UC Blog
Support developed for AFRI grant proposal process
Bob Sams of Communication Services and Information Technology and Joni Rippee of the Program Support Unit (PSU) recently led a discussion about grant application support with members of ANR Contracts and Grants, Communication Services and Information Technology, and the PSU. From that discussion, a process will be developed to guide and support the AFRI grant proposal process as it relates to the ANR Strategic Initiatives.
The process begins with the principal investigator contacting the Strategic Initiative leader in the appropriate subject area to assess the proposal’s merit and fit within ANR guidelines.
PSU staff will be assigned to handle proposals for each specific request for application. Contracts and Grants staff will match up to each PSU staff member to ensure continuity through the entire process.
A communication plan, including a Collaborative Tools group and training for Contracts and Grants and the PSU staff, will be implemented to keep the PI, initiative leaders, and PSU and Contracts and Grants staff updated.
PopSci pursues the perfect lawn
Popular Science, the world's largest science and technology magazine, spotlighted the work of UC Riverside Cooperative Extension turf scientist Jim Baird in its May 2010 "Statistically Speaking" feature. Titled "The Perfect Lawn," the full-page story said Baird is bioengineering grass that drinks less water and still earns praise for its lush, emerald green appearance.
"The process is sort of a gladiator academy for grass," PopSci says. The scientists grow promising hybrids, then turn off the water to see which ones survive.
The article opens with statistics on turf grass' ability to sequester carbon. U.S. lawns, it says, could trap enough carbon each year to offset the emissions from burning 1.9 billion gallons of gasoline. However, it takes 7 billion gallons of water a year to keep the grass green.
Other statistics in the feature were:
- 625 square feet - Area of lawn needed to make enough oxygen for one person for one day
- 1.57 billion hours - Time homeowners spend mowing the lawn per year
- 37 billion pounds - Carbon dioxide that residential lawns can store per year
- 800 million gallons - Amount of gas guzzled by lawn mowers annually
- 33,000 square miles - Area of the U.S. covered by residential lawns
Jim Baird
Natural Resources conference to focus on initiative
The UC ANR Natural Resources Coordinating Conference is set for June 28-30. ANR academics and members of selected workgroups should plan to attend and discuss how the Sustainable Natural Ecosystem Initiative can best implement its part of the ANR Strategic Vision.
The conference will be held at the Lion's Gate Hotel at 3410 Westover in McClellan (just northwest of Sacramento).
Here is the tentative agenda:
- Monday, June 28: Overview of current understanding and key priorities of major environmental issues affecting California (e.g. demography, water supply, energy availability, transportation infrastructure, climate change, habitat fragmentation, diversity loss, land use change). Panels will comment on a draft of the Sustainable Natural Ecosystem initiative policy statement. In the evening, there will be a poster session and social.
- Tuesday, June 29: Breakout sessions will focus on workgroup suggestions and contributions to the SNE initiative statement. Facilitated breakout sessions will focus on developing strategies for achieving new Sustainable Natural Ecosystem initiative goals (e.g. internal funding programs, outreach and communications, academic positions, outside funding). On Tuesday morning and evening, meeting space will be available for workgroups to conduct their business meetings.
- Wednesday, June 30: Morning plenary session will review key outcomes of the meeting and future actions needed. ANR initiative leaders will discuss integration across initiatives.
Registration and more information will be posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/NRCC_2010.
Chronicle op-ed questions fire prevention tactics
Stripping plants from swaths of land to create fire breaks may not be the best way to prevent wildfire damage, according to an op-ed article published in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. Writer Ben Preston said the long-practiced fire management strategy opens space for invasive weed invasion, which could burn even hotter.
Research by fire scientists at universities all over the Western United States has found that, despite extensive efforts to prevent large fires with prescribed burns and brush removal, fires continue to be a regular occurrence. And modifying the landscape, research indicates, has unintended impacts.
UC Berkeley wildfire researcher Max Moritz told the writer that in Nothern California, scotch broom, pampas grass and other more flammable nonnatives tend to move into cleared areas where some variety of chaparral once stood.
Preston suggests the best fire management alternatives are:
- Creating defensible space around homes and other buildings. UC Cooperative Extension has a publication, Home Landscaping for Fire, with guidelines for creating defensible space that doesn't suggest eliminating all plants on the land.
- Investing in roof sprinklers and fire-retardant gels.
- Organizing citizen emergency response teams to deal with spot fires.
For more information, see UC's two-page publication Invasive Plants and Wildfires in Southern California.
Wildfire threatening a California subdivision.
NRCS announces $15 million grant program
The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service distributed a news release on PR Newsire today that says the agency will fund conservation projects around the nation to the tune of $15 million.
The release featured comments from the California State Conservationist, Ed Burton, who encouraged California farmers and researchers to apply.
"This is a real opportunity for our University of California, California State University and Cooperative Extension offices to help expand our knowledge in key issues facing farmers and ranchers," Burton was quoted in the release.
The competitive Conservation Innovation Grants will fund projects related to:
- Farms and ranches with emerging and traditional ag and natural resource issues
- Market-based approaches to energy conservation
- Methods of tackling climate change
- Solutions to improve water, soil and air quality
- Nutrient management
- Wildlife habitat enhancement
- Pollinator population enhancement
Ten percent of the funding is being set aside for beginning farmers and ranchers, limited resource farmers or ranchers, Indian tribes or community-based organizations that serve these groups, the release said.
Applicants must submit pre-proposals to NRCS national headquarters in Washington, D.C., by April 26.
For details and eligibility requirements, see the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program Web site.
NRCS Web site.