- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Safeeq Khan of UC ANR among collaborators on forest treatments in the Sierra
Despite the challenges of an extremely dangerous fire season, including California's largest wildfire in 2022 (Mosquito Fire) impeding access and limiting operations, partners of the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project have wrapped up their fourth season of forest treatments in the critical headwaters of Tahoe National Forest. Safeeq Khan, Cooperative Extension specialist in water and watershed sciences with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, is among the collaborators.
This season, project partners safely treated over 700 acres of federal land using a combination of mastication, mechanical thinning, hand thinning and prescribed fire. On adjacent private land, the American River Conservancy independently raised funds and treated 338 acres. Combined, this all-lands collaborative watershed management project has treated over 6,000 acres in just four seasons.
Work this season focused on areas most prone to wildfire ignition. The United States Forest Service treated over 200 acres with prescribed pile burns in and around the Talbot campground, improving the aesthetic quality of this important recreation area just north of French Meadows Reservoir. Although dry conditions limited the scope of prescribed burns this year, using fire as a management tool is a cost-effective way to maintain forest conditions that contribute to ecosystem resilience and human health and safety.
“Prescribed burns are a critical component of the partnership's ecological forestry model,” explained Edward Smith, forest ecologist and fuels manager with The Nature Conservancy. “Under ‘prescribed conditions' of wind, moisture and temperature, broadcast burning helps reduce the amount of tinder on the forest floor as well as fuel ladders that could otherwise carry wildfires into the tops of trees, protecting habitat for humans and diverse wildlife species. Fire also reduces brush and twigs to ashes that feeds the roots of trees and understory plants, protecting the soil and its microbial universe, making them more resilient to drought, insects and climate change.”
Mechanical thinning, hand thinning, and mastication operations continued in areas surrounding water research instrumentation, installed by the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California, Merced. Over the coming years, researchers will be assessing how vegetation changes in ecologically-based forest management affect water quantity in the local watershed.
“Optimal restoration of forested headwaters benefits from dedicated partnerships collecting scientific data,” said Khan, who is also an adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Merced. “UC Merced is working to provide this dimension at French Meadows with strategic measurements and modeling.”
Perhaps the partnership's biggest success in 2022 was securing, via multiple grants, the remaining funding necessary to complete all the thinning operations defined in the original project plan. Since the project's inception more than six years ago, the partnership has operated under an innovative funding arrangement consisting of local, state and federal dollars combined with private donations.
“What has impressed me most about the French Meadows partnership is its commitment to see the project all the way through: start to finish,” said Tahoe National Forest Supervisor Eli Ilano. “With the new funding secured this year, we will be able to wrap up thinning operations, and turn our focus to managing and maintaining the land for the enjoyment of the public.”
American River District Ranger Mary Grim with the U.S. Forest Service added, “This partnership learns from each year to adaptively manage for resilient forests that benefit everyone. The French Meadows Project is a reminder of what can be accomplished with a shared sense of stewardship for our forests and natural resources.”
Fuels reduction work this season resulted in more than 1.066 million board feet of overstocked timber, which was brought to a local mill, with the revenue generated offsetting some of the restoration costs. Project partners also repaired over seven miles of roadway and culverts to reduce sedimentation.
“Under the threat of a second consecutive severe fire season, including the Mosquito Fire in our own ‘backyard,' the partnership diligently moved treatment activities forward and began discussions on how to sustain the project's benefits through long-term maintenance planning,” said Kerri Timmer, regional forest health coordinator with Placer County, who coordinates the stewardship agreement with the Tahoe National Forest.
The catalyst of the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project was the 2014 King Fire, which burned over 97,000 acres in the American River watershed, much of it at high intensity. Eager to reduce the risk to hydroelectric assets, water quality, and biodiversity from future high severity wildfires, Placer County Water Agency joined with Placer County, The Nature Conservancy, the United States Forest Service, American River Conservancy, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the UC Merced, to form the French Meadows Partnership.
The project spans more than 22,000 acres of federal land, nearly 7,000 acres of private land, and is a test case for the partnership's effectiveness in improving fire resilience and the overall health of the watershed.
To learn more about the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project, visit and tour the Project's story map.
/h3>- Author: Chutima Ganthavorn
- Author: Emma McKellar
- Author: Marlyn Pulido
- Contributor: Michele Byrnes
- View More...
UC-led partnership resulted in over 29,000 pounds of fresh produce being distributed to 900 students and limited resource families in Coachella in 2018. More than a quarter of participants reported being more food secure.
The Issue
The desert city of Coachella has a population of 6,919. Seven-hundred and sixty-one residents do not live within 10 miles of a supermarket or have a car, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Research Atlas. In an effort to increase healthy food access and close the food gap in the area, CalFresh Healthy Living at University of California (CFHL-UC) teamed up with Food In Need of Distribution (FIND) Food Bank to bring fresh produce to the students and families of Cesar Chavez Elementary School.
How UC Delivers
CFHL-UC partnered with FIND in 2018 to bring CalFresh enrollment support and food donations to nutrition class participants at the Coachella Valley Adult School. In the spirit of partnership, CFHL-UC introduced FIND to Cesar Chavez Elementary School with the hopes of bringing more resources to families in the area. With staff and teacher support at Cesar Chavez Elementary, CFHL-UC delivers a spectrum of services to help influence individuals to live healthier lifestyles including nutrition and physical activity education for both children and parents using evidence-based curricula (Go, Glow, Grow; Plan, Shop, Save, Cook; and Coordinated Approach to Child Health). Environmental and policy efforts include Smarter Lunchrooms Movement resources to increase student breakfast/lunch participation, local school wellness committee collaboration to offer wellness policy support, and this recent partnership with FIND Food Bank to increase access to fresh produce.
The Impact
“When I bring the food home, my mom is happy because she does not have to go to the grocery store.”
– 3rd Grade Student at Cesar Chavez
As a result of the UC-led partnership and collaboration, FIND Food Bank made Cesar Chavez Elementary a food distribution site for their summer food donations. This included five events, with an average of 150 families attending, which helped feed an average of 690 people in 2018. Cesar Chavez was the highest attended distribution site that FIND serviced in 2018. Due to this success and need, FIND now provides monthly food distribution for the students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. This year, FIND distributed over 29,000 pounds of fresh produce for 900 students to take home and share with their families. CFHL-UC staff highlighted the produce by supplying recipe cards from EatFresh.org for families to be able to make nutritious, easy, and inexpensive meals.
In addition, CFHL-UC helped increase food security and healthy living for program participants by teaching food resource management skills. Participants in the Plan, Shop, Save, Cook series reported making behavior changes such as planning meals ahead of time (44% of 124 survey respondents), comparing unit prices (40%), shopping with a grocery list (35%), and using Nutrition Facts to make food choices (54%). Importantly, 27% of participants were less likely to run out of food before the end of the month. This program is one example of how UC ANR improves food security, contributing to the public value of safeguarding abundant and healthy food for all Californians. CFHL-UC aims to continue working in Coachella and collaborating further with FIND Food Bank to increase access to healthful foods at other sites in need.
- Author: Educatiodive.com by Hallie Busta
At a time when higher education can appear bogged down by legacy, the University of California System's newest addition is far less restricted.
The University of California, Merced this summer wrapped up phase one of a $1.3 billion project to roughly double the size of its campus and make room for as many as 10,000 students. It is doing so using an innovative public-private partnership (P3) model that is among the largest of its kind in higher ed. And of all the UC System campuses, it has been the most effective at reaching and enrolling Latinos, who have become the largest ethnic group in California.
In an article detailing UC Merced's rise, The New York Times notes the campus and the system are at a critical juncture: "The future of the state depends on whether the University of California can grow to be more like Merced, and the future of Merced depends on whether it can grow to be more like other campuses."
HIGHLIGHTS Expansion plans: Underserved students: Outlook: |
Located in the San Joaquin Valley a few hours' drive from San Francisco and the state capitol in Sacramento, UC Merced formally opened in 2005 with the goal of improving access to the state's public university system — almost a decade into a ban on affirmative action that notably hampered diversity among campuses in the system.
"Many of these students were not gaining access as they should be to research universities," UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland said. "We were built there to create that access. They came, they loved it and they went back to their communities. So there was a lot of word of mouth."
By a wide margin, it is the smallest of the nine institutions in the system that offer both undergraduate and graduate instruction. It is also in one of the poorest areas of the state, where residents have long had low levels of educational attainment and lacked access to a research university. Many of its students are the first in their families to attend college. And its admission rate is higher and its incoming students' test scores lower than at other UC campuses.
Yet those seeming shortcomings in the ultra-competitive world of higher education admissions have proven to be competitive advantages, Leland said.
Being new means students can see themselves as pioneers and innovators, and the small size fosters community. Raising a campus from the ground up in the 21st century also has let sustainability factor heavily into construction, with all campus buildings currently or expected to be LEED certified.
And the college has been able to focus on undergraduate research from the start. In 2016, Merced attained the status of a "doctoral-granting university with higher research activity," the second-highest ranking from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
"When you build a new university from the ground up, you literally build everything," Leland said. "You build your traditions, you build your student organizations, you build your student volunteer connections to the communities. Many students who come here get to be the founders of traditions or organizations that will persist far beyond them."
Leland took the helm at Merced in 2011 with the task of ushering the college into the next phase of growth. While the recession's anemic recovery made that a challenge, it didn't change the need. "We were simply space-starved," she said. "Our students were sitting in hallways studying because there was no other place to go."
Beyond classrooms, the college needed facilities such as research labs, dorms, sports fields and dining halls as well as roads and other infrastructure to support current and future students. And it needed to do so affordably. As part of the deal, the private developer will maintain the buildings over a 39-year period and will be paid in part based on how they perform, Leland said.
"In all the unpredictability in the higher education environment, particularly in the public sector, we have a great deal of predictability around the long-term maintenance of what will be half of our campus," she said.
The expansion is laying the groundwork for future growth in Merced, which Leland and others expect will lead to change throughout the state.
"You see across the UC System a growing recognition that the demographic future of California cannot just be represented on one or two or three of its campuses," she said. "It has to be spread across all of the campuses, from the oldest to the youngest."
Source: Published originally on Educatiodive.com, University of the Year: The University of California, Merced, by Hallie Busta, December 3rd, 2018.
- Author: Wendy Powers
I visited the Merced and Mariposa offices on Friday. It was a casual day without much of a schedule to be particular places at specific times. It was great! I learned so many things about the state, agriculture, and our work in those counties. Here are a few items I can't resist sharing. Perhaps some of these tidbits are new to even some long time residents, and will make for conversation at holiday gatherings.
- California produces a third of the world's tomato paste, that is then processed for ketchup (or catsup), pasta sauce, and pizza sauce.
- Grafting is not just for perennial crops and is now used in greenhouse production of annual crops with interest in exploring the economics of using grafting in outdoor production. UCCE County Director in Merced County, Scott Stoddard, can fill you in on the drivers behind this interest.
- California almonds have a soft shell whereas almonds from other places have a hard shell. David Doll @thealmonddoctor gave me a run down on the 8 different varieties and Cameron prepared some samples to help me better understand the intricacies.
- Merced County has one of the best places to grow sweet potatoes in California, due to the sandy soil. We didn't get into the finer distinction between sweet potatoes and yams. The Master Gardeners hooked me up with samples of the 4 different varieties of sweet potatoes that are most popular for the area.
- Persimmons just grow; we don't have CE Specialists or Advisors who are focused on increasing production and profitability of persimmon production. I find persimmons to be a bit bland but plan to try a persimmon and apple salad over the upcoming weekend based on a hunch that blue cheese and tart apples can carry the persimmons to a successful combination. Russ Hill tells me that a bit of lime or lemon juice helps as well.
- Mariposa County is one of the counties that has achieved parity in its 4-H program. When the President's Advisory Commission (PAC) for Agriculture and Natural Resources met on December 13, President Napolitano shared with her PAC how proud we are that, statewide, the 4-H program has achieved parity.
- In Mariposa County, Native American participation in 4-H is as important at Latino participation with respect to achieving parity.
- 65 Master Gardener volunteers in Mariposa County provide the education for what seems like it must take hundreds of volunteers! They have a large focus on use of native plants and include 3 additional modules in their training program in addition to the modules taught in Merced, making it a 17-week training. Lawns are not part of the Master Gardener program.
- Fadzayi Mashiri oversees a small but mighty team in Mariposa County who remain responsive to the aftermath of the Detwiler Fire, as evidenced by the UCCE Mariposa County homepage.
- Merced County is home to the tallest monument in the state. The facts surrounding the purpose of the monument were a bit sketchy but interesting to note nonetheless. However, no need to look up too far as it is a far cry from the scale of the Washington monument.
I can't thank everyone enough for their time and the conversations. And it was nice to see those I hadn't seen in some time (since Crucial Conversations for some) and meet many for the first time, including those that keep the research programs running.
It is very disappointing to hear that the fires are still raging in Ventura County. This won't make for a restful break for so many. And for Laurent Ahiablame, who will be starting December 18, 2017 as Water Quality and Management Advisor and San Diego County CE Director, it will no doubt be a bit of a whirlwind for the first few months. Please welcome Laurent and offer assistance where you can to help him settle into his new position.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Maxwell Norton, a Merced County UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and acting director of UCCE in Mariposa County, provided extensive information to a Merced Sun-Star reporter about efforts to encourage tourism in Merced County and educate visitors about local agricultural roots.
About a year ago, a group of agriculturists got together and starting brainstorming on ways to increase ag tourism, Norton told reporter Carol Reiter. The group formed "Country Ventures" and decided on two goals: To bring more visitor-related dollars into the county and to increase people's knowledge of agriculture.
"We decided it would be good to have an audio tour for Highway 140 from Merced to Mariposa," Norton was quoted. "The highway is so heavily used. That was the logical place to start."
The group prepared a series of recordings that visitors can listen to in their cars while driving the historic roadway that connects the valley floor to Yosemite National Park. MP3 files can be downloaded from the Country Ventures' website. In addition, the recordings are being compiled on CDs to be distributed at the California Visitor Center in Merced.
The recordings include information on:
- Points of historical interest, like the highest grave marker in California
- Types of agricultural crops being grown, including almonds, peaches, and pistachios
- History of local communities, such as Planada, which was laid out like Paris, France
- Signs of early Native American residents, like pictographs
- Wildlife and wildlife habitat, including vernal pools
- Geological features
- Gold Rush history
"Our target audience is people from other states and other countries," the article quoted Norton. "We want people to realize the San Joaquin Valley has a lot to offer in itself. It's not just a place to get through on your way to Yosemite."
Norton is one of two narrators on the audio recordings.