- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
After more than 100 4-H members, UC Master Gardeners and others attended a Riverside Board of Supervisors' meeting in support of UC Cooperative Extension June 10, the panel voted 5-0 to restore UCCE's funding, reported Jeff Horseman and Matt Kristoffersen in the Riverside Press Enterprise.
The vote reversed an earlier decision to cut UCCE funding as part of a larger plan to deal with reduced county tax receipts. If the funding had not been restored, services including 4-H, nutrition education and agricultural programs would have been effected, said
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
City of Riverside staff draped a synthetic screen on a steel frame to encompass the 'parent navel' orange tree at the corner of Arlington and Magnolia avenues in Riverside to protect it from Asian citrus psyllids that spread huanglongbing disease, reported Ryan Hagen in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Huanglongbing (HLB) is a devastating bacterial disease of citrus that is starting to spread rapidly in urban areas of Southern California.
The newly covered tree is valued for its status as an early ancestor of all Washington navel orange trees.
UC Cooperative Extension specialist
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Public records show that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), has not kept up with its fire inspection goals in many wildfire-prone areas of California, reported Lauren Sommer on KQED radio, the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco.
In one CAL FIRE region in the Sierra Nevada, just 6% of properties were inspected in 2018. In the Bay Area, CAL FIRE inspected 12% of properties. Southern California coastal counties have recorded inspections at higher rates, with some looking at 100% of properties.
"We should be doing more, doing better,"...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The cost of avocados, tomatoes, berries, meat and countless other foods - both imported from Mexico and produced in California - could go up if new tariffs on Mexican products are imposed, reported Gosia Wozniacka in Civil Eats.
Last week, President Trump tweeted that the U.S. "will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming into our country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our country, stop."
"I assume Mexico will retaliate," said Dan...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California's unseasonably rainy spring may trigger more incidences of tree mortality due to sudden oak death, reported Sonia Waraich in the Eureka Times-Standard.
That impact may not be known for a while. UC Cooperative Extension forest advisor Yana Valachovic said the spike in tree deaths typically occurs the year following the spring rains, making 2020 a year of particular concern.
“One of the issues that becomes very apparent is that when we have these peak episodes of mortality, there isn't much funding to help us manage those impacts,”...