- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
After the Camp Fire, many landowners want to fight fire with fire
(Chico ER) Camille Von Kaenel, Dec. 16
Private landowners and managers throughout Northern California are increasingly interested in fighting fire with fire.
Around 75 people showed up to a workshop organized by the University of California Cooperative Extension with a Cal Fire grant at Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve on a drizzling Friday to learn about the science and art of prescribed fire. They came from next door and from Grass Valley and Lake County. Some of them owned property burned entirely or partly by catastrophic wildfires in recent years and were determined to do something to avoid fires burning homes and taking...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded more than $1 million to fund three UC Agriculture and Natural Resources integrated pest management projects to research insects that have the potential to become pests in California agriculture. Each of the three-year projects received strong support from commodities which could be affected by invasive pests.
The projects that were awarded the funds are:
Proactive management of avocado seed and stem feeding weevils, led by UC Cooperative Extension specialist
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Some people believe shouting, waving arms and flashing lights will keep coyotes at bay, but UC Cooperative Extenison wildlife-human interaction advisor Niamh Quinn isn't so sure, reported Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times. Like any scientist, she is now conducting a research project to understand whether such hazing deters the wild animals from making their homes in urban areas.
"There is no scientific evidence that hazing alters the behavior of urban coyotes," Quinn said."Yet, it...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
OPINION: Environmental education for kids: It's only natural
(Chico E-R) Laura Lukes, Nov. 29
If you have school-age children, you may have noticed that something new is infusing science education in California classrooms.
...All of these new directives are intended to be fundamental components of K-12 science education. The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County share these goals. To encourage you to go out and explore nature with your children, we will occasionally be proposing activities and projects focusing on our local natural environment, beginning today with an activity for this time of year as the seasons change.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Are Blackouts Here to Stay? A Look into the Future
(E&E News) Anne C. Mulkern, Nov. 15
…Throughout the United States, between roughly 2000 and 2010, about 75% of homes that burned in wildfires were located in the WUI, said Van Butsic, a land use specialist at the University of California, Berkeley. The rest was mostly in rural areas, with about 2% in cities.
People go back after they lose homes, Butsic said. He surveyed the 28 largest fires in California from about 1975 to 2005, and through aerial photos tracked what was rebuilt. About 90% of destroyed homes were rebuilt within a decade, he found. New homes also filled in large tracts of undeveloped land in formerly burned...
