From left: Chris Flores, Nevada County Ag Commissioner; Ed Scofield, Chair of the Nevada County Board of Supervisors; Jeremy James, SFREC Director; Terry Jochim, Nevada County Rancher, Dustin Flavell, SFREC Superintendent; Roger Ingram, UCCE Placer-Nevada County Director; Sue Hoek, Nevada County Rancher, Farm Bureau Representative and SFREC RAC member

UC SFREC along with UC Cooperative Extension form Nevada/Placer hosted a tour of SFREC and ongoing UC research and extension efforts for representatives from Nevada County government, Farm Bureau and the agricultural industry.  The main aim of the tour was to highlight ongoing UC research and extension efforts to evaluate and demonstrate the critical role that rangeland systems play in local agriculture as well as the many ecological benefits that rangeland provides society in the region and across the state.  The tour enjoyed one of the many unusually warm days we have had in February and was able to view the beef cattle management research on the upper ranch and some of the irrigation and pasture management at the lower ranch. Key opportunities that emerged from this tour included cooperative efforts to support Ag in the Classroom, opportunities to bring other county related programs to explore critical aspects of agriculture and how to leverage those efforts to help conserve rangeland and support ranching enterprises throughout the region.