Blast from the past

What a blast from the past. One of my co-workers e-mailed me the April-June 2010 issue of California Agriculture after seeing my picture in it, and there I was, feeding calves (page 61). I was actually a student intern that spring in plant taxonomy at the Sierra Field Station at Browns Valley, and stayed the summer feeding cows and calves. My name was Marla Shapiro at the time, it was the summer of 1974, I was 20 years old, and I believe my mom took that picture while visiting.

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Knight in 1974

I was a sophomore at UC Davis, had just failed organic chemistry, and was looking for a break from math, chemistry and physics! My interest in botany led me to the internship, where I was one of two students creating the herbarium at the station. It changed my life. I've been a botanist now for 30 years at the Klamath National Forest in northern California (I repeated organic chemistry successfully).

My co-workers are tickled at this part of my life that they knew nothing about, especially my friends at the county agriculture department. Thanks for bringing back memories of a great time.

Marla A. Knight

Botanist, Klamath National Forest Fort Jones

Climate change issue, Cal Ag Web site, Byron win ACE awards

California Agriculture journal received two awards from the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), at the June 2010 ACE conference in St. Louis.

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April-June 2009

The silver award for technical publications was awarded to Executive Editor Janet White, Managing Editor Janet Byron and Art Director Davis Krauter (retired) for the special issue, “‘Unequivocal’: How climate change will transform California” (Vol. 63, No. 2).

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http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org

Our redesigned Web site, California Agriculture Online ( http:californiaagriculture.ucanr.org ), won a bronze award for electronic publications. The development team included White, Byron, Krauter, Web Editors Andrea Laue and Michael Talman, Web Developer Dave Krause and Web Action Team Manager Karl Krist.

Byron was also selected to receive the 2010 ACE Western Region Pioneer Award, recognizing individuals “whose hard work and vision helped establish ACE.”

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