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Posts Tagged: climate change
Webinars explore role of trees in climate change resilience, May 14-16
A free webinar series titled “Trees to the Rescue: Solutions for Climate Change” will be held on May 14-16, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day. The webinars are sponsored by the University of California Thelma Hansen Fund.
“The webinars aim to increase our understanding of the role of trees in mitigating climate change, how to plant the right trees and keep them healthy in urban environments, and the challenges of increasing the number of trees at the local level,” said AnnemiekSchilder, director of Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center, who is organizing the series. Hansen REC is operated by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The agendas for each 90-minute webinar are listed below. To register, visit https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=42636.
Tuesday, May 14: Trees as a Tool for Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience
4 pm Welcome—Annemiek Schilder, Director of Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center
4:05 pm Opening Remarks—Matt LaVere, Ventura County Supervisor District 1
4:10 pm Improving Outcomes of Tree Growing and Forest Restoration Efforts—Karen Holl, Professor of Environmental Studies, UC Santa Cruz
4:50 pm Climate Resilience through Urban Greening—Edith de Guzman, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Water Equity and Adaptation Policy, UCLA
5:30 pm Closing—Annemiek Schilder
Wednesday, May 15: Optimizing Tree Survival in a Changing Climate
4 pm Welcome—Emma Volk, Production Horticulture Advisor, UCCE Ventura and Santa Barbara counties
4:05 pm Cooling Urban Heat Islands with Climate-Resilient Trees—Janet Hartin, Environmental Horticulture Advisor, UCCE Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties
4:30 pm Keeping Trees Healthy from Sapling to Maturity—James Downer, Environmental Horticulture & Plant Pathology Advisor Emeritus, UCCE Ventura County
5:05 pm Dealing with the Inevitable Threat of Exotic and Invasive Pests—John Kabashima, Environmental Horticulture Advisor Emeritus, UCCE Orange County
5:30 pm Closing— Emma Volk
Thursday, May 16: Tree Advocacy and Planning at the Local Level
4 pm Welcome—Julie Clark, Natural Resources Community Education Specialist, UCCE Ventura County
4:05 pm Native Tree Restoration with Partners and the Public—Joey Algiers, Restoration Ecologist, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
4:30 pm Panel Discussion (Joey Algiers, moderator):
- Joey Algiers, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
- Mireille Vargas, County of Ventura Sustainability Division
- Mikaela Randolph, Green Schoolyards America
- Jan Scow, Registered Consulting Arborist, Ojai Valley
- Max Young, Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council
5:30 pm Closing— Julie Clark
Extension professionals gather to form climate-action plan
More than 40 Cooperative Extension professionals from across the U.S. and outlying territories gathered recently in Tucson, Arizona, for Cooperative Extension's first national Climate Action Convening.
Individuals from land-grant institutions met with USDA leaders to discuss how the Extension system can quickly and effectively contribute to climate change solutions.
The event was hosted by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy's Climate Program Action Team.
“Using insights gathered at the Climate Action Convening, Extension Foundation and collaborators will co-create a series of logic models,” wrote Rose Hayden-Smith, UCCE advisor emeritus and Extension Foundation's chief editor. “These logic models will be incorporated into a white paper about the outcomes Extension believes it is best positioned to achieve through active and new climate programs, projects, and resources. The anticipated release date for the white paper is Spring 2024.”
Tapan Pathak, UC Cooperative Extension climate adaptation specialist based at UC Merced, and Sarah-Mae Nelson, UC Climate Stewards Initiative academic coordinator, participated.
Read more about the Climate Action Convening at https://connect.extension.org/blog/extension-professionals-unite-at-historic-climate-action-convening.
See demonstration of Natural Climate Solutions Toolbox Sept. 29
The Center for Ecosystem Climate Solutions is launching its Natural Climate Solutions Toolbox. The comprehensive suite of data and decision support tools are designed to aid UC Cooperative Extension academics, land managers, policymakers and scientists in adapting California wildland management for a changing climate.
On Sept. 29, Safeeq Khan, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and adjunct professor at UC Merced, Toby O'Geen, professor and UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Davis, and Mike Goulden, professor at UC Irvine, will demonstrate the Natural Climate Solutions Toolbox for UC ANR and other UC academics who are interested in climate change, wildfire and land management in range and forest lands. They will explain how the toolbox can be used to address clientele needs.
The demonstration and product launch will be held via Zoom from 9:30 to 11 a.m. on Sept. 29. To register, visit https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=37843.
All UC ANR and UC academics, nongovernmental organization representatives and related colleagues interested in climate change, wildfire and land management in range and forestlands are invited.
The NCS Toolbox is useful for a variety of goals, including habitat restoration, reducing wildfire severity, projecting impacts of disturbance or management on water and carbon, and valuing benefits of management. This one-stop-shop data hub includes metrics of management history, vegetation, carbon balance, water, fire, fuels and more.
In the demonstration, the CECS team will walk through the decision support tools and extensive data available in the toolbox and discuss how they may be used in exploring impacts of historical and future disturbance and management on a range of metrics, or planning and assessment of new fuel reduction and restoration projects.
NIFA grants available for weather-related disaster response
Informational webinars on Sept. 14, Dec. 8
The increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather-related disasters across the country may have many of us wishing we could click our heels and go back to times when weather did not disrupt our agricultural, forestry and rangeland production systems as often as it does today.
In addition to their devastating impacts on people and communities, disasters contribute to land degradation and adversely impact agricultural supply chains at the production, processing, distribution and consumption stages.
In response to extreme temperatures, heavy downpours, droughts and blizzards, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture is introducing a new program to help communities protect the nation's food supply.
The Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems program reflects a new cross-cutting program area within NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The program is housed within AFRI's Foundational and Applied Science program and is designed to rapidly deploy strategies, and fill knowledge and information gaps to protect the nation's food and agricultural supply chains — at the production through consumption stages — during and after extreme weather disasters.
Disasters happen when a community is not appropriately resourced or organized to withstand the impact, and whose population is vulnerable because of poverty, exclusion or other social disadvantages, according to United Nations Office for Risk Reduction official Mami Mizutori.
The new program area contains two grant types: Strengthening Standard and Coordinated Agricultural Project. Project proposals for either grant type will directly address effects associated with an extreme weather event or disaster that has occurred. In addition, applications will present projects that address one or more of the following emphasis areas:
- Agroecosystem Resilience
- Agricultural Commodity and Nutrition Security
- Health, Well-Being and Safety
The intention of the Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems program is to fund projects that provide solutions, which may include trainings, communication strategies, tools and technologies, food supply logistics, and climate-smart practices that can be rapidly adopted by various end-users. These projects will also explain how adoption potential of proposed solutions will be measured.
NIFA is committed to alleviating the impacts of extreme weather events and disasters across the food and agricultural system. NIFA understands the importance of supporting timely, critical research and Extension activities following extreme weather events and disasters.
For more information, or if you have any questions about this new program area priority, please visit AFRI Foundational and Applied Science RFA or send an email to afri-rapidresponse@usda.gov.
Live FAQ webinars will be held at noon on Sept. 14 and Dec. 8. Please check NIFA's events page to register for upcoming live Q&As.
When planning a proposal that includes communication, contact Linda Forbes, director of UC ANR Strategic Communications, at lforbes@ucanr.edu.
New book shows how Californians are improving climate resilience
Wildfires that generate their own weather, drought, record-breaking heatwaves, and frequent flooding are compelling more people to try to mitigate and adapt to climate change. A new book co-authored by Adina Merenlender, UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley, shows how Californians are working together across diverse communities and landscapes to improve resilience and address climate justice.
“Climate Stewardship: Taking Collective Action to Protect California,” published by UC Press, will be required reading for participants of the UC Climate Stewards certification course, but it isn't a textbook. The book is a collection of personal stories of individuals who are striving to improve climate resilience.
“The stories, many gathered through UCCE extension efforts, show what everyday people can do together to improve community resilience across agricultural, natural and urban landscapes,” Merenlender said. “'Climate Stewardship' also offers an uplifting way to learn about climate science that is most relevant for California's communities and ecosystems.”
Merenlender suggests UC ANR colleagues consider sharing the book, which is written for a lay audience, with their clientele.
“It is written in narrative form with stories meant to showcase what can be done and some relevant climate science is woven throughout,” she said. “For this reason, it is meant to be of interest to a wide California audience.”
The book is illustrated with original paintings by Obi Kaufmann, author of “The California Field Atlas,” and co-authored by Brendan Buhler, an award-winning science writer.
For more information about the book, see the California Naturalist blog at http://calnat.ucanr.edu/cs/Climate_Stewardship. To buy the book with a 30% discount, use code 20W8895 at https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520378940/climate-stewardship.
