- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Wildfire season is in full swing. With so many fires burning around the state, the UC ANR Fire Network team is providing some tips to prepare for evacuation and wildfire smoke.
“The best time to prepare for evacuation is before the wildfire starts,” said Katie Low, Fire Network statewide coordinator.
Low recommends preparing an evacuation bag for every person in your household before a wildfire and keeping it easily accessible.
“Plan to be away from your home for an extended period of time,” she said. “Make the bags light enough to lift into a vehicle.”
Be sure to pack car keys, credit cards, cash, medications, important documents and clothing. See https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Safety/Evacuation/Preparing_a_Go-Bag for the full checklist.
There are also several actions you can take to prepare yourself and your family for evacuation, including moving combustible patio furniture inside or sealing up ground or attic vents with plywood or metal tape. More evacuation preparation tips can be found here https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Safety/Evacuation/.
Another thing to be mindful of is smoke exposure from wildfires, which is an increasingly common public health hazard to California's communities. Low said: “To prepare for wildfire smoke I am doing a few things:
- Checking the air quality near me at https://fire.airnow.gov
- Limiting my outdoor activity
- Wearing a N95 mask if I'm outside
- Running my air purifier."
There are many great resources that you can use to monitor air quality and understand smoke impacts near you:
- The California Smoke Spotter app ( https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/california-smoke-spotter…) provides the latest information on prescribed fires and wildfires, air quality and smoke forecasts throughout California.
- The AirNow Fire and Smoke Map (https://fire.airnow.gov) provides current information on PM 2.5, wildfire locations and smoke plumes, and special smoke outlooks when available.
- The California Smoke Blog (https://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com) provides smoke outlooks for communities affected by wildfire smoke and other resources to protect yourself from smoke.
- The California Air Resources Board Smoke Ready California webpage (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/smokereadyca) provides information and resources to protect yourself from smoke including how to create a Clean Air Space, how to wear N95 masks correctly how to construct DIY air cleaners.
- The California Clean Air Centers Map (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/cleanaircenters) interactive, statewide map where you can find information about permanent and temporary clean air shelters, including their address, operating hours, and contact information.
Learn more about how to prepare for smoke at https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Safety/Air_Quality_and_Smoke/. The Fire Network will also be hosting a public smoke readiness webinar on Wednesday, September 4 from 5:30–7 p.m. If you are interested in registering, please email Katie Low (katlow@ucanr.edu) for the signup link.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
The Integrated Web Platform, or IWP, project will transform UC ANR's digital experience for internal website editors and the people who visit our websites.
In the coming months, UC ANR will transition its website from the homegrown Site Builder to Drupal – a more stable, flexible, and powerful CMS that will make our content more discoverable to the communities we serve. This much-needed change will bring significant improvements in how we manage and present web content, as well as optimizing our content for search engines.
There have been challenges with transitioning from Site Builder and the blog system in the past, and that is why we are now working with Kanopi, a new vendor that has experience joining projects and guiding them to launch. The IWP Core Team is leveraging the work of previous UC ANR committees and vendors (including UC Davis IET) who provided feedback, initial planning efforts and prototypes.
Site Builder and the current blog system will be retired and replaced with Drupal. As part of this change, UC ANR will have a whole new navigation and look and feel for our web editors and site visitors. Drupal is expected to go live in December 2024. If the launch date changes, the IWP team will make an announcement.
UC ANR employees should begin cleaning up Site Builder now. See https://ucanr.edu/sites/sb3help/bestpractices/site-builder-maintenance for ways to help.
Once Drupal is live, you will no longer be able to create new sites on Site Builder. During the transition, Site Builder and Blog content will continue to be available.
For website editors who have questions, Stephen Dampier is offering office hours 3-4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Zoom. Feel free to drop in at https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/97937501529?pwd=Zm1PaGRuc0htcnVZbmZQaGcya3oxQT09. You may also email questions and comments about the IWP to iwp@ucanr.edu.
To learn more about the upcoming changes, visit https://it.ucanr.edu/IWP and be sure to explore the FAQs page.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Postfire grazing fact sheet wins award
A group of UCCE natural resources experts received the National Association of County Agricultural Agents' National Finalist Award for the fact sheet “Rapid User Guide: Postfire Grazing on California's Intermountain Rangelands.” Co-authors Janyne Little, UC Cooperative Extension community education specialist in Lassen County; David Lile, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor in Lassen County; Laura Snell, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor in Modoc County; and Leslie Roche, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis share the recognition.
The rapid user guide is designed for public and private land managers and livestock producers. It walks them through key considerations and timelines that should go into their decision-making process following wildfires on California's intermountain perennial rangelands. The fact sheet can be downloaded at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8730.
On behalf of the team, Snell accepted the award on July 16 at the NACAA annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
Legislators, congressman honor UC Master Gardeners of Napa County
UC Master Gardeners of Napa County were honored July 25 for their outstanding community service. Alex Pader, senior field representative for state Senator Bill Dodd, and Laura Elana Beltran, senior field representative for Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, presented the certificates. Congressman Mike Thompson also provided certificates.
The certificates acknowledged individuals who volunteered from 50 to over 300 hours of community service.
UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County win first place at fair
The UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County won first place at the Ventura County Fair for their garden display. As a result of this award, the volunteers helped bring in $550 in prize money for the program.
“The volunteers worked incredibly hard on this,” said Emma Volk, UC Cooperative Extension production horticulture advisor for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. “Everyone who attends the fair will get to enjoy the garden and identify all of the beautiful plants and see what's possible when you only have space for a small container garden. In addition, we have a separate booth with educational materials, including information about the invasive Asian citrus psyllid.”
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Holmes named 4-H Youth Development Program director
Kimberly Sinclair Holmes joined UC ANR on July 15 as the new director of the 4-H Youth Development Program.
Prior to joining UC ANR, Holmes served as the Assistant Extension Director and 4-H State Program Leader in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Alabama A&M University (AAMU). In this role, she was responsible for directing more than 30 staff and educational outreach programming in eight major program areas, across nine Urban Centers that reached over 35 counties in the state of Alabama.
Her extensive leadership and program development experiences in 4-H Youth Development with STEM, urban agriculture, forestry, wildlife and natural resources, animal science, community resource development, including entrepreneurship, family and child development, consumer science and personal financial management, and human nutrition, diet and health will be a tremendous asset for ANR and the 4-H Youth Development Program.
Babu joins UCCE Imperial County as entomology advisor
Arun Babu joined UCCE on July 8 as the entomology advisor for Imperial County.
Babu is responsible for developing and implementing research and education programs on managing insect pests of vegetables, forage, field and specialty crops in Imperial County.
Babu earned his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science from Kerala Agricultural University in Kerala, India. He started his career as an agriculture consultant on a project sponsored by the government of India, serving as an advisor for small-scale subsistence farmers of Southern India, providing technical assistance to a diverse clientele of underserved growers in making crop management decisions.
In 2011, Babu moved to the United States to join the master's program in entomology at Mississippi State University, where he studied Helicoverpa zea, corn earworm, resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) toxins in transgenic field corn.
During his Ph.D. studies and postdoctoral research at North Carolina State University, Babu worked extensively on integrated pest management in field crops, focusing on pests such as brown stink bugs, Euschistus servus, corn earworm and aphids in various crop systems. These studies generated tangible results with direct economic benefits for growers and crop consultants.
In further postdoctoral research at the University of Georgia, he focused on monitoring and sampling, behavioral and chemical management of the invasive pest Drosophila suzukii in small fruit crops. Results from his trials enhanced adoption of IPM practices in managing D. suzukii in small fruit crops and helped growers reduce their dependency on frequent insecticide applications.
Read more about his research at ResearchGate https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=OkZSNRMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra and Google Scholar https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arun-Babu-4.
As an entomology advisor for Imperial County, Babu is committed to working with growers, pest control advisers, industry partners, government agencies and others. He is dedicated to developing practical, cost-effective solutions for the various pest management problems faced by the growers in Imperial County.
Babu is based at the UCCE Imperial County office in Holtville and can be reached at arbabu@ucanr.edu, (442) 265-7708 and @_ArunBabu_ on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.
Lee brings expertise in urban pests to Capitol Corridor
Sang-Bin Lee joined UC ANR on July 8 as the urban integrated pest management advisor for the Capitol Corridor – comprising Sacramento, Yolo and Solano counties – to help communities manage urban pests such as cockroaches, termites and ants.
“My high-level hope is to improve public health and the well-being of people in the Capitol Corridor region by implementing and improving the IPM program,” Lee said.
A native of South Korea, Lee earned his bachelor's in biology from Pusan National University. After working in the food manufacturing sector (which included a stint in Brazil, where he learned basic Portuguese), Lee decided to pursue his passion for studying animal behaviors. During his master's program in ecology at Pusan National University, Lee investigated behavioral changes in zebrafish after pathogen infection.
“My goal was to detect fish with symptoms much earlier than conventional methods to prevent the spread of pathogens in fish farms,” he said.
Intrigued by research on social insects, Lee went on to earn a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Florida, where he studied the social behaviors of termites. Lee has published 34 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and has received several awards from Entomological Society of America and other professional societies.
He said that he finds urban pest management to be a fascinating discipline – and a very rewarding endeavor – in the field of entomology.
“My interests lie in the behavior of urban pests, and studying their behavior often provides a great opportunity to improve control measures,” Lee explained. “I have had many opportunities to communicate with people from the pest control industry and homeowners; conversations with these people often inspire me to work harder to help those who need my assistance.”
Lee is based in Fairfield, at the UC Cooperative Extension office in Solano County, and can be reached at sablee@ucanr.edu and (530) 574-9835. He is on X/Twitter @SangBinLee4.
Padilla-Muñoz joins CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE Alameda County
Cynthia Padilla-Muñoz joined the CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE team for Alameda County on July 8. As a community education specialist, she will provide nutrition workshops for older adults residing in public housing sites throughout Alameda County.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Padilla-Muñoz is a first-generation college graduate, holding a bachelor's degree in health sciences with a concentration in community health from Cal State East Bay. She is also a certified health education specialist.
Prior to joining UCCE Alameda County, Padilla-Muñoz was a health educator in La Clinica de La Raza Casa's Community Health Education Department, serving Alameda County. Located in Oakland, she worked with promotores (health promoters) and provided education on healthy eating and healthy housing for families that lived in the Fruitvale, East Oakland and San Antonio neighborhoods, as well as all of Alameda County.
Padilla-Muñoz is based in Hayward and can be reached at cpadillamunoz@ucanr.edu.
Kraus named small farms advisor for Fresno County
Emily Kraus joined UCCE on July 1 as the small farms advisor for Fresno County.
Kraus aims to find solutions to small farms' production issues such as pests and soil nutrition. Some of her specific goals are to investigate the range and management strategies for Mexican rice borer, identify pest problems for longbean, and determine sustainable strategies for diversified cropping systems.
Prior to joining UC ANR, Kraus was a Cooperative Extension scientist for pesticide knowledge and safety in the Pesticide Information Office at the University of Florida.
The Indiana native earned her bachelor's degree in entomology at Purdue University, where she focused on both biological control and medical entomology. She earned her master's degree at Kansas State University, studying mosquito-transmitted diseases.
Then she took a break from academia to serve in the U.S. Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Upon her return, she resumed her studies by working in integrated pest management in rice production at Louisiana State University. While working on her Ph.D. she traveled extensively to rice-producing regions of the world. Her desire for travel carried her through her postdoctoral fellowship at Rhodes University in South Africa, where she again studied biological control. This experience set her up nicely for a position with the Florida Department of Agriculture.
Kraus is based in Fresno and can be reached at ekraus@ucanr.edu and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-kraus-19a67031/.
Singh joins UCCE Siskiyou County as agronomy advisor
Jagdeep Singh recently joined UC ANR on June 17 as the agronomy advisor for Siskiyou County. In this capacity, Singh will primarily focus on crop production in alfalfa, pasture and small grains, as well as pest control and water management.
Originally from Punjab, India's agriculture-rich state, Singh brings a unique perspective to his work.
“My passion lies in directly impacting the lives of farmers who feed the world,” he said. “I'm driven by a constant thirst for knowledge and a commitment to bridging the gap between the most up-to-date research and practical, on-farm solutions. What motivates me is understanding farmers' needs and providing science-based answers to their questions.”
Singh earned a B.S. from Punjab Agricultural University, an M.S. from New Mexico State University, and a Ph.D. from Auburn University.
During his Ph.D. studies, he assessed 70 years of cotton breeding impacts on yield, nutrient relations and root architecture, while also studying cover crops for soil health improvement. His M.S. work focused on guar, evaluating its growth, yield, water extraction patterns and water use efficiency under deficit irrigation, as well as identifying cold-tolerant germplasm for cooler regions of the Southern High Plains.
In his new role at UC ANR, Singh aims to build strong relationships with the local community, certified crop advisers and industry groups, leveraging the well-established extension system.
Singh can be reached by email at fgssingh@ucanr.edu or by calling the UCCE Siskiyou office at (530) 842-2711.
Wisdom to lead Yosemite Gateway Prescribed Burn Cooperative
Laura Wisdom joined UC ANR on May 20 as the coordinator for the Yosemite Gateway Prescribed Burn Cooperative serving Mariposa and Madera counties.
She brings a background in wildland firefighting, fire ecology, prescribed fire, hydrology and outdoor recreation having worked for the Forest Service and National Parks Service in Yosemite and Northern California forests.
Wisdom is passionate about bringing community members together to find practical solutions for mitigating wildfire risk, helping each other practice safe and effective prescribed fire, and having fun while doing it.
Wisdom is based in Mariposa and can be reached at lwisdom@ucanr.edu.
Pourkhalili to promote healthy families and communities
Azin Pourkhalili joined UCCE on April 1 as a youth, family and community advisor for Kern, Inyo and Mono counties.
In her role, she will promote healthy families and communities by designing, delivering and evaluating strategies for encouraging nutrition and physical activity in youth and their families. Additionally, she will provide academic oversight of community education and outreach program staff who work with families and youth, including the UC 4-H Youth Development Program, CalFresh Healthy Living UC Nutrition Education Program, Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Juntos.
Pourkhalili brings over six years of experience in conducting health intervention research programs, including their development, implementation and evaluation.
Before moving to California, Pourkhalili was a Virginia Cooperative Extension research scientist. She worked on multiple health intervention projects, including nutrition education for older adults through the Elder Nutrition and Food Safety program and the prevention and management of chronic diseases through programs such as the Lifestyle Change Program, Diabetes Prevention Program, Balance Living with Diabetes, and Kick'n Cancer. She also collaborated with the Virginia Department of Health on various projects.
Pourkhalili's academic background encompasses the latest research in nutrition and physical activity education programs, chronic disease prevention programs and health education programs for different age groups. Building on her experience in implementing and evaluating nutrition education programs, her future research aims to address the unique health education needs of diverse communities in California. She plans to continue researching the evaluation and effectiveness of health education programs, such as CalFresh Healthy Living UC, EFNEP and 4-H.
She holds a Ph.D. in human nutrition, food and exercise, specializing in community and behavioral science, and a graduate certificate in gerontology from Virginia Tech, and bachelor's and master's degrees from Iran Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
Pourkhalili is based in Bakersfield and can be reached at apourkhalili@ucanr.edu.
Soule named director of CFHL Health Equity Initiative
Katherine Soule accepted an appointment at UC Davis as director of the CalFresh Healthy Living Health Equity Initiative in the Department of Nutrition. She began part-time April 15 then full-time July 1.
Soule has served as the UC Cooperative Extension youth, families and communities & health equity advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties since 2013, ANR's assistant vice provost for Cooperative Extension since 2020, and was director for UCCE in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties for six years.
In her new position with the CFHL Health Equity Initiative, Soule will provide cross-organizational program leadership, overseeing complex program relationships with all CFHL-implementing agencies in the state – California Department of Public Health, California Department of Aging, Catholic Charities of California, CFHL UC, CFHL UC Cooperative Extension, contracted community-based organizations, assigned staff and partnering academics – to support improved "pathways to health for all" across California.
Soule will remain based in San Luis Obispo and can be reached at kesoule@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Saoimanu Sope
UCCE scientists study feasibility of specialty crops for small urban growers
The vacant lots around your neighborhood could be growing fruits and vegetables and making local produce more accessible – while reducing energy needed to transport and distribute the food. Could turning those empty lots into small farms also become opportunities for economic development?
To answer this question, a team of researchers from University of California Cooperative Extension in San Diego County are investigating the economic feasibility of growing high-value specialty crops in urban settings like vacant lots. The project – led by Eric Middleton, UCCE integrated pest management advisor for San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties – is currently in progress at The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, a seasonal attraction for locals and tourists.
Tucked away in the back of the field is the Small-Scale Urban Ag Demonstration Site where Middleton and his team established a small farm on approximately 17,000 square feet, starting fall 2023. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the farm is designed to evaluate containerized production both outdoors and under high tunnels.
Growers don't necessarily need land, just space
High tunnels, also referred to as hoop houses, are semi-permanent structures that act similarly to greenhouses in providing a controlled environment. For the experiment, Middleton will compare cost, effort and durability of two types of high tunnels: one made of steel and the other out of PVC pipes.
“We want to give interested growers information on as many options as we can,” said Middleton, who explained that the project is motivated by the challenges of urban settings, including limited space and lack of arable land.
In the trial, they are growing turmeric, ginger and blueberries. The high-value crops were selected because of their potential to earn a profit. Data evaluating plant variety, soil mix, fertilizer, growth performance, yield and pest and disease pressures will be collected and reported when the project concludes in 2026.
As the crops develop in containers – blueberries in pots and turmeric and ginger in grow bags – Middleton pointed out the mobility aspect of the study, noting that growers don't necessarily need land, just space.
Whether it's a backyard or a rooftop, containerized production means easier transport, especially since vacant land doesn't always remain vacant forever and urban lots may often need soil remediation. Growing in containers solves the anticipated problem of having to relocate.
Where to set up shop in San Diego County
Jan Gonzales, project coordinator and community education supervisor for UCCE San Diego County, is leading the effort to identify available urban land in San Diego County as well as the policies and procedures for growers to access these spaces.
Gonzales is collaborating with community members who are working on similar projects to identify space for prospective growers.
“This has been done before for different objectives and for specific areas in the region, but the information was either project-specific and not publicly available, or not easy to find,” Gonzales said.
Having spoken with people associated with previous or ongoing agricultural land mapping projects, Gonzales has agreed to coordinate and facilitate an advisory work group to discuss areas of potential collaboration and develop project efficiencies. She anticipates holding the first group meeting before the end of the summer.
A production guide to help community members re-create the project
The ideal audience for a study like this is anyone who wants to grow specialty crops, according to Lindsey Pedroncelli, interim director of UC South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, who worked on the project alongside Middleton when she was a staff research associate with UCCE San Diego.
“If you're a new grower or a grower who wants to diversify your crop production, what we're learning here can be applied to you,” said Pedroncelli.
Pedroncelli has been instrumental in bringing the experiment to life and documenting its step-by-step workflow thus far. The production guide, which is being created as the study unfolds, will include instructions detailing how to replicate the experiment from the ground up. Currently, it contains information on how to design your farm, the materials to buy, building structures, irrigation setup and crop management.
The most intriguing open question, whether the operation is profitable, is the driving force behind the production guide and will certainly be addressed, Pedroncelli said.
Book a tour and visit the farm
When visiting the farm, you'll encounter three varieties of blueberries: Star, Snowchaser and Misty. Snowchaser has been a top producer since it was planted in January, but the variety is known to be an early season producer.
Using only one variety of each, the turmeric and ginger were planted in late March-early April. With some unanticipated cold weather in San Diego County, both crops struggled when transitioning out of dormancy, leading to very slow progress, which the team is still navigating today.
Visually, Middleton and his team have noticed differences between the crops growing under the high tunnels versus those grown outdoors, although the data has not been analyzed to confirm or explain notable differences.
Attempting to demonstrate how to profitably grow high-value crops in urban settings using limited space and resources, Pedroncelli said she hopes this study will also encourage people to grow culturally significant crops for their communities.
To tour the Small-Scale Urban Ag Demonstration Site at The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, email Eric Middleton at egmiddleton@ucanr.edu with "Urban Agriculture Demonstration Site Tour" in the subject line.
To learn more about the project and its progress, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/socalIPM/Small_Scale_Urban_Agriculture_Project_/.
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