Publications

Care for oaks during drought
In times of drought, questions arise about how to see oaks through the water scarce times. “Help Your Oak Tree Tolerate Severe Drought” was prepared by UCCE Environmental Horticulture Advisor Steven Swain and UCCE Hardwood Specialist Bill Tietje to answer some of those questions.

Sharing open space with grazing livestock
Marin’s open space are wonderful places to hike and ride bicycles and take in some of California’s beautiful oak woodlands. These lands also need active management to reduce fire fuel loads and enhance grassland plant communities, and grazing livestock is a common tool to do this. Helping residents understand these working landscapes is the purpose behind the publication by UCCE Livestock and Range Management Advisor Stephanie Larson. This online reference entitled “Sharing Open Space: What to expect from Grazing Livestock” has useful tips and information for interacting with cattle on open spaces.

The difference between four legged livestock animals
Marin’s farms and ranches are a mix of cow, sheep, and goat dairy farms and grazing livestock ranches, not to mention the popularity of raising and riding horses through the region. If you want to better understand the difference between these animals and their interactions with rangelands, then the fact sheet ”Cattle, Sheep, Goats, and Horses: What’s the Difference for Working Rangelands?” by UCCE Livestock and Range Management Advisor Stephanie Larson is a resource for you.

Urban Agriculture Website
The new Urban Agriculture website is the go-to online source for information and resources on small-scale production, including soil, planting, irrigation, pest management, and harvesting. The site also contains information on laws, zoning, and regulations that relate to urban agriculture, as well as information on the business of farming, such as how to market urban farm products.

Find community gardens throughout Marin
Marin’s community gardens are now viewable on an online map. View the Marin Gardens Map to find a garden of interest, including potential sites for new gardens, and let us know if you have a garden to add.

“Can My Tree Catch the Flu?”
Youth activities on sudden oak death were featured in the national Green Teacher publication about teaching invasive species issues. "Can My Tree Catch the Flu?" is an interactive showcase that helps increase youth awareness of the Sudden Oak Death (SOD) disease that has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California. To provide an analogy to how a tree catches this disease, participants are introduced to a familiar situation, catching the flu. Through a progressive series of inquiry-based, experiential learning activities, participants learn about diseased trees, as well as how their own behavior can impact the health of the forest environment.

Newsletters:
If you want to catch up on the past year's issues of our three newsletters, find them here:

Grown in Marin News: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
The Leaflet: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
California Oak Mortality Task Force Newsletter: monthly issues

Subscribe to these newsletters and join our mailing list here.

Websites:
Combined, our websites received more than 501,540 views in 2015. For more research-based information on Marin agriculture, oak tree and forest health, community gardens, how to save water in the garden, and other topics, visit our up-to-date program websites:

Return to the UCCE Marin County 2015 Annual Report homepage or view the UCCE Marin website