- (Strategic Initiative) Sustainable Natural Ecosystems
- Author: Kimberly C Ingram
Social Media Summary
Protecting California's forests and building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems requires forest landowners, managers, and natural resource professionals to actively engage in stewardship. UC ANR's Forest Stewardship Education Initiative provides practical forest management information and hands-on skills to small forest landowners throughout California's forested communities. Since 2020, 100 landowners who attended a 9-week Forest Stewardship Workshop series, have had an initial site visit with a Registered Professional Forester or engaged other natural resource professionals to walk their land, discuss their objectives, and identify activities that will help them reach their goals to improve forest management. Together, these landowners manage over 10,000 acres in California.
The Issue
The operational environment for managing forestland in California is challenging, especially for the ~75,000 forest landowners owning 10 or more acres. Current infrastructure and resources tend to more positively support large or industrial forest landowners. Survey data of Forest Stewardship participants identify cost, time, and lack of a qualified workforce as the biggest barriers to implementing forest management activities. Providing forest landowners with the tools they need to develop a management plan, engage a resource professional, and apply for cost-share funding, will help eliminate barriers to implementing their management goals, and address threats to California's forests, such as increasing wildfires and droughts due to climate change.
How UC Delivers
Since 2020, 485 participants have completed 24 Forest Stewardship Workshops across the state. The workshops are offered through a hybrid learning style involving online learning assignments, nine weeks of evening zoom meetings, and one in-person field day to view various silvicultural methods and build hands-on forestry skills including inventory, mapping, and plant identification. Additionally, we focus participants on drafting sections of the California Cooperative Forest Management Plan (CCFMP), which can make them eligible for state and federal cost-share programs. Just over half of registered participants (53%) had received information or advice about managing their land in the five years before taking the workshop. Weekly workshop sessions are led by local resource professionals and UC experts. Connecting landowners with these professionals and their neighboring landowners, empowers them to act.
After completing the workshop, landowners are eligible for a free initial site visit, paid for by the program, with a Registered Professional Forester (RPF), Certified Range Manager (CRM), or California Certified Burn Boss. By covering the initial site visit cost (an $800 value), we remove a barrier and incentivize landowners to continue moving towards active forest management. Goals of the site visit include:
- having landowners engage a natural resource professional on their land and walk the property;
- discussing landowner's management goals and objectives;
- providing preliminary advice around those stated goals and objectives; and
- engaging in conversations that could lead to a working relationship, including the development and implementation of a formal management plan and application for cost-share funding.
“Those forestry workshops have been huge for me. You know I didn't know what I didn't know, and to be able to get an understanding about the issues I should be thinking about, some of the topics that are current and how to approach managing this forest, it's a big responsibility.”
“I really appreciate the knowledge, time, and approachability of all of the experts that participated in the presentations. Thank you for bringing this group together and offering this resource.”
The Impact
Since 2020, 100 participants managing over 10,000 forested acres have had site visits through the program or engaged directly with their local Resource Conservation Districts or Natural Resource Conservation Service office. In interviews with forty of these participants, we learned that 45% are in the process of developing or have completed development of a management plan, 38% have established an on-going working relationship with their resource professional, and 21 applied for and received funding through a cost-share or grant program. Participants also reported increasing collaborations with their local Prescribed Burn Associations, Fire Safe Councils, and neighbors.
Across the range of management activities that forest landowners can take, attitudes and perceptions increased positively (pre-workshop to post-workshop) for prescribed fire (42% to 66%), fuels reduction (65% to 98%), tree thinning (40% to 88%), and timber harvest (15% to 41%).
Pre-post workshop survey data from 2020 to 2023 also shows a change in attitudes around the importance of developing a management plan (29% pre-workshop vs. 92% post-workshop); and communicating or consulting with CAL FIRE (7% pre-workshop vs. 64% post-workshop) or other natural resource agencies (30% pre-workshop vs. 82% post-workshop).
Empowering forest landowners through an increase in knowledge and skills, connecting them to natural resource professionals in their communities and providing incentives to become more active stewards of their forests, leads to improvements in forest management, increased forest resilience, and an overall improvement in climate-resilient communities and ecosystems.
- Author: Dana Yount
- Contributor: Emily Lovell
- Contributor: Caddie Bergren
- Contributor: Nicki Anderson
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UC ANR Climate Smart Agriculture Educator team assisted growers to win CDFA grants that reduced greenhouse gases equivalent to removing roughly 7,000 cars off the road, supporting UC ANR's public value of building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems.
The Issue
Increasingly extreme and erratic weather patterns caused by climate change threaten crop yields and farm profits across the state. Growers must continue to adapt to climate stressors, such as increased temperatures and occurrences of drought, and can aid in reducing climate change through their farming practices.
How UC Delivers
A collaborative partnership between the Strategic Growth Council, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) teamed up to support 10 Climate Smart Agriculture Community Education Specialists (CSA CES) throughout the state to provide technical assistance and outreach to promote Climate-Smart Agriculture Incentive Programs. These programs include:
- The Healthy Soils Program, which incentivizes the implementation of climate-smart agriculture practices such as cover cropping, composting, crop rotation, and mulching which reduce erosion and greenhouse gases
- The State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP), which encourages farmers to install more efficient irrigation systems that decrease water consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and
- The Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP), which awards funds to livestock producers who decrease their methane emissions by changing the way they manage manure.
Since establishing this partnership in 2019, the UC ANR Climate Smart Agriculture Educator team has provided hands-on assistance to over 200 farmers and ranchers through the complex application process. Collaborating with other CDFA technical providers to host workshops, field days, and events has expanded reach to a greater number of growers, over 120 of whom were able to receive funding after receiving technical assistance. UC CSA CES efforts don't stop at the outreach or application phase; educators work year-round to ensure successful implementation of climate-smart projects.
After the award process, educators assist awardees in completing grant invoicing and contract reporting requirements and connect them with vendors, industry experts, and service providers. UC CSA CES also engage in a variety of additional support activities. For example, to help establish successful cover crop adoption, one educator created a cover crop decision-making tool. A different educator started a small compost spreader rental program to assist small growers in spreading compost. Another facilitates full project management through translation services to a cooperative of Cantonese-speaking awardees.
The Impact
Through assisting awardees in the adoption of practices such as cover cropping, installing solar panels, and installing dairy manure solid separator systems, the 10 UC CSA CES have collectively supported growers in reducing 33,000 MT/CO2 per year, as measured by California Air and Resources Board (CARB) Green House Gas Emission reduction calculator (SWEEP GHG Calculator on CDFA's website), and the HSP Comet planner tool. That's equivalent to removing 7,000 cars from the road per year.
Table A provides an overview of how much GHG has reduced in counties where the UC Climate Smart Agriculture Educator team has helped farmers implement climate-smart practices. Totals for all projects are much higher.
|
UCCE-County Location |
Total CO2 equivalent in MT/year |
|
Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake County |
314.2 |
|
Merced, Madera, Stanislaus |
5263.31 |
|
Glenn, Butte, Colusa, Tehama County |
4545.785 |
|
Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, San Joaquin, El Dorado, Sonoma, Colusa, Sutter |
11716.4 |
|
Santa Clara County |
58.85 |
|
Fresno County |
1353.924 |
|
Kern & Tulare Counties |
7060.283 |
|
Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura County |
630.5 |
|
San Diego and Riverside Counties |
300.18 |
|
Imperial County and Riverside County |
3689.1 |
Glenn County grower, Shannon Douglass says, “When producers have the support from the UCCE office that they already know and trust, they are more willing to implement new practices. The application process is intimidating, but with the help from UC, soil healthy practices are becoming much more widely adopted.”
Research shows that Healthy Soils Program practices such as compost application increases the amount of organic matter in soil, amongst numerous other benefits such as increasing the water and nutrient retention capacity of soils, providing a reservoir of nutrients for plants, improving aeration, improving water infiltration, reducing soil erosion, and supporting the abundance and diversity of soil organisms, which can improve plant health. Compost application is just one fundable practice farmers can implement to help reduce greenhouse gases on their operation.
Thanks to this unique partnership with CDFA, UC ANR is able to provide hands-on support to farmers statewide so that they can improve the health of their soils, reduce livestock methane emissions, and improve water use efficiency. In this way, the Climate-Smart Agriculture program contributes to UC ANR's public value of building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems.
- Author: Julie Finzel
- Author: Theresa Becchetti
- Author: Rebecca Ozeran
- Author: Devii Rao
UC ANR Advisors restructured Range Camp, a rangeland education program that has helped 95% of participants improve their understanding of ecosystem processes in California's rangelands, supporting a more qualified workforce.
Elkus Youth Ranch - Welcome!The Issue
Rangelands cover 62.9 million acres of California; almost 63% of the state. California rangelands support livestock production and provide important ecosystem services including wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and beautiful viewsheds. California's Range and Natural Resources Camp (Range Camp) provides a five day immersive camp experience for high school students ages 15-18 focused on the science and art of range and natural resources management. The camp is held annually at UC's Elkus Ranch. For 35 years, the California-Pacific Section of the Society for Range Management organized and sponsored Range Camp. As time passed, it became clear that a new organization needed to pick up the reins of Range Camp to sustain this effective youth science education outreach program.
How UC Delivers
This week-long long camp is held annually at UC's Elkus Ranch and provides an immersive experience focused on the science and art of range and natural resource management. Livestock and natural resources Advisors Theresa Becchetti, Julie Finzel, Rebecca Ozeran, and Devii Rao provided capacity for all facets of Range Camp planning and operations. They secured funding to integrate a teacher training component into camp and to facilitate the development of a high school range management curriculum focused on the unique characteristics of California rangelands.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and it became clear that an in-person camp was not feasible, the camp was restructured to accommodate an all virtual experience. The traditionally week-long camp was condensed into 23 brief videos and activities, each of which covered an important science concept. Topics included:
- Rangeland Ecology
- Rangeland Monitoring
- Plant Identification
- Ornithology
- Virtual Ranch Tours
- Ranch Economics
- Wildlife
- Climate Change
- Fire Ecology
- Careers in Range Management
The Impact
A survey was distributed in 2017 to campers from 2001-2016 to assess the impact of Range Camp. The survey response rate was 18%, with 95% of respondents indicating that camp increased their understanding of natural resources and 90% of respondents reporting that camp changed their perceptions of how our personal actions affect the environment. College majors among survey respondents were heavily weighted towards science degrees. Range Camp graduates have gone on to be UCCE Advisors, work for NASA, direct youth education outreach organizations and more, demonstrating how new partnerships and contributions from UC ANR Advisors have cultivated new rangeland professionals and contributes to UC ANR's public value of developing a qualified workforce. Range Camp is about more than teaching science; it's about challenging preconceptions, fostering new friendships, and building life skills. One camper stated:
I felt so complete when the sun was disappearing behind the hills…it was as if camp made me realize that I can make a difference. Suddenly, beating global warming and climate change seemed possible…Range Camp has enlightened me. It has changed me. It has permanently made me a ‘happy camper.'
To learn more about Range Camp, visit our program website.
- Author: Kim Ingram
Eighty-six percent of private forest landowners indicate they are highly motivated to develop a forest management plan after attending a Forest Stewardship workshop, which puts them on the path towards improved management of forest lands, participation in cost-share funding programs, and protecting California's natural resources.
The Issue
Protecting California's forests starts with a plan. There are 87,000 private forest landowners in California who collectively own nine million acres. For private forest landowners, identifying desired goals and objectives is not always easy especially when there are seemingly conflicting goals. Forest stewardship is based on conservation principles that ensure protection of forest resources including wildlife, timber, soil, water, recreational opportunities and natural beauty. Forest stewards actively manage their land by implementing management objectives based on multiple resources while conserving natural resources in an economically viable way. Depending on the steps identified to implement their vision, landowners may need further assistance from Registered Professional Foresters (RPF) or cost-share funding for project implementation.
How UC Delivers
UC ANR is uniquely positioned to utilize our expertise in outreach and education, and collaborate with local, state and federal partners to provide the resources and support private forest landowners needs. Beginning in January 2020, UC ANR's Forest Stewardship Education Initiative has hosted workshops to help landowners learn how to articulate their vision for their forest land, and identify the steps needed to achieve it. Throughout the workshop, participants gather site-specific information to better understand their forest, and focus their goals leading towards the development of a management plan. With five completed workshops, two currently ongoing workshops, and four upcoming workshops, UC ANR has engaged over 200 forest landowners across California. Clearly our work is just beginning!
The Impact
After completing the workshop, 66% of participants have written out their management goals and 60% made progress on developing a management plan. Additionally, participants who complete the workshop are eligible for a free initial site visit by an RPF. This visit can be the start of a working relationship between the landowner and the RPF, leading to a completed management plan submitted for cost-share funding. To date, 39% of workshop participants have made contact with an RPF and 15% have begun a cost-share funding process. Seventy-eight percent have begun implementing some management activities from their plans, demonstrating improved management and use of land that contributes to the public value of protecting California's natural resources.
“I feel much clearer on the steps to make a forest management plan, what I can do myself, and what we need to hire a professional for.” - Redding workshop participant
“(The workshop)…provided a roadmap for helping private landowners think holistically about managing their forests.” - Blodgett workshop participant
“I felt the workshop was a great way to introduce forest land-owners to professionals, as well as start the dialogue necessary to accomplish their management goals. It also seems like a great way to educate non-forestry professionals on management techniques.”– Jacob Harrower, Forest Operations Manager, Jacobszoon & Associates, RPF #3070.
- Author: Chris McDonald
Participants commit to improving the safety of their landscape after receiving Cooperative Extension information about safely planting drought-tolerant plants, contributing to improved community health.
The Issue
How UC Delivers
Dr. Chris McDonald, UCCE Natural Resources Advisor and Carolyn Martus, staff research associate, developed a list of commonly sold drought-tolerant plants that are also toxic or harmful. We took our list of 100 plants and created species profiles for each plant that summarized why the plant was harmful and offered advice on how to plant them safely. With the help of UCCE digital media specialist, Benjamin DiAnna, we developed a bookmark, brochure and the Planting Safely in Drought-Tolerant Landscapes website that provides summary information and shows gardeners how to enjoy these plants safely. We also hosted a web-based presentation to show people how to use the website. The project was a team effort and also involved many San Diego Master Gardeners.
The Impact
Our public education campaign to teach people how to plant safely has helped Californians continue to protect our natural resources and improve water-use efficiency in the landscape while also improving the health of everyone in the community. During our workshop, 100% of participants committed to improving the safety of their landscape. Many of these plants can injure you, for example researchers have found that Euphorbias, such as fire sticks and crown of thorns, can cause serious eye injuries that can require attention by medical professionals. This website and education materials can be used to improve community health and wellness.
“I had a friend whose dog ate a leaf of a Sago Palm and nearly died. It was a shock to learn that some of our favorite plants can be so toxic!” Valorie Shatynski, UCCE Master Gardener.
