- Author: Kathryn Low
University of California Cooperative Extension has recently expanded their team of fire advisors and staff. This new group of UCCE fire professionals is interested in learning about the concerns of the communities that UCCE serves, as well as the natural resource professionals already working to address these issues.
Results from this survey will enhance the team's ability to partner with residents, landowners, agencies, academics, and other organizations to reduce California's vulnerability to wildfires. These new advisors will also share survey results with UCCE colleagues throughout the state, who already...
- Author: Liana Wolfe
California has faced many droughts in the past, and we have always been able to manage them to some extent. However, with climate change creating a new hydrologic regime with more precipitation falling as rain than snow and higher evaporative demand, the state may be more at risk for drought now than in year's past according to Safeeq Khan, Cooperative Extension Specialist in Water and Watershed Sciences at the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resource. Presently, the state is experiencing one of the driest years on record with only half of its average annual snow pack this past winter and appears to be heading towards another drought. Even more concerning is that this year's water and snow...
- Author: Diane Nelson
“When first-generation ranchers succeed, we all succeed,” says Kate Munden-Dixon, a Ph.D. student...
Native wildflowers in California are losing species diversity after multiple years of drier winters, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, which provides the first direct evidence of climate change impacts in the state's grassland communities.
The study, covered in TIME, LA Times, and elsewhere, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National...
- Contributor: Trina Wood
Long before Governor Brown declared an official drought for the state, many of California's ranchers knew this would be a tough year. Drought can increase the risks of animal poisonings and nutritional imbalances, and necessitate additional vigilance to assure cattle health and productivity. Veterinary toxicologists Robert H. Poppenga and Birgit Puschner, with the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, provide this critical information to dairy and beef producers to keep their livestock healthy during the drought. Key threats to cattle include:
Water quality — Water is the most critical factor in the...
