- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted to support a bill introduced by Congressman Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, allowing businesses that rent pack mules and horses to operate in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks while a new wilderness plan is implemented, according to the Visalia Times-Delta.
In 2009 a High Sierra Hikers Association sued the National Park Service for failing to conduct an adequate environmental impact analysis of its wilderness plan. As a result of the suit, a judge ruled that the service no longer has the authority to issue permits to the companies that rent pack animals.
Before the supervisors' vote, Jim Sullins, director of UC Cooperation Extension in Tulare and Kings counties, said years of research done by UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension wasn't included in the U.S. Park Service's response to the lawsuit.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The article said Leonard and Nancy Morrell were unsure what to do with their 2.5-acre farm in Solvang after their kids were raised and they retired from their jobs. Leonard read a research paper by Gaskell that suggested the area provided excellent conditions to grow blackberries and raspberries.
“It just seemed like something that I’d like to do,” Leonard said of his initial reaction. “(Gaskell) came down from Santa Maria and he helped me set it up and everything. That was kind of the beginning.”
Now 12 years later, the Morrells have turned their modest berry farm into a family business, selling fresh berries and berry jam at the Solvang farmers market.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The lengthy article said ground was broken in October, and the facility is projected to be completed in the fall.
"We've been a research and extension center since 1951, but have been primarily focused on research, without a strong extension component," said Hopland director Robert Timm. "Farm advisors in the extension office handle the bulk of the outreach. We've needed a facility that could handle larger meetings and address educational and outreach components of our extension programs. We'd hold meetings in a crowded warehouse and hope the weather would cooperate. It took several years, but this project finally rose to the top of the list."
The building is named for the late Rod Shippey, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor from 1955 to 1989.
Among the "green" components of the new facility are:
- Rainwater catchment for flush toilets
- Radiant floor heating
- Solar panels for hot water generation
- On-site wastewater treatment
- Passive heating and cooling elements
- 'Woodpecker-friendly' siding
Future plans for the building include:
- Site-built photovoltaics
- A solar thermal system
- Utilization of green furniture and cabinetry
- Outdoor meeting "terraces"
- Food composting stations
- Creation of a wetland pond
Parking will be near, but not next to the building, the article said. Attendees will traverse a gentle trail to the facility, emphasizing the connectedness to the land and creating an organic transition from car to countryside.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Creedon spoke yesterday at a conference arranged by Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology. Also on the panel was Thomas Harter, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at UC Davis, who described his recently released research report on nitrates in Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley groundwater.
The conference featured panels and speakers on many of California's water issues, including underground water banking and Southern California's quest for new water sources, Grossi reported. However, no issue was bigger than Harter's study, he said.
Earlier Thursday, Harter and his research team presented details of the report to an audience of about 150 at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Two local television stations, ABC affiliate Channel 30 and CBS affiliate Channel 47, provided their viewers with live reports from the scene.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Morris is participating in a program undertaken by a consortium of U.S. universities led by UC Davis. The program, funded with a $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aims to help Afghanistan stabilize its agriculture-based economy.
"Thirty years of conflict have left Afghanistan's agriculture far behind much of the world and with little capacity to improve it," said Jim Hill, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. Hill is the associate dean of UC Davis international programs.
Agriculture employs more than 80 percent of Afghanistan's labor force and generates more than 40 percent of its economic output.
According to Morris' blog, xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com, he is on the job in Afghanistan but will still answer gardening questions from back home.
