Announcements
Celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month in May
Everyone in the UC ANR community is invited to join virtual events to learn, share, support and celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month every Tuesday in May from 3 to 4 p.m.
- May 4 - The Asian Pacific Identity: Experiences and Stories
- May 11 - Asian Pacific Farmers in California: Past and Present
- May 18 - Violence in Asian Pacific Communities: Exclusion, Internment and Hate Crimes
- May 25 - Supporting Our Friends and Colleagues: Bystander Intervention Training
The weekly events will begin May 4 with a discussion of who is included and what is meant by the terms Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander. Surendra Dara will describe his immigration experience and Soo-Young Chin, a cultural consultant and ethnographer from Ethnoworks will present.
On May 11, we'll hear perspectives from Asian Americans involved in agriculture, starting with a video about Koda Farms and how this Japanese-American family continues to farm since starting to grow rice in 1928. Kellee Matsushita-Tseng will talk about her work with Second Generation Seeds, representation in Extension, and the current acts of hate. UC ANR's very own Sua Vang, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) community health specialist, will talk about her experience farming and continuing connections with Southeast Asian farmers in Fresno County.
On May 18, we will review some history of violence and discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S., then May Lin, postdoctoral fellow at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality at the University of Denver, will encourage participants to think beyond the framing of individual hate crimes and more towards community approaches – such as the Black-Asian solidarity efforts in Oakland – to dismantle systemic violence.
On May 25, Advancing Justice Chicago, in partnership with Hollaback! and CAIR-Chicago, will give us a crash course in how to de-escalate harassment and support people who are targets of harassment and violence.
All of the sessions are scheduled for an hour, but speakers will remain online beyond 4 p.m. if needed to answer questions and allow for extended discussion.
Register at http://ucanr.edu/aphm2021.
The image for UC ANR's Asian Pacific Heritage Month was designed by Surendra Dara, UC Cooperative Extension entomology and biologicals advisor in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
The font and colors are representative of Asian Pacific heritage. The cherry blossoms represent spring, new life and vibrancy. The lanterns symbolize light, and light represents knowledge, wisdom and education. Lanterns representing the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand are included. The shapes and colors of the lanterns are different, but the lanterns all serve the same purpose: to shine light. For UC ANR, the cherry branch represents our role in food production and natural resources while the lanterns represent our role in outreach.
Your APHM planning team:
Apurba Barman
Sibani Bose
Surendra Dara
Charles Go
Greg Ira
Pam Kan-Rice
Janice Kao
Dohee Kim
Vikram Koundinya
Elaine Lander
Tunyalee Martin
Yu Meng
Stephanie Parreira
Devii Rao
Marisa Tsai
Sua Vang
Laura Vollmer
ANR team wins ANREP educational materials award
The “Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan” won the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals bronze award in the category of Book or Comprehensive Program Curriculum.
The team includes Toby O'Geen, Bill Birmingham, Brooke Latack, DJ Eastburn, Dan Macon, David Lewis, David Lile, Devii Rao, Fadzayi Mashiri, Jeffrey Stackhouse, Jim Downing, Josh Davy, Julie Finzel, Kenneth Tate, Laura Snell, Leslie Roche, Lucien Crowder, Matthew Shapero, Michael Lennox, Morgan Doran, Randy Dahlgren, Rebecca Ozeran, Rob Atwill, Sandra Osterman, Stephanie Larson, Theresa Becchetti and Tracy Schohr.
The Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan represents the evolution of the UC Ranch Water Quality Planning Partnership and shortcourse program. The Instructor's Guide was published in two formats – a dynamic PDF document and an HTML webpage. Both formats integrate 29 educational and instructional videos in a curated playlist on the UC ANR YouTube channel. This comprehensive training resource gives instructors the tools to plan and deliver a shortcourse that trains private and public grazing land managers to develop land stewardship and water quality management plans. The Instructor's Guide provides a wealth of contemporary information and resources about water quality management on rangelands and supports adaptation of the curriculum content and elements to local conditions and needs. The team began outreach and extension of these resources in November 2020. Through January 2021, the materials were downloaded 110 times and received 240 unique page views.
Start planning for Big Dig Day June 4
Big Dig Day is June 4. The 24-hour online fundraising campaign is an opportunity to collect supplemental support for UC ANR programs and research.
In an effort to better communicate campaign plans and resources with participants, UCCE offices, RECs, programs and clubs are asked to register. Registered Big Dig Day participants will receive The Scoop e-newsletter with campaign updates and links to webinars and tools.
Register by filling out this 3-minute survey.
On May 3, the Big Dig toolkit will be available on Box.
Happy McGivins is our Big Dig Day mascot. You will find a "Flat Happy" in the toolkit that can be printed. Take Flat Happy with you to your garden, workplace, virtual club meetings, etc. and snap a selfie! Then post it on social media with a message that says, "I dig (INSERT PROGRAM NAME) because...(FILL IN THE BLANK!") #BigDigDay #GiveBack
On May 5, at 12 noon, there will be a Master Gardener webinar "Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success."
If you have questions, contact Emily Delk, director of annual giving, at eddelk@ucanr.edu or (916) 564-4862.
CattleCal joins ANR podcast line up
Cattle ranchers have a new source for cattle research news from UC Cooperative Extension. CattleCal podcast is produced by Pedro Carvalho, UC Cooperative Extension feedlot management specialist; Brooke Latack, UC Cooperative Extension livestock advisor for Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties; and Richard Zinn, UC Davis professor in the Department of Animal Science.
Released on Wednesdays, CattleCal varies the focus each week of the month. The first two weeks they interview a guest who works in the cattle business – the first week they discuss the guest's career path and the second week they discuss specific research. The third week of the month, Carvalho and Latack discuss feedlot research. The last week of the month features “Quiz Zinn,” with Zinn answering listeners' questions related to feedlot nutrition and management.
The podcast episodes range in length from 8 to 30 minutes. Ranchers can listen to the cattle research updates on Spotify on demand on their computers or mobile devices.
Carvalho did a Q&A, answering questions such as “Why did you name it CattleCal instead of Cattle Call?” at https://bit.ly/3dLbNzm.
CattleCal joins other ANR podcasts including Water Talk, Growing the Valley and Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know.
Water Talk is hosted by Faith Kearns, academic coordinator for the California Institute for Water Resources, and UC Cooperative Extension specialists Mallika Nocco and Samuel Sandoval, both in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources.
Growing the Valley is hosted by Phoebe Gordon, UCCE orchards systems advisor for Madera and Merced counties, and Luke Milliron, UCCE Orchard System Advisor for Butte, Tehama, and Glenn counties.
Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know is hosted by Dan Macon, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor for Placer, Nevada, Sutter and Yuba counties, and rancher Ryan Mahoney.
Fresno 4-H Ambassadors help community recover from Creek Fire
Hundreds of wildfires burned in California in 2020. The biggest single wildfire, according to Cal Fire, was the Creek Fire, which started on Sept. 4 near Shaver Lake in Fresno County. It destroyed 856 structures and burned 379,895 acres mostly in the Sierra National Forest until it was declared contained on Dec. 24.
“Fresno County 4-H had several families that lost homes in the Creek Fire, especially from our Ridge Top 4-H Club,” said 4-H program representative Tracy Newton.
To help their fellow 4-H members and community recover from the Creek Fire, 4-H Ambassadors in Fresno County assembled baskets containing handmade dough ornaments and a seedling to give to fire survivors. They also partnered with Intermountain Nursery and Sierra Resiliency Fund to begin protecting the scorched land from erosion.
In a video about their efforts, 4-H Ambassadors Caydin Simonian, Ciara Zito, Nicole Ward and Clayton Pennebaker and local partners describe their roles.
“Without volunteers, we can't get very much done. It's nice to have a core group of individuals that are excited and motivated to do work,” Allyson Brooks, Sierra Resiliency Fund volunteer coordinator, said in the video.
Zito added, “I know together we can make a difference.”
Newton is proud of the Ambassador team's efforts supporting the Creek Fire recovery. "They've worked so hard, I'd like to see our community aware of their great efforts as well as our UC ANR community," she said. “I think they've done an amazing job! “
“Through sales of 4-H logo items and donations received, the team was able to purchase 750 seedlings which will be planted locally,” Newton said. “They are working towards participating in multiple workdays for tree plantings. In addition, there were workdays at the nursery transferring seedlings to larger containers and watering. They also supported in creating a community display that will be placed in the Creek Fire exhibit at the Sierra Historical Society.”
See the video at https://youtu.be/fCvHuFu8e1k.