UC Blog
Volunteers battle Sudden Oak Death
To better understand the extent of sudden oak death in California, UC Berkeley professor Mateo Garbelotto is enlisting volunteers in "SOD blitzes" to scour neighborhoods and wildlands for symptoms of the devastating disease, according to a story in the Oakland Tribune.
Sudden oak death, caused by a fungus Phytophthora ramorum, has resulted in widespread dieback of coast live oak, California black oak, Shreve oak, tan oak and canyon live oak in Central and Northern California and Oregon coastal areas.
The Oakland Tribune article, written by Jonathon Morales, said the blitz isn't comprehensive or scientific, but Garbelotto believes the volunteers' efforts are helpful. The SOD blitzes inform and educate the community about Sudden Oak Death, get locals involved in detecting the disease, and produce detailed local maps of disease distribution."If you were to think, 'Oh, I know where sudden oak death is' and you're using data that was produced two years ago, probably you actually don't have a good idea where it is," Garbelotto was quoted.
The blitzes also benefit property owners by letting them know whether their own trees are infected. If detected early, Garbelotto said, there's a chance a property owner can save the tree.
Blitzes are scheduled for April and May. Dates, locations, contact information and reports on previous blitzes are on Garbelotto's Forest Pathology and Mycology Lab Web site.
A Big Sur tan oak that succumbed to sudden oak death.
Share value of UC with anecdotes, Berkeley prof says
Relating the economic impact of University of California programs may not be the best way to increase the university's share of the state budget, according to UC Berkeley emeritus professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics George Goldman.
Goldman presented his ideas about public perceptions of UC economic benefits at a recent faculty seminar. The event was covered by UC Berkeley student blogger Tess Townsend at http://caledinsider.org. Underscoring the emerging importance of citizen journalism, Townsend writes that her work has been picked up by the likes of Politico, the National Student News Service and the Colbert Report.
Goldman said in his presentation that anecdotes are more powerful than numbers in communicating the value of programs.“People don’t change their minds based on economic impacts,” Goldman was quoted in the blog.
Publicizing the fiscal impact of UC may be futile.
“The good news is maybe we don’t need to know,” Goldman was quoted. “Maybe we just need to say this is the state of California, this is the University of California, and the state needs this institution.”
George Goldman
Master Gardener criticizes LBAM program
Annie Spiegelman, author of the gardening book "Talking Dirty" and a Master Gardener for UC Cooperative Extension in Marin County, wrote an opinion piece published today in the Huffington Post that mocked CDFA's and USDA's past efforts to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth in California.
The author seemed particularly incensed by aerial spraying of pheromones, which was part of the eradication program. In fact, the story was posted with a photo illustration showing a crowded Santa Cruz Boardwalk and beach with a plane releasing a huge white cloud overhead.
In her article, Spiegelman questioned why, during an immense fiscal crisis, $89.5 million was spent to eliminate from the state what she referred to as a "garden variety" and "humdrum" brown moth.
"So I clipped on my Master Gardener trowel-shaped lapel pin and gave the senior entomology faculty at the University of California, Davis, a jingle to see why my tax dollars were being used to stamp out the lackluster 'Light Brown Apple Moth," Spiegelman wrote.
The author noted that UC Davis entomology professors James Carey and Bruce Hammock and UC Davis Cooperative Extension entomology specialist Frank Zalom wrote to Governor Schwarzenegger in 2008 expressing their concern with the planned moth eradication program.
In their letter they said data showing the moth would become more important than other pests already in the state are unconvincing, and there is no scientific evidence that mating disruption is capable of eradicating any insect population.
In a conversation with Spiegelman, Carey reiterated the point that LBAM is not a serious pest."And even if it was a more serious pest, there is zero chance to eradicate it," Carey was quoted in the article. "Eradication is not possible because you're not eradicating an LBAM population but you're trying to eradicate 100,000 LBAM populations. There are millions of pockets of these and each pocket has a separate population."
Zalom told the writer he believes naturally occurring biological control agents will become increasingly important for control of LBAM.
"LBAM will eventually be considered an occasional pest that growers need to be aware of and one, which on occasion will require intervention. It seems to be no greater a threat than a suite of other insect pests that already occur locally," Zalom was quoted.
4-H Million Trees Wins 2010 Seaworld Environmental Excellence Award
4-H MILLION TREES PROJECTPacifica 4-H Club - Pacifica, CA
Project Facilitator - Tom Webber The 4-H Million Trees Project (4HMT) is an international service-learning project to inspire up to 6 million 4-H youth to plant trees in their communities to slow global climate change. Since the project was founded in 2007, over 26,000 youth in 43 states and provinces have planted more than 101,000 trees. At maturity these trees will sequester approximately 5 million pounds per year of atmospheric carbon dioxide. These 4-H youth are doing their part in the climate crisis.
Besides the tree planting goals, 4HMT has a number of other targets that match the major tenets of 4-H youth development, including providing opportunities in leadership, community service, and chances to develop life skills such as public speaking, article writing, and public outreach.
4HMT works within the distributed structure of 4-H, where youth in each club make decisions independently. Every month, youth from each 4-H club select and perform a community service project, and tree planting events fit perfectly into this tradition. Each club has discretion over its own tree planting events, and youth leaders plan for and make decisions about the planting location, number and species of trees, tree sources, funding options, and maintenance plans.
This effort is a service-learning project within 4-H's Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) initiative to inspire youth to consider SET education and careers. 4-H clubs are always encouraged to include an educational component to their tree planting events. For example, 4HMT suggests clubs use partner ERTHNXT's age-appropriate Trees for the 21st Century curriculum to help kids understand the physical, environmental, and biological importance of trees. 4-H encourages learning-by-doing, and 4HMT gives kids the chance to get dirty as they learn how trees impact their world.
Publicity is the most challenging part of the grassroots 4-H Million Trees Project, and distributing an invitation to all 6 million North American 4-H youth in over 90,000 clubs and units is very difficult. To spread awareness, 4HMT identifies intermediate (middle school age) and senior (high school) 4-Hers to give PowerPoint presentations to county 4-H clubs to teach youth about the importance of trees in their communities. In addition, 4HMT recruits senior 4-Hers give speeches to thousands of youth at regional and state 4-H conferences. Providing youth with public speaking opportunities is a big part of 4HMT, because once a young person has spoken to large groups of people, he or she gains confidence and future public speaking anxiety is dispelled. 4HMT also encourages kids to publicize their events by writing articles for the local paper, the club or county 4-H newsletter, or causing articles to be written or TV shows to be produced about their work.
The 4-H Million Trees Project has brought great benefits to its leaders and participants, including the opportunity to participate in SeaWorld's Environmental Excellence Awards. Therefore, another goal is to encourage youth to conceive of and develop large-scale community service projects in their passion areas so they can realize similar rewards. All it takes is the seed of an idea and some follow-up, and the rewards are enormous.
4HMT has succeeded on many levels, most notably as a structure for young people to participate in the climate crisis. Many individuals and organizations contribute to build this network, and as more people and groups join, the 4HMT tree grows stronger. As we say, every day is a good day to plant a tree!
http://seaworld.org/conservation-matters/eea/2010/ci.htm
Message from VP Dooley
Dear Colleagues,
In the last 12 months, we have experienced major, if not unprecedented changes across ANR. These changes have been driven by our funding challenges and by the need to prepare for the future.
New relationships, collaborations, and systems have been launched. Many dedicated and experienced staff have moved into very different new roles while others have moved on to new endeavors. I am very proud of your commitment and your sacrifices. The progress we have made is substantial.
These changes are unsettling for some, but maintaining the status quo simply isn’t an option. Dealing with budget realities is an obvious necessity. Organizing and refocusing on the future is also imperative. We must think and aim far enough ahead to be ready to respond to better times.
That is one of the reasons the demanding external relations role President Yudof has asked me to handle is so important. What benefits UC is good for ANR. From a budget perspective, we are now treated the same as UC campuses and we benefit from much higher visibility for ANR within UCOP and across the UC system.
My calendar is busy, but I continue to engage in important ANR activities. Recently, I discussed with a key USDA advisory board the moral imperative to develop a sustainable global food system. Last week I attended the Sierra Foothill REC’s 50th anniversary celebration. The five decades of research recapped by Ed Price, Mel George, and others are solid evidence of ANR’s unique capabilities, our commitment to address California issues, and especially of the extraordinary people who have contributed to that heritage. This week I will be participating in a United Nations Foundation discussion of “Solutions for the Land.”
Early next month, we will host the President’s Advisory Commission and also meet with Roger Beachy, director of USDA’s new National Institute for Food and Agriculture or NIFA. I also have the opportunity to talk to the Western Regional Development Center Board of Directors later this month.
Both as a California farm boy and as an attorney, I’ve always grabbed the best and the biggest tools available either to get the job done or to make the decisive point in a legal argument. It’s no different now. I came to UC to lead ANR and I remain committed to ANR. The reasons are simple. UC is a unique institution and ANR is uniquely capable of extending that excellence to California and beyond.
I hope you will join me for a virtual town hall on May 24. Specifics will be out shortly, but we’ll certainly have much to talk about, including the latest budget news based on the governor’s “May Revise.”
Thanks for your commitment and hard work.
Warm regards,
Dan
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