Security
Carol Shennan, Academic Senate Representative; Professor of Agroecology, Department of Environment Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Joshua Viers, Academic Senate Representative; Director, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS); Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, UC Merced
Andrew Waterhouse, Academic Senate Representative; Director, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food and Professor, Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
Nathan Brostrom, CFO and Executive Vice President, University of California
Michael Brown, Provost and Executive Vice President, University of California
Glenda Humiston, Vice President, UC ANR

As you can see, it’s a diverse mix, including a chancellor, vice chancellors, provosts, deans, academic senate and assembly members, and external members. At this first meeting, I presented an overview of UC ANR, and Associate Vice President Tu Tran provided a UC ANR budget summary. UC President Napolitano joined us for 45 minutes. Most of the meeting’s discussion centered on developing the group’s charter and the three-campus funding model. The UC ANR Governing Council will likely convene four times a year. I am excited to work with this accomplished group.

We look forward to seeing you and collaborating with you! As always, please share Connected with colleagues who would be interested in receiving it, and encourage them to subscribe . We thank you very much for your support.

Engage with Us!

Annual Santa Maria Strawberry Field Day

May 14, 2019

Manzanita Berry Farms

1891 West Main Street

Santa Maria, CA 93458

UC Cooperative Extension's Surendra Dara hosts the annual event. Topics include a regulatory update on pesticides and fumigation; an overview of soil and water management; nitrate leaching reduction; use of a summer cover crop as a partial carbon source for anaerobic soil disinfestation; growing strawberries sustainably using the new IPM model; sprayer calibration program; and botrytis management strategies for 2019. 3 DPR and 3.5 CCA CE units have been approved. Register for free.

Grazing School for Vegetation Management & Wildfire Vegetation Reduction

May 17 - 18, 2019

Santa Rosa Junior College Shone Farm

7450 Steve Olson Lane

Forestville, CA 95436

Join UCCE Sonoma & SRJC Shone Farm for a two-day, hands-on grazing school provides participants with practical, field-based experience in applying the principles of managed grazing on rangeland. Participants will learn to estimate carrying capacity and graze periods, develop grazing plans and monitoring systems, and discover the benefits of prescribed grazing. Learn more and register.

Wine Grape Irrigation Short Course

May 22 - 23, 2019

Springhill Suites, Napa, CA

Oakville Experiment Station, Oakville CA

Join us for this integrated vineyard irrigation management Short Course featuring UC faculty, Cooperative Extension specialists and farm advisors, and USDA researchers who will provide an in-depth, comprehensive study of all phases of grapevine irrigation design, implementation, automation, physiological effects and resulting wine composition. T he program is based on the latest information and research and will include Q&A for each session, quality time with instructors and networking opportunities. Learn more and register .

This is just a sampling of our events. See more events in our calendar .

Spotlight on Practical Resources

California Institute for Water Resources

The mission of the California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR) is to integrate California's research, extension and education programs to develop research-based solutions to water resource challenges. CIWR does this by facilitating collaborative research and outreach on water issues across California's academic institutions and with international, federal, state, regional, nonprofit and campus communities. You can find many helpful resources on the CIWR website, including its excellent blog The Confluence , its strategic plan , tools and resources , publications, contact information , programs from the biennial meetings of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy and much more.

Notes From the Field

UC Cooperative Extension ramps up its climate change response

While scientific reports continue to mount confirming that global climate change is increasing temperatures, causing more frequent weather extremes and raising the sea level in California, UC Cooperative Extension is working to ensure the worst predictions are avoided and California residents and businesses will be able to adapt to the change.

More news from UC ANR

UC ANR staff news

The Royal Society of London elects climate scientist Inez Fung and plant biologist Brian Staskawicz as Fellows

Susan Harrison, conservation biologist in the Agricultural Experiment Station, inducted into the National Academy of Sciences

Pam Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center and director of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy at UC Davis, elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Agricultural economist David Zilberman, chair of the department of agriculture and resource economics at UC Berkeley, elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Frank Mitloehner honored with science communication award

Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia named a Standout Early Career Professional by Entomology Today

Charlie Adams receives Lake County 4-H All-Star Ambassador Award

The UC Davis Academic Senate and Academic Federation announce their 2019 awards for teaching, research and public service, which include UC ANR staff recipients :

Distinguished Teaching, Undergraduate: Frank Mitloehner
James H. Meyer Distinguished Service Award: Alison Van Eenennaam
Excellence in Research: Allen Van Deynze
Excellence in Graduate/Professional Teaching or Mentoring: Lenna Ontai

Seven academics take new Cooperative Extension positions with UC ANR :

Ashraf El-Kereamy named UCCE citrus specialist in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside, and is based at the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center in Exeter
Giuliano Galdi joins UCCE as an agronomy advisor in Siskiyou County
Ian Grettenberger joins UCCE as field and vegetable crops specialist in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis
Yu Meng joins UCCE as the youth, families and communities advisor serving Imperial County, UC Desert Research and Extension Center and communities near the U.S.-Mexico border
Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann named UCCE advisor in urban forestry and natural resources serving Orange and Los Angeles counties
Ryan Tompkins named UCCE advisor in forestry and natural resources serving Plumas, Sierra and Lassen counties
Robert York joins UCCE as silviculture and forest specialist and adjunct associate professor of forestry in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley

In memoriam: Charley Hess

In memoriam: Dennis Teeguarden

Calendar of Events

The UC ANR Calendar lists events hosted by our programs throughout California.

Check to see what's happening in your neighborhood!

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources

2801 Second Street

Davis, CA 95618

Website: ucanr.edu

Email: [email protected]