Mariposa County 4-H member Sydnie Edwards, who coordinated efforts to reforest land devastated by the 2008 Telegraph Fire, was named a distinguished finalist by the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. She will receive $500 for higher education or service work.

The Barron Prize honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive difference to people and the planet. Sydnie is one of five students across the U.S. chosen for this honor from a pool of 400 applications.

For her "Emerald Tree Project," Sydnie, 15, secured donations of lodge pole pine trees from Cal Fire and private nurseries and arranged with landowners to plant the trees. Fellow 4-H members, Girl Scouts, school friends and community...

At a recent public meeting held in Contra Costa County by UC Cooperative Extension, a female cattle rancher representing a family that has owned land in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for generations dumped out a grocery bag with dozens of envelopes onto the table in front of her.

“This is the amount of mail I get in one week from agency people," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "They want to come onto my land and look at where they want to put big tubes to carry water down south. My family has been on this property for a long time. It’s my family’s land.”

For this woman and many others, UCCE directors in the five Delta counties opened the flood gates when they invited the public to share their feelings...

If the return of earthworms to farm fields is an indication of success, then Sano Farms is on the right track.

“I haven’t seen earthworms in these fields in years,” said Firebaugh farmer Alan Sano. Sano and his partner, Jesse Sanchez, combine subsurface drip irrigation, winter cover crops and strip tillage to consistently produce a high-yielding crop of processing tomatoes.

In addition to boosting yield, the system they developed for the 4,000-acre farm is cheaper, increases soil organic matter and improves the tilth of their silty clay soil.

The farmers took several trips to the Midwest and consulted with UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist

Many people consider acorn woodpeckers' incessant rapping and acorn storage to be a nuisance. But the UC officials who are developing a new conference center at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center in Mendocino County view the woodpeckers' activities as just another part of the natural system to incorporate into their plans.

The University of California will break ground on the new 5,000-square-foot building this fall. In addition to providing meeting facilities for 200 and display space for a collection of natural and Native American museum pieces, the building itself will be a model of integrated green design, according to center director