In managed rangelands and agricultural areas, feral or wild pigs are a significant pest species. However, estimates of total damaged area occurring on these lands are ill-defined and subject to a high degree of variability. Wild pigs can be important vectors of disease, can cause forage and crop loss and set up sites for erosion effecting water quality and allow

Wild pigs at HREC

UCCE Livestock and Range Advisors and Wildlife Specialists need your help by filling out a short statewide survey on wild pig damage found at: http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=16522. It should only take about 15 minutes to complete. Individual identities and survey responses will be kept confidential. Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary.

In conjunction with the survey we have developed a smart phone or tablet app that will help landowners and managers identify and record feral pig damage so that we can estimate the land area and economic impacts of feral pig damage over a longer time period. If you are interested in participating in data collection using our mobile application, please fill out the survey and indicate your interest at the end.

If you have questions about the survey or would like a paper copy, please contact either UCCE Livestock & Natural Resources Advisor, John Harper, at 707-463-4495 or jmharper@ucanr.edu or UCCE Wildlife Specialist, Roger Baldwin, at (530) 752-4551 or rabaldwin@ucdavis.edu.

The following appear in CA&ES Currents Newsletter, August 13, 2015. Congratulations Ken!!!

UC Cooperative Extension specialist Kenneth Tate is the 2015 recipient of the James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. The award recognizes a distinguished career of achievement by an Academic Federation member. A secondary but important consideration is voluntary service to the campus, UC community, or state, regional, or national bodies.

Tate has compiled an impressive record of collaborative and solution-oriented research addressing agricultural and environmental issues across California's 57 million acres of rangeland. He provides science and education leadership to California's diverse rangeland stakeholders and the campus community and has been repeatedly recognized for his work on surface water quality on rangelands. He has given more than 400 extension presentations, published more than 100 journal articles, served as principal investigator on 37 research and extension grants ($6.3 million), and as co-principal investigator on another 43 research and extension grants ($5.7 million).

Tate works with private landowners, agency land managers, and regulatory agency staff to understand the fate and transport of surface water pollutants. Early in his career he helped identify management practices to reduce drinking water contamination risks by livestock-borne Cryptosporidium parvum and other pathogens, which enabled ranching families to continue sustainable grazing practices on watersheds east of San Francisco. He has also worked with these groups to identify and implement realistic management practices to reduce pollutants. Tate is known for his ability to build consensus among diverse audiences on controversial topics related to range livestock production. In 2011, he developed the biennial UC Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium that features scientists, policymakers, and ranchers working on key rangeland issues.

“Dr. Tate has advanced a remarkable and productive research and extension career in range management and environmental stewardship,” said Department of Plant Sciences chair Chris van Kessel in nominating Tate for the award. “His program has been exemplary in bringing together diverse research and management collaborations to evaluate scientific information relevant to targeted issues, contribute new scientific knowledge, and extend tools and knowledge to serve the needs of society."

Please help me by completing the UCCE Livestock & Range Social Media for Program Delivery Survey at: http://t.co/C9koJHUPp5

Social media for UCCE Extension delivery is generally faster and less expensive than traditional methods that included workshops, paper newsletters, radio spots and newspaper and trade journal articles. While those methods will continue, I need to justify using the new methods like Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn groups.

It's important to evaluate impacts on clientele such as you who are taking this survey and who read my blog. Measurable impacts are often very hard to come by unless I ask. Your responses will also help guide me in writing future blog articles that will be useful to you.

I hope you will take the short time to complete this survey as it will help me to not only improve my program delivery but help me explain how important these types of delivery methods are for UCCE. Thanks in advance for your time!

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources created a call in January of 2014 for new UCCE Advisor and Specialist positions. The goal for filling these positions is to strengthen and rebuild the UC ANR network to meet programmatic gaps and emerging issues facing California identified in the Strategic Vision (see: ANR Strategic Vision 2025 full report or ANR Strategic Vision 2025 Executive Summary) and further refined in each of the 5 Strategic Initiatives entitled: Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases, Healthy Families and Communities, Sustainable Food Systems, Sustainable Natural Ecosystems and Water Quality, Quantity and Security. All 123 new proposed positions are listed on a public web page at this link.

These proposed positions are presently undergoing internal review until August 18, 2014. The public is invited to comment on these proposed positions until July 21, 2014.

Of the 123 positions proposed, 23 positions could benefit California's livestock, forestry and natural resources based industries. Those same 23 positions would have overlapping impact on both sustainable natural ecosystems, water quality, quantity security and sustainable food systems. I have listed in the table below those 23 positions with their identifying number, title, type of position (Advisor or Specialist) and where those positions would be located. Area Advisors are housed in one county but cover multiple counties. Specialists are statewide and support Advisor research and educational programs. If you click on the ID Number it will take you to the page where you can add comments for that position. There is also a link on that same page that describes the position in more detail.

It is very possible that not all of these positions will survive the screening process. That's why it's important to have stakeholder input and I urge you to take the time to review at least each of these and comment. Please also comment on any of the other positions shown on the full list as well.

It's also important to know that the comment process is not a voting one. Rather it is a supportive process from stakeholders who are visionary and statewide-thinking about the issues facing California's livestock and natural resources owners, managers and stewards. Some of these positions, especially the Advisors and a few of the Specialists, have had very successful people filling those slots. The public comments should not focus on replacing one of these great people but local, regional and statewide need for the position to work to solve current and future problems.

As the statewide leader for the Sustainable Natural Ecosystems Initiative, I would also like to hear from my blog readers how you might rank the positions in the above table outside of the comments you provide on the public page links I've provided in the table. To do so just either comment on this blog article, message me via LinkedIn or Facebook or drop me an email at jmharper@ucanr.edu. Please put SNESI positions in the subject so I can search and sort. I look forward to hearing from you!