Posts Tagged: Ryan Tompkins

Ryan Tompkins Wins Award for Outstanding Contributions to California Forestry

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) Forestry Advisor Ryan Tompkins was posthumously awarded the Francis H. Raymond Award by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) on November 6, 2024. This award is...

Lawn-pocalypse! Surviving Drought

Ah, summer! The season of sunburns, pool parties, and… lawn droughts. If your once lush, green carpet now looks like a crunchy brown doormat, you're not alone. Let's dive into why your yard is staging a dramatic death scene and what you can do to...

Bermuda grass and weeds overtaking drought stressed turf grass.

A patch of former lawn, mostly dead, with a few green weeds and Bermudagrass

Ryan Tompkins’ Celebration of Life on July 14

Dear Colleagues, 

You are invited to celebrate the life of our dear friend and colleague Ryan Tompkins, UC Cooperative Extension forestry and natural resources advisor for Plumas, Sierra and Lassen counties, who passed away on May 6.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Ryan on Sunday, July 14, at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds in Quincy. The celebration program will begin at 3 p.m. with speakers and music. Cocktails will be served after the program, followed by dinner at 6 pm. 

We will be joined by Ryan's friends, family members, colleagues, classmates and community members. All are welcome to attend.  

If you are interested in attending, RSVP by filling out this form by Monday, July 1. Your RSVP will help organizers get an accurate head count for planning purposes, but nobody will be turned away. 

If you are not able to attend in person, you can register for the livestream of the celebration here.

This event is being coordinated by the Plumas TREX Incident Management Team at the request of Ryan's wife Michelle Coppoletta.

With sincere gratitude,

David Lile
UC Cooperative Extension director in Lassen County

Sad news about Ryan Tompkins

Dear Colleagues,

It is with deep sadness that I share the news that our colleague Ryan Tompkins, forestry and natural resources advisor for Plumas, Sierra and Lassen counties, passed away on May 6, while receiving treatment for cancer. David Lile, Ryan's supervisor, has been in touch with his family, who granted me permission to inform our UC ANR community. Ryan is survived by his wife Michelle and sons Emmett and Sterling.

Ryan was well known for his warmth, kindness and quick humor. Among his colleagues, he was admired for his ability to explain technical information in creative ways that would be interesting and relatable to his audience. Ryan also loved to conduct extension work in settings that people would enjoy – sometimes this was over his BBQ, sometimes at Forestry Camp, but most often while hiking through his beloved forest to demonstrate an important point.

Ryan was a true leader and had active research and extension collaborations throughout ANR, UC Berkeley, the U.S. Forest Service, private timber and many local organizations. On topics ranging from reforestation to forest health to fire resilience, Ryan was highly respected and valued by his peers and the many communities he served. Those of you who didn't work with Ryan directly may remember his excellent town hall presentation in 2022 about making communities more resilient to wildfire.

I especially enjoyed my time with Ryan during our CARET trip to Washington, D.C. in 2023, and I will greatly miss him – as a consummate Cooperative Extension advisor and as a wonderful person. My condolences to all of you across UC ANR who called Ryan a colleague and friend.

Those wishing to send well-wishes to Ryan's family are asked to mail cards to the Plumas-Sierra Cooperative Extension office, care of Samantha Brown, 208 Fairgrounds Road, Quincy, CA, 95971. Plans are coming together for a memorial, and we will provide more details as they become available.

For those seeking support for your own well-being, I encourage you to contact the Academic and Staff Assistance Program (ASAP), which provides cost-free and confidential counseling and referral services to all UC ANR employees.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Climate-Change Resources

University of California UC ANR Green Blog (Climate Change and Other Topics) https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/index.cfm?tagname=climate%20change (full index)

Examples:

     -  Save Trees First: Tips to Keep Them Alive Under Drought https://ucanr.edu/b/~CdD 

     - Landscaping with Fire Exposure in Mind: https://ucanr.edu/b/~G4D

     - Cities in California Inland Areas Must Make Street Tree Changes to adapt to Future Climate  https://ucanr.edu/b/~oF7

Drought, Climate Change and California Water Management Ted Grantham, UC Cooperative Extension specialist (23 minutes) https://youtu.be/dlimj75Wn9Q

Climate Variability and Change: Trends and Impacts on CA Agriculture Tapan Pathak, UC Cooperative Extension specialist (24 minutes) https://youtu.be/bIHI0yqqQJc

California Institute for Water Resources (links to blogs, talks, podcasts, water experts, etc.) https://ciwr.ucanr.edu/California_Drought_Expertise/

UC ANR Wildfire Resources (publications, videos, etc.) https://ucanr.edu/News/For_the_media/Press_kits/Wildfire/ (main website)

      -UC ANR Fire Resources and Information https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/ (main website)

            -Preparing Home Landscaping https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Prepare/Landscaping/

UC ANR Free Publications https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/ (main website)

- Benefits of Plants to Humans and Urban Ecosystems: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8726.pdf

 -Keeping Plants Alive Under Drought and Water Restrictions (English version) https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8553.pdf

  (Spanish version) https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8628.pdf

-  Use of Graywater in Urban Landscapes https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8536.pdf

-  Sustainable Landscaping in California https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8504.pdf

 

Other (Non-UC) Climate Change Resources

Urban Forests and Climate Change. Urban forests play an important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Active stewardship of a community's forestry assets can strengthen local resilience to climate change while creating more sustainable and desirable places to live. https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/urban-forests

Examining the Viability of Planting Trees to Mitigate Climate Change (plausible at the forest level) https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-of-planting-trees-to-help-mitigate-climate-change/

Reports and other information resources coordinated under the auspices of the United Nations and produced through the collaboration of thousands of international scientists to provide a clear and up to date view of the current state of scientific knowledge relevant to climate change. United Nations Climate Action

Scientific reports, programs, action movements and events related to climate change. National Center for Atmospheric Research (National Science Foundation)

Find useful reports, program information and other documents resulting from federally funded research and development into the behavior of the atmosphere and related physical, biological and social systems. Search and find climate data from prehistory through to an hour ago in the world's largest climate data archive. (Formerly the "Climatic Data Center") National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA)

Think tank providing information, analysis, policy and solution development for addressing climate change and energy issues (formerly known as the: "Pew Center on Global Climate Change"). Center for Climate & Energy Solutions (C2ES)

Mapping Resilience: A Blueprint for Thriving in the Face of Climate Disaster. The Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) was launched in July 2010 and is managed by EcoAdapt, a non-profit with a singular mission: to create a robust future in the face of climate change by bringing together diverse players to reshape planning and management in response to rapid climate change. https://www.cakex.org/documents/mapping-resilience-blueprint-thriving-face-climate-disaster

Cal-Adapt provides a way to explore peer-reviewed data that portrays how climate change might affect California at the state and local level. We make this data available through downloads, visualizations, and the Cal-Adapt API for your research, outreach, and adaptation planning needs. Cal-Adapt is a collaboration between state agency funding programs, university and private sector researchers https://cal-adapt.org/

Find reports, maps, data and other resources produced through a confederation of the research arms of 13 Federal departments and agencies that carry out research and develop and maintain capabilities that support the Nation's response to global change. Global Change (U.S. Global Change Research Program)

The Pacific Institute is a global water think tank that combines science-based thought leadership with active outreach to influence local, national, and international efforts to develop sustainable water policies. https://pacinst.org/our-approach/

Making equity real in climate adaptation and community resilience policies and programs: a guidebook. https://greenlining.org/publications/2019/making-equity-real-in-climate-adaption-and-community-resilience-policies-and-programs-a-guidebook/ 

Quarterly CA Climate Updates and CA Drought Monitor Maps (updated each Thursday) https://www.drought.gov/documents/quarterly-climate-impacts-and-outlook-western-region-june-2022

 

 

 

 

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