While trees and forests are often emblematic of constancy in a fast-paced world, our state's forests are actually changing before our eyes. Since 2020, the UC ANR Forest Stewardship Education (FSE) program has been helping California's forest landowners be proactive about the inevitable shifts their forestland will experience. The Forest Stewardship and Post-Fire Forest Resilience workshop programs use an online educational format, which guide landowners through the basics of creating forest ..read more

Nearly 200 residents trained in past seven years by program, a part of UC Environmental Stewards On one of her darkest days, Tammah Watts stood in front of her kitchen sink to fill a pitcher of water. Outside of her window, the San Marcos resident noticed a flutter in the distance. She spotted a small yellow bird emerge from the tree and her eyes grew in admiration. Bird-watching from her kitchen window became an escape for Watts while she was temporarily homebound after a surgery. It's ..read more

The Berkeley City Council recently agreed to purchase a two-acre site (currently used for parking) known as the shellmound and a place of sacred ceremonies and turn over it over to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, which is planning to restore the site to a place of gathering and ceremonies. This is an example of LandBack. LandBack is a growing movement focused on returning land to Indigenous people, encompassing various actions to enhance their access to and stewardship of ancestral homelands. To ..read more

Water is among the most precious resources on the planet. Some areas don't get enough; some get too much. And climate change is driving both of those circumstances to ever-growing extremes. Two UC Merced experts in civil and environmental engineering took part in a recent report by the Environmental Defense Fund examining the issue and potential solutions. Associate Professor of Extension Tapan Pathak and Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara co-authored the report, "Scarcity and ..read more

Wildflower displays threatened Northwest of Los Angeles, springtime brings native wildflowers to bloom in the Santa Monica Mountains. These beauties provide food for insects, maintain healthy soil and filter water seeping into the ground – in addition to offering breathtaking displays of color. They're also good at surviving after wildfire, having adapted to it through millennia. But new research shows wildflowers that usually would burst back after a blaze and a good rain are losing ..read more

Are cattle a secret weapon for taking on California wildfires? California's cattle ranchers contribute a significant amount to the region's culture, economy and food supply, but do they also inadvertently help to temper the wildfires that have been plaguing the state? And if so, is it a better alternative – environmentally speaking – to letting grasslands burn? A new study published in the journal Sustainability delves into the topic, weighing the advantages – and ..read more

Algorithm for AI enables low-cost tracking of invasive plant To manage johnsongrass, a noxious weed that crowds out cotton and sickens horses, farmers have tried herbicides, burning and hand-pulling. Now, researchers at University of California, Davis, have developed a more high-tech weapon against the invasive weed: artificial intelligence and machine learning. Using photos from Google's Street View database, UC Davis researchers have tracked down over 2,000 cases of johnsongrass in ..read more

For 40 years, the University of California Master Gardener Program of San Diego County has upheld its mission of providing research-based information about home horticulture and pest management to the public, while earning and sustaining the community's trust in doing so. “People trust UC Master Gardeners to provide accurate advice on gardening because they are trained by UC ANR [UC Agriculture and Natural Resources],” said Vincent Lazaneo, emeritus urban horticulture advisor and ..read more

UC ANR among sponsors of 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress Scientists, land managers, educators and students from a variety of organizations worldwide will gather from Dec. 4-8 in Monterey, California for the 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. The conference is hosted by the Association for Fire Ecology in cooperation with the California Fire Science Consortium. Major sponsors include University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources ..read more

Water scholars from 18 countries gathered in South Africa for the 11th biennial Rosenberg Forum on International Water Policy. Hosted at the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Water and Production Economics (WPE) research unit, this year's forum included the most diverse group to date, in terms of discipline, geography and early-career professionals. The week-long event, Oct. 23-27, addressed water quantity and quality management, economic production and welfare implications in the Global ..read more