- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Bigcone Douglas-fir is an evergreen conifer native to the mountains of Southern California. Repeated wildfires and drought are threatening the species' existence in its native range, reported Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times.
The reporter visited a Santa Barbara County site peppered with tall, dead trees where UC Cooperative Extension fire specialist Max Moritz is studying the species' fate.
"You don't see anything," he said. "It has a fairly depressing quality to it, given the mortality and no regeneration."
The area was burned by the Zaca Fire 11 years ago, something the fire-resistant conifer...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Scientists' Newest Tool To Fight Agricultural Toxin: A Video Game
(KVPR) Kerry Klein, Feb. 28
It wasn't long after the invention of the internet that scientists discovered the potential for using computing power as a citizen science tool. One of the earliest examples was a computer program developed in the 1990s that allowed users to search for life on other planets. Now a new collaboration takes aim at something a little closer to home: An intersection between citizen science, health, and agriculture, with implications right here in the San Joaquin Valley.
…Aflatoxin is the most potent natural carcinogen known. It's caused by a fungus...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Warm and sunny winter days are no cause for celebration among the farmers, ranchers and forest managers who rely on UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' research-based information and expertise to make their work more profitable. Such is the feeling shared by UC Cooperative Extension advisor Dan Macon in his Foothill Agrarian blog. He began worrying more than a month ago about the spate of dry weather in the state.
"While I'm a worrier by nature, I think worrying about the weather is natural for anyone who relies on Mother Nature directly," Macon wrote.
The
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California's years-long drought is easing up, with storms delivering rain and snow that has exceeded "normal" for the state, reported Jed Kim for the Marketplace Sustainability Desk. Kim interviewed Dan Sumner, the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources statewide program that focuses on such topics such international markets, invasive pests and diseases, and rural development.
Sumner shared a message of hope during the two-minute Marketplace...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The California rainy season is off to a good start, raising hopes that the ongoing drought will be snapped, reported Aaron Davis in the East Bay Times.
"We've seen a sigh of relief from a lot of growers that are right at about half of their total seasonal average and we are halfway through the season," said Paul Verdegaal, UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor in San Joaquin County.
The rain is helping flush salts away from the grapevines' rootzones and refill the aquifer, which has been depleted in some areas due to the years-long drought.
The...
