- Author: Michael Hsu
New Cooperative Extension director has worked extensively with Native American communities, youth groups
Growing up in Upper Lake, along the “North Shore” of Clear Lake, Matthew Barnes lived near several of the Lake County region's seven federally recognized tribes. Although he counted several Native Americans among his diverse circle of childhood friends, and was very familiar with those communities, Barnes was nonetheless quite nervous when he was appointed in 2009 as the inaugural executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Pomo Nation.
Barnes – a non-Native of European and Filipino descent – vividly remembers the tribal administrator paying him a visit on one of his first days on the job. “He said, ‘Hey, you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak and you'll be fine,'” Barnes recalled. “And that's definitely stuck with me.”
That approach is continuing to guide Barnes in his new role as University of California Cooperative Extension director for Lake and Mendocino counties. He will guide and support research, outreach and education activities to meet the area's agriculture, natural resources, and youth and community development needs.
Since starting in May, Barnes has been getting a crash course from UCCE advisors and staff on viticulture research, pest management practices, 4-H camps, and a host of other projects and programs – while also meeting with local communities on the region's most pressing challenges.
“What I've been doing – and will continue to do – is just to listen and learn, and when I can add value to a conversation or project, then I'll do that,” Barnes said. “But leadership to me starts with the relationships we build – with our staff and with the community.”
Bringing a range of experiences in youth programs, social services
One area in which Barnes will certainly add value is developing youth and community programs. During his time with Boys & Girls Club of the Pomo Nation, it was one of only three Boys & Girls Clubs established on tribal land in California. In that role, Barnes faced the unique challenge of integrating the Boys & Girls Club curriculum into a community for which it was not originally designed.
By adapting the curriculum to include culturally relevant topics, Barnes transformed the program into a model that eventually aided in the creation of a Native American-focused branch, Boys & Girls Clubs of America Native Services.
“This initiative now serves as a national standard for Boys & Girls Clubs on tribal lands,” Barnes said.
He later became a director of California Tribal TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), a direct cash assistance and supportive services program for Native American families in 17 counties across the state.
During his decade of TANF work, Barnes launched career development programs, alcohol and other drug counseling programs, and cultural revitalization initiatives. Some of the programs are still running and serving communities to this day.
“The trick is making those programs something that participants can see the value in,” Barnes explained. “And to do that, you go into the communities and talk to people and listen to what they need – instead of you telling them what they need.”
Barnes' experience partnering with Native American communities is just one of the many strengths he will bring to UCCE and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“We're very excited to have Matthew join the UC ANR family,” said Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, UC ANR's director of County Cooperative Extension. “His personal knowledge of Lake and Mendocino counties and his previous work with Indigenous populations will be a tremendous asset to extending and elevating our work.”
Immediately prior to joining UC ANR, Barnes served as director of Lake County's Upward Bound program, which helps students from three local high schools experience and prepare for higher education.
“Overall, what drives me personally is the opportunity to make an impact on communities, on youth, and on people in general through program development and management,” Barnes said.
Inspiring young people as a mentor
Barnes' passion for youth development – and the impetus for his bachelor's degree in social work from Cal Poly Humboldt – can be traced to his AmeriCorps experience while he was attending Mendocino College. For two years, he worked as a tutor for young people, in Lake County and then in Sonoma County, and saw firsthand the difference educators and mentors can make in their lives.
“You could say I kind of caught the bug – just seeing the light bulbs go on when you're helping a youth of that age,” Barnes said.
From there, Barnes took a position directing teen programs for the Boys and Girls Club of Healdsburg, where he began to fully appreciate the importance of trusted adults simply “being there” for young people as a listening ear for whatever they want to talk about.
Among the many teens Barnes worked with, “Rodrigo” was a middle schooler who was pegged by his school and community as someone who could “slip through the cracks.” Rodrigo was the last to go home at the end of each day, and Barnes would chat with him – answering his questions about life or just talking about a new rap album.
“I realized I was ‘that person' for him – that person outside his house, outside his school,” Barnes said.
Even after Barnes left the Boys and Girls Club, Rodrigo – bound for university – invited him to his high school graduation. Barnes said it is tremendously gratifying to know he had a “small role” in shaping the path for Rodrigo – and countless others.
“Their success is still theirs; it's not necessarily because of me,” Barnes added. “My job is to do what I can in the moment to hopefully plant some seeds that may sprout in the future.”
Settled in Middletown, not far from his hometown, where he and his wife are raising two children, Barnes is now positioned to help nurture a flourishing Lake County and resilient Mendocino County.
“I feel like my past experiences, both in life and my career, have prepared me for this,” Barnes said.
- Author: Grace Nguyen-Sovan Dean
5,000 acres of Mendocino County oak woodlands provided the backdrop for UC ANR's first California Tree School session on May 4, which saw 45 forest landowners, natural resource professionals, and students join the UC ANR Forest Stewardship team at the Hopland REC for this special educational event.
California Tree School, the ‘one stop shop' for forestry education modeled after Oregon State Extension's Tree School program, connected forested community members from across the North Coast with natural resource experts and one another. Each Tree School student attended four classes of their choice maximizing their engagement with different topics. The Hopland REC session was the first of two Tree Schools, with the second being offered in Placerville on June 1.
Aimed at both new and more experienced forest landowners, Tree School offered a little bit of everything for all present. Course formats varied widely depending on the subject: CALFIRE's Chris Lee presented a traditional lecture on tree diseases, UC ANR Forestry Advisor Susie Kocher led participants in a prescribed fire demonstration, and students utilized microscopes to study mycorrhizae root systems with Mendocino RCD's Meagan Hynes. For landowners Erica and Allen S., Lee's Tree Damagers course was a standout offering: “Tree damagers was the best class.We thought that Chris was extremely knowledgeable. It gave us a lot of food for thought and things to look for on the property.”
The event also worked to connect the forestry community, with professionals and landowners swapping stories and advice during classes and breaks. For some participants, it was a comfort to know that others in the community share their interests and passions: “Where I'm working, people think they are the only ones doing this type of work. It was cool to meet other people [at Tree School] maximizing the functionality of their ecosystems and putting time into management work,” noted participant Rebekah S.
For participants familiar with existing Forest Stewardship programming, Tree School served as a resource for continuing education. For others, Tree School was an introduction to stewardship concepts and the resources offered to landowners through Cooperative Extension. Antonio C. and his partner Tylor H. attended Tree Schoolas new landowners curious about what more they could do for their land. “We came away [from Tree School] with a definite understanding of what stewardship meant,” Antonio explained. “I wanted more time in each session! We have a responsibility now that we own a piece of land.It's so important to take care of it.”
- Author: Grace Nguyen-Sovan Dean
Before he became the director of forest policy for a timber company, John Andersen was working next door to one. During his time as a consulting forester, several family forests Andersen visited were adjacent to parcels of industrial forestland that had undergone upsetting changes. “I saw what used to be conifer forests essentially transformed into tan oak forests,” Andersen noted. When the Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) was created in 1998 through the purchase of another industry's forestland, they set out to operate differently.
MRC would be a timber company that prioritized operating sustainably, which interested Andersen. “It was refreshing to see a company that would treat the land right,” he shared. Now, Andersen is the Director of Forest Policy for MRC and the later-established Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) and an employee for 25 years.
MRC and HRC Business Principles
Within California, over 5.7 million acres of forestland are owned at the family or individual level. It seems fitting that as a family business at heart, MRC/HRC, is guided by similar stewardship principles. “Our family-owned businesses,” Andersen noted, “want to hand the forest down to future generations in a better condition than when the forestlands were purchased.”
“The intention was there from the start,” Andersen explains, with the company working towards goals that would foster forest health and positive community relations.
Policies that have resonated well with community members include commitments to retain old growth trees, restore wildlife habitat, and carefully monitor streams. Forest landowners can also sell their timber to MRC and HRC, as both companies house log buyers which connect with local landowners looking to offset the cost of management projects.
Adapting to Wildfire Risk
The future of timber companies in California is indelibly shaped by the threat of wildfire. For Andersen, the risk became clear in 2020, when the CZU Lightning Complex fires burned nearly 90,000 acres of Santa Cruz forestland. “It's getting to the point where catastrophic wildfires are happening in the redwood region,” Andersen stated. As a result, both MRC and HRC prepared fire risk analyses for their lands.
Andersen shared that while the risk level for company forestland may not be high compared to other portions of the state, the analyses help guide company decision making when locating fuel reduction projects. Both MRC and HRC became more proactive with fuel reduction efforts, including getting involved in prescribed fire projects.
Andersen's position is at the intersection of forestry and policy, a space where he has seen shifts in how legislators respond to wildfire risk. “I don't want to ride the coattails of disaster,” Andersen said, “but it seems like that's what changes minds.” He explains that there is now more support for funding fuels reduction efforts. When legislators visit MRC and HRC forestland, Andersen sees firsthand how quick they understand the urgency to develop fire resilient forests.
Public Information
Information sharing is integral to MRC and HRC, and not just for policymakers. Community members have an open invitation to tour company forestland and make inquiries about forest management practices. “Transparency is important, because the public sees our forestland all the time,” Andersen explained. This encompasses a wealth of information available on the company's website, including forest management plans, watershed analysis reports, and habitat conservation reports.
From Andersen's perspective, both MRC and HRC receiving their Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® C031337) certification was a big step forward. Independent assessments like this provide MRC and HRC the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to forest stewardship and sustainability each time a customer buys their lumber. “It's well and fine for us to say we are doing a good job,” Andersen explained, “but it's also important to have third party input to verify we are managing our forests to high standards.”
Looking to the Future
Proactivity on the part of industry is essential to the future health of California's forests. “I want to see the day where we can say our forests are in a fire and drought resilient condition,” Andersen shared. “Then, if there is a fire, we aren't as concerned with the effects.”
- Editor: John M Harper
- Author: Pam Kan-Rice
CONTACT: Pam Kan-Rice, (510) 206-3476, pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu
Cannabis and utilities hold potential for economic development, says UCCE specialist
As California strives to recover from the pandemic-induced economic slump, Keith Taylor is taking an unconventional approach to economic development. In the world's sixth biggest economy, where do you start? Taylor, who was hired in 2017 as UC Cooperative Extension's sole specialist in community economic development, started by tackling a couple of the state's thorniest sectors: cannabis and utilities.
Participatory research in Mendocino County
In 2016, the passage of Prop. 64 legalizing recreational cannabis ushered in an era of both opportunity and headaches for Mendocino County growers. The county's permitting program has been the source of significant confusion and debate: Between 800 and 1,100 growers have received county permits, but many have not been able to obtain permanent state licenses because of a lack of clarity around the county process and compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. The burden of uncertainty is one reason why only a fraction of Mendocino growers have pursued licenses, says Taylor, who is based in the Department of Human & Community Development at UC Davis.
While these regulatory battles play out, Taylor says better economic coordination between small growers could buffer them against large capital interests moving into cannabis. Virginia-based Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, is investing in cannabis and filing patents for cannabis-specific vaporizers. Individual legacy growers have the crop experience and market share, Taylor says, but don't have shared institutions through which they can exercise collective power — especially down the value chain in processing, distribution and consumer technology. Taylor believes that creating a small farmer-centric system will involve the creation of more interest groups, associations or cooperatives.
"For too long in agricultural and rural communities, we've encouraged people to do things alone," Taylor said in an October 2020presentation to the UC Davis Cannabis and Hemp Research Forums. However, if you look at parts of the world where rural economies do very well, they work together."
With help from a Cannabis and Hemp Research Center grant, Taylor has been working on a wide-ranging participatory action research project in Mendocino County. Taylor's team — comprised of two faculty members, one post-doctoral researcher, and two student researchers — is producing research publications, policy recommendations and public events about ways that the emerging cannabis industry can support high-quality livelihoods and environments for county residents.
"The more we make folks aware of these good actors, the more likely we are to get challenges to the incumbents in terms of climate mitigation and economic developments," Taylor said.
West Business Development Center, Economic Development & Financing Corporation and Mendocino County Supervisor John Haschak have been allies in the process so far. Haschak says Taylor brings valuable knowledge, resources and networks to bear on local challenges.
"There's a lot of opportunity for doing this whole new industry in a new way, and I think that's what Dr. Taylor sees too," Haschak said. "There's a lot of potential here for structuring the industry along the lines of what our community values already are."
As Taylor's team releases their findings, they intend to host forums at the Hopland Research and Extension Center to help the county harness the legal cannabis sector for economic impact.
Power to the people
Shortly after arriving at UC Davis from Illinois, Taylorpublished a book about the benefits of community ownership of wind energy in the Midwest. The turmoil surrounding California's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, could have been ripped from the pages of his research. PG&E equipment hasignited half of California's most destructive fires since 2015, and experts pin much of the blame on the company's lack of investment in the grid.
In the months following the 2018 Camp Fire, which burned an area roughly the size of Chicago andkilled85 people, Taylor was one of the first advocates to propose converting PG&E into a user-owned nonprofit cooperative. This conversion would remove the extractive role of investors and give customers a voice in big-picture decisions about the company, Taylorwrote in an op-ed pushing the idea of customer ownership in The Mercury News in February 2019. By December, more than 100 elected officials across 10 countiesendorsed the idea. The federal bankruptcy judge overseeing PG&E's case did not endorse the plan, although it's still possible for the state totake over the company under certain conditions. Other attempts to gain local control of PG&E's grid — including San Francisco's bid tobuy the city's power lines from the company — also stalled.
Taylor isn't discouraged. He is working closely with theGolden State Power Cooperative, an association of the state's three community-owned electric utility co-ops, to push forward what he calls a "Rural Electrification Act for California broadband." Taylor often references this New Deal-era law that gave federal loans to rural communities seeking to expand the electrical grid to their area. The act gave rise to the nation's more than 900 electric cooperatives today, including the three in California. With their help, Taylor sees opportunity in legislation or programs that would catalyze community-initiated, community-owned internet services. Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative is already bringing broadband to the rough terrain of its mountain customers.
"When you first set foot in California and are exposed to the giant that is PG&E and their influence over policy, you think that it's an obstacle that's too difficult to overcome," Taylor said. He tries to elevate the visibility of people who are making inroads and recently featured Kevin Short in a webinar about community economic-development innovations.
Short is the general manager of Anza Electric Cooperative in California's high desert and current board president of theGolden State Power Cooperative. He said there are "tremendous opportunities" in the idea of growing cooperative broadband entities, especially with the attention on infrastructure at the state and federal levels. Short said the effort will take some creativity and willingness to depart from existing models: "The old saying among us here is if you've seen one co-op, you've seen one co-op, because it's going to be different everywhere you go."
In both of these areas — cannabis and utilities — Taylor says his role is networker and facilitator. As the only economic development specialist at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, he spends a lot of time researching and meeting people to understand where his efforts can be the most strategic. "In order to scale, I've got to go small, root and build and be comfortable with that process," he said.
Small works for now, but Taylor remembers an associate dean telling him, "You've got a great job, now make it work for 40 million Californians."
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- Author: UCANR Report
Reposted from the UCANR report
Michael Jones joined UCCE on Oct. 1, 2018, as the area forestry advisor in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties. He specializes in forest entomology with a focus on forest health and integrated pest management of invasive and endemic forest pests.
Jones completed a Ph.D. in entomology from State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a B.S. in environmental biology and management from UC Davis.
Prior to joining UCCE, Jones was a graduate student and research project assistant at State University of New York. He developed and maintained research projects on delimitation, management, and biological control of the invasive forest pest emerald ash borer in New York. From 2010 to 2013, Jones was a research associate in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, in collaboration with the US Forest Service, Forest Health Protection in Southern California. He participated in a variety of forest pest research projects involving the detection, evaluation and management of endemic and invasive forest pests. He has been active in leading training activities for land managers and land owners in the field identification and management of forest pests, and training and supervising field crews in the collection of field data. As an undergraduate at UC Davis, he worked on sudden oak death with David Rizzo's lab group in the Department of Plant Pathology.
Based in Ukiah, Jones can be reached at (707) 463-4495 and mjones@ucanr.edu.
