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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Cheryl Wilen
Wilen named acting UC IPM director
Kassim Al-Khatib, who has been the UC IPM director since 2009, is transitioning to a UC Cooperative Extension specialist position located in the Department of Plant Sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. This move will allow him to focus on his research in weed management.
Wilen is also leader of the Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases (EIPD) strategic initiative. Based in San Diego, she will continue to serve as the area integrated pest management advisor for the turf, ornamental and nursery industries in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Last summer, Wilen served as acting director for the IPM program while Al-Khatib was on sabbatical leave on a Fulbright Scholarship in Turkey.
Barbara Allen-Diaz
Vice President
Bill Frost
Associate Vice President
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Wilen named new EIPD Strategic Initiative leader
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce Cheryl Wilen has agreed to lead the Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases (EIPD) Strategic Initiative, effective today (July 1). In this role, Cheryl will provide direction for the initiative, including shepherding the ANR Competitive Grants process, planning and conducting strategic initiative conferences, and identifying and initiating EIPD efforts such as development of policy briefs and other special projects. As the EIPD initiative leader, Cheryl will also serve on the ANR Program Council.
As she has since 1995, Cheryl will continue as the area integrated pest management advisor for Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. She conducts applied research and extends information working with growers and pest control advisors in the turf, ornamental, and nursery industries, and serves as the IPM advisor coordinator to help develop successful IPM programs. In addition, until mid-September, she is serving as acting director for the UC Statewide IPM Program while Director Kassim Al-Khatib is on sabbatical leave. Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in botany from UC Riverside and M.S. and B.S. in horticulture, from the University of Arizona and University of Maryland, respectively.
She succeeds Beth Grafton-Cardwell, who we thank for three years of steadfast leadership. As chair of the EIPD panel of experts, Beth worked to develop the EIPD strategic plan that focuses cutting-edge research and extension in three priority issue areas: exclusion of pests and pathogens, emerging problems with pests and diseases and integrated management.
For more information about the EIPD strategic initiative, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/StrategicInitiatives/Endemic_and_Invasive_Pests_-_Diseases.
Barbara Allen-Diaz
Vice President
Bill Frost
Associate Vice President
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Invasive weeds are taking a toll on wildflower displays
UC Cooperative Extension is testing methods of removing Sahara mustard, including hand weeding, hoes and herbicide. But these are only stopgap measures meant to keep the plant at bay in select spots.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to spray the herbicide across the entire Southwest,” said Chris McDonald, UCCE advisor in San Bernardino County. “But the idea is preserving areas of value, such as the wildflower fields of Borrego Springs.”
Sahara mustard has been in California since 1927, but it wasn't until Hurricane Kathleen doused California in 1976 that it proliferated widely, according to Rich Minnich, professor in the Department of Geography at UC Riverside.
“There was this gigantic explosion of mustard, and it’s never been the same since,” Minnich said.
Anza-Borrego's tough eradication project: Cutting the mustard
Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
A front-page story in the Los Angeles Times detailed the changing attractions in Borrego Springs. Tourists used to come to see a colorful display of wildflowers, but because of an invasive weed, Sahara mustard, local officials are now trying to turn visitors attention to hiking, cycling, star gazing and photography instead. UCCE's Chris McDonald, who is conducting research on Sahara mustard control, was featured in four of the nine photos that accompanied the story.
Nutgrass: Three experts' solutions to one of the worst weeds
L.A. at Home blog, Los Angeles Times
Nutsedge is commonly considered a gardeners' worst enemy, which is further proven by the draconian measures to control the weed offered by UC and other experts in the L.A. at Home blog this week. In the introduction to the problem, Cheryl Wilen, UC Cooperative Extension advisor, notes there are two kinds of nutsedge. One way to tell them apart takes a little courage.
"If you are inclined to bite into one," she said, "yellow nutsedge has a pleasant almond or brazilnut taste, while purple nutsedge does not have a good flavor."
Controlling either kind is challenging. Yvonne Savio, UCCE manager of the L.A. County common ground program, suggests extricating the weed in a way that may seem extreme.
Dig 6 inches around and under each weed and throw the weed and dug up soil into the garbage. "Don't even think of composting the weed or filtering the soil through a screen," Savio said. The weeds will come back.
