I was on a call this morning and a fellow participant mentioned that they were in SLO last week. The participant commented how nice it was to be in beautiful California, away from all the rain in the Midwest and East Coast. I laughed out loud. Everything is a matter of perspective. The destruction from the Dixie and Caldor Fires is incomprehensible to most. Despite the destruction, the Plumas Fair raised over $500,000 through the livestock auction and raised additional donations to support fire relief efforts. Tracy shared that it was an “amazing day, and life changing for many youth that were impacted the hardest by the Dixie Fire”.  Thanks to everyone who participated and donated!

Even a few hours away, on the California coast, the view is so different from the devastation and hazardous air quality experienced throughout the state that we might forget the suffering of all those evacuated or otherwise impacted. In spite of the fires, I hope many are able to spend some time on the coast these last weeks of summer break. Based on the photos that Mark shared, the draw of many locations is heightened during this dry, dark time that has begun far too early in the year.

Mark has some San Diego down time

David Bunn is on the road already, and what a road warrior he is! I believe he planned to visit 5 county offices and 3 RECs this week alone. He, too, was in SLO, plus Orange, LA, Imperial, and Ventura this week. Maybe San Diego, too. The week after next, he's headed the opposite direction, hoping to visit Modoc, Siskyou, and Humboldt plus perhaps others. David is eager to learn and hear the perspective of our leaders around the state.

This week I have been in a 2-part meeting with the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research. The Center membership now represents every time zone in the continental US. While broader than the West, the expanded participation offers better alignment with the demographics of metro and urban areas of California. I have appreciated the insightful conversations, thus far, about advancing our work in urban and metro areas. One area that remains unresolved is terminology; specifically the use of ‘urban' or ‘metropolitan'. However, there is agreement that while the program area topics are the same as in rural areas, delivery mode, partners, and solutions are different. The goal of the meeting is to envision the work of the Center going forward, given increasing needs and partnership opportunities. Participation is a bit low for the meeting, but, overall, the conversations have been productive.

My weekend to-do list has become quite lengthy. To make it worse, I thought Monday was a holiday. The weeds will have to wait another week.

The Second Street parking lot is reasonably full these days. But the building is so large, it still seems like a ghost town. However, in walking around the hallowed halls, I met Dora in person for the first time, ran into Terri and Pam for the first time since the pandemic, and met Mike Hsu who started on Monday. Mike is part of the Strategic Communications team. David Bunn was in as well, also starting this week. Please send a warm welcome to both Mike and David when you get a chance.

I've spent the week in the Davis building to improve my internet connection given the number of meetings this week where I had a presentation. On Monday, there was a meeting with academics to kick off the merit and promotion process for the upcoming year. Yes, we just wrapped up last year's cycle. Both the Peer Review Committee and the AAC Personnel Committee work hard keeping up with everything.

Governing Council met on Tuesday. Budget was on their mind; both Cooperative Extension funds and Agriculture Experiment Station funds. We had constructive discussions about both, including a position call process to put the new state funds into operation. Now that we have the Council's input, be on the lookout for more information about that upcoming process.

Administrative Orientation for new personnel was held on Tuesday and Wednesday. Someday we will have those in person again, but for now, probably best to keep gatherings to a minimum while we get COVID under better control. Containment seems a bit out of reach these days, but I will remain optimistic. Regardless of the Zoom meeting, it was nice to meet some of the newest members of UC ANR!

A colleague from the East Coast shared with me a post about the fundraising at the Plumas-Sierra 4-H Livestock Auction. Buyers gave over $250,000 to youth, many of whom have been directly impacted by the Dixie Fire. Talk about community! The warm weather isn't helping to get fires under control. I know many have been evacuated. I am hopeful we won't suffer any additional home losses!

We are wrapping up interviews for the Kearney/West Side REC director position. With many more positions gearing up, it will be nice to wind one down. Ideally, all interviews would move to in-person; let's hope at least aspects of the interview can move to that mode soon. Personally, I am hoping to make a few trips in September and October. We'll see how the travel materializes and remain hopeful it becomes a safe option.

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.