Posts Tagged: Robert Timm

'Green' educational center construction well underway

Construction on the Shippey Educational Center at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center in Ukiah is in full swing, reported Carole Brodsky in the Ukiah Daily Journal.

The lengthy article said ground was broken in October, and the facility is projected to be completed in the fall. 

"We've been a research and extension center since 1951, but have been primarily focused on research, without a strong extension component," said Hopland director Robert Timm. "Farm advisors in the extension office handle the bulk of the outreach. We've needed a facility that could handle larger meetings and address educational and outreach components of our extension programs. We'd hold meetings in a crowded warehouse and hope the weather would cooperate. It took several years, but this project finally rose to the top of the list."

The building is named for the late Rod Shippey, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor from 1955 to 1989.

Among the "green" components of the new facility are:

• Rainwater catchment for flush toilets
• Radiant floor heating
• Solar panels for hot water generation
• On-site wastewater treatment
• Passive heating and cooling elements
• 'Woodpecker-friendly' siding
  

Future plans for the building include:

• Site-built photovoltaics
• A solar thermal system
• Utilization of green furniture and cabinetry
• Outdoor meeting "terraces"
• Food composting stations
• Creation of a wetland pond

Parking will be near, but not next to the building, the article said. Attendees will traverse a gentle trail to the facility, emphasizing the connectedness to the land and creating an organic transition from car to countryside.

Questions about coyotes or bees? UC experts respond

The Napa Valley Register took a closer look at coyotes in western Napa County subdivisions, after neighbors started spotting the canines near their homes.

Reporter Peter Jensen talked to Robert Timm, director of the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, which is located in Mendocino County. Timm said that researchers track reports of coyote attacks on humans, though no such attacks have ever been reported in Napa County.

For some Sacramento area trees, it's already spring

The Sacramento Bee reported that Bradford pear trees along Sacramento streets are blooming, and sidewalks were littered with flower petals after Monday's storm.

Reporter Debbie Arrington talked to Eric Mussen, UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Entomology department, about how the early warm weather might affect pollination and fruit formation.

"Honeybees don't really get confused," Mussen said. "They do act predictably. Anytime the temperature gets above 55 degrees, if there's food somewhere, they'll go get it."

Though petals may fall, Mussen explained that bees will be able to pollinate trees unless storm winds and rain knock entire flowers to the ground, leaving nothing to pollinate.

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