Applications are now being accepted for scholarships to attend California Naturalist training in the San Joaquin Valley and central Sierra region in 2015.

To become a certified California Naturalist, trainees take part in 40 hours of classroom and field courses and complete a capstone project. More than 700 California Naturalists have been certified by UC Cooperative Extension since the program's inception in 2010. The 2015 training sessions will be offered with the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, the UC Merced Vernal Pools and Grasslands Preserve and the UC Merced Sierra Nevada Institute.

Partial scholarships will be awarded in two categories: Student Scholars Award and Service Award. The Student Scholars Awards are open to graduating high school seniors and currently enrolled college students. The Service Awards are open to people engaged in work (volunteer or paid) that directly impacts under-served communities.

The scholarships are intended to engage participants who will apply their experience by taking action in their own communities. To be eligible for a scholarship, aspiring naturalists are invited to fill out the online application at http://ucanr.edu/CalNatScholarship. Application review will begin in December 2014 and continue until all the scholarships have been awarded. Read more.

Florent Trouillas, UC Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis and Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center (KARE), specializing in  fruit and nut crop pathology, became a welcomed addition  to the KARE faculty on October 1, 2014. Trouillas' research program aims to understand current as well as emerging diseases of major fruit and nut crops, and deliver efficient and innovative control strategies. His research includes basic and applied studies on the etiology, biology, epidemiology and control of fruit and nut crop diseases.

Immediately prior to coming to KARE, Trouillas worked as a project scientist coordinating research projects in Viticulture for agricultural cooperatives in France.

Trouillas was a graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Extension Plant Pathologist Walter D (Doug) Gubler in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis. Trouillas' research emphasized the characterization and control of canker diseases of grapes, fruit and nut crops.

About 20 organizations with missions that include public service shared what they do to help maintain healthy communities, people, and the environment with the residents of Parlier during the October 24, 2014 Red Ribbon event held at a local park. UC ANR KARE had an informational booth where we shared basic information on what we do to help local people. Jose Javier provided information and answered questions for Spanish speaking attendees.

The Irrigation Association will present their 2014 Person of the Year Award to Lawrence (Larry) Schwankl at the 2014 Irrigation Show & Education Conference in Phoenix on November 20, 2014. Schwankl's distinguished 28 year career with the University of California Extension specialized in irrigation engineering, design, operation and management of irrigation systems, soil moisture monitoring, and low-volume irrigation.

“Through his well-recognized applied research program, technology transfer efforts and service activities, Dr. Schwankl has dedicated his career to developing, evaluating and promoting water-efficient technologies and irrigation best management practices,” wrote Dana Osborne Porter, Associate Professor and Extension Agricultural Engineer in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University.