I am heading out on vacation tomorrow. That means I spent much of the week trying to check things off the list that aren't due until early August. No doubt, I will still be behind when I return the week after next, but we all need some down time!

I had the chance to participate in a UC Wildfire Symposium this week. Our CE Advisor and Specialists knocked it out of the park with their presentations addressing Strategies for the Wildlands Urban Interface. Congratulations to Lenya, Max, and Van for a job well done! The 600+ participants remained online despite cutting it close with the schedule. Clearly, they were interested in the discussion.

On Monday, we met with the DEI Advisory Council. The Council is eager to get to work advising UC ANR how best to advance the inclusivity of our culture. A few of us continued the conversation about that work the next day while we planned how to undertake the task of efficiently hiring a large number of academics while attracting top candidates. A challenge, but, a welcomed one.

The week has gone by quickly. Before I knew it on Tuesday, it was past 5 PM. The summer feels the same. I can tell the days are getting shorter because I am getting fewer strawberries each day. Three dogs contribute to the reduced yield, but isn't new. I'm not sure how many field days or in person meetings were held this summer. Hopefully we were able to host a few following reopening in mid-June. I haven't made it to any, but it looks like Mark was in attendance at a field day today. If we can keep COVID from getting out of hand, perhaps I can get a couple of outings on the calendar when I return.

I still have a few loose ends to wrap up before I disconnect. Here's hoping the fires and COVID stay far away and the heat dissipates in the next week.

Wildfire activity is picking up across the state and this wind isn't helping. It is no surprise that wildfire is the topic of webinars around the state. Word is that Lenya was an incredible speaker for the federal UC Wildfire Briefing. There was great attendance, several questions were directed to or answered by Lenya, and she quickly had two legislative offices contacting her to arrange meetings. Anne Megaro commented that Lenya brought life to the briefing - she was interesting and engaging and connected the value of federal investment to real-world work reducing catastrophic wildfires and improving forest and land management. Take a look at the recording for yourself. You can find the recording here.

Safeeq Khan spoke at a UC Wildfire Symposium last week. I was unable to attend but hear that he explained the impact of the loss of snowpack and the forest ecosystem, more generally, such that all could understand. Congratulations, Safeeq!

Also on fire, is the Forever 4-H Endowment! Lassen County just established the eighth Forever 4-H Endowment! I know this was a high priority for David and his team. Congratulations, all!

Thank you to all who participated in Big Dig Day! I haven't heard the total raised, but the mid-afternoon progress was promising. I noticed that Missy and her team were doing particularly well when I made my donations. Hopefully we made new friends in the process.

Once again the week is flying by. It has been particularly hectic this week with standing meetings, wrapping up merit and promotion decisions, working through plans for returning to the workplace, Vice Provost interviews, and a few national meetings related to Cooperative Extension. I am not bored.

Soon I am leaving the garage to make a visit to the Hansen REC. Who knew this could be so exciting. Normally, I would look forward to the visit. This time, I am giddy with excitement just thinking about spending a day, not in the garage and not on Zoom all day. While we aren't even close to herd immunity, I am optimistic we can keep the incidence of new transmissions low and resume some semblance of normal activity.

The Pleasanton City Council voted unanimously to offer an “A” priority for designing the Community Farm at Bernal Park, then phase the final project through completion. Initial steps include planting cover crops to condition the soil and provide a pollinator habitat.   Master Gardeners are planning for a demonstration garden at the site to encourage healthy environments with sustainable gardening, green waste reduction, and water conservation, while providing food security assistance for those in need. Congratulations to Dawn and team for their contributions to moving this forward!

The 2021 Colt Challenge on June 19^th in Alturas, CA. Youth that took home weanlings from the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory submitted videos as part of the competition. Take a look at the winners from the video portion. Congratulations to the winners and, a huge ‘thank you!' to the Modoc National Forest for financial and programmatic support.

• 3rd Place, winning $50, was Grace and Murphy https://youtu.be/6YMLQIKzvfI from Santa Clara 4-H,
• 2nd Place, winning $100, was Wyatt and Narnia https://youtu.be/ZWRU8fAKQt8 from Siskiyou 4-H, and
• 1st Place, winning $150, was Goldie and Bella https://youtu.be/6NWD0gQrVwE from Shasta FFA

UC Federal Governmental Relations is hosting a briefing on Thursday this week to showcase the research being done across the University of California (UC) system to address wildfire impacts in California. I am thrilled to see that Lenya is part of the panel who will cover wildfire research performed on UC campuses and highlight the importance of increased federal investments critical for our ability to predict, plan for, and rebuild from wildfires. Way to go, Lenya!

If you are interested in another UC Wildfire event, consider attending the one on June 4^th. The agenda features many of the Vice Chancellors for Research as well as researchers from across the UC system.

I won't make it to the briefing and Lenya's presentation on Thursday because I have the chance to spend Thursday with the REC directors, the REC superintendents, and the REC business officers. We will discuss progress on our recent undertakings, plan some next steps to advance the REC Strategic Framework, and talk about a pending grant opportunity that I personally think is perfectly suited for the REC system. I don't get to spend enough time hearing from the superintendents or business officers, so I am looking forward to the meeting.

What a beautiful week in the valley! I hope everyone gets a chance to spend some time outside. Other than our neighbor's fire in their hay barn, I have no complaints.

New case numbers in California remain more than 10-fold higher than they were at this time last year. I hope the numbers continue to decline, and we don't see an upward trend such as Oregon is observing at the moment.

We have done quite a bit to help others through this time, and that work continues. The News and Outreach in Spanish team uses radio and television to reach underserved Spanish-speaking communities. And, I learned the following from Project Board and Federal reporting data.

• Sixteen small-scale strawberry farmers from Southeast Asian communities implemented use of UC ANR-provided personal protective equipment and displayed the signs, also provided by UC ANR, at their farm stands. Farmers reported that “posting the signs helped a lot, it kept customers from touching produce and they wore masks" and “customers were able to read the signs ahead, and understand what needed to be done and was expected at the fruit stand. While the customers were waiting in a single-file line, they were all six feet apart."
• UCCE in Santa Clara County distributed over 80 COVID-kits to farmers from socially disadvantaged communities to ensure worker safety. Observations during farm visits showed that farm workers were wearing masks when working. Interviews revealed that they were washing their hands more often.

I know there are many more examples out there. Keep up the good work, everyone! We are so close to our new normal if we can just continue safe practices!

More fires are popping up around the state; it is far too soon for this! This year's Federal report shares that Andrew Gray, an AES researcher at UC Riverside, studies the aftermath of fire and storm events to understand debris flows. The findings will help the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works personnel modify their approach to assessing debris flow risk after fires to better mitigate danger during post-fire storms. UC Davis AES scientist, Rahel Sollman, completed an intensive study of the plants, invertebrates, mammals, birds, bats, pollinators, and flowering plants within the burn perimeter of the 2014 King Fire. The goal was to map and understand the food web networks and assess species vulnerabilities. These baseline data provide critical information for forest managers to evaluate recovery and species declines.

This is Program Council week. The Program Council meetings conflicted with Asian Pacific Heritage Month activities, but I hope many others were able to participate. There are many meetings this week. Perhaps next week with bring a lighter schedule, no new fires, and fewer new COVID cases.