Rangelands

by Carole Kent The power of caring and acting, and I emphasize EVERY action to care for the Earth (capital E) and earth (small e) is necessary and important. Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist from Sweden puts it this way, "no one is too small to make a difference".

When it comes to American barn owls, forget spring cleaning.

It was a major project, a long time coming, and what an excellent resource for those studying the spotted-wing drosophila, a worldwide threat to the berry production industry.

Congratulations to Melody Keena, UC Davis alumna and entomologist extraordinaire. Keena, a research entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station in Hamden, Conn.

What incredible research! It involves fossilized male ants, estimated to be about 20 million years and encased in Ethiopian amber.

On Labor Day, a federal holiday, we celebrate the our country's labor movement, our gratitude, and our achievements. But there is no Labor Day holiday for the worker bee, one of three castes (queen, worker and drone) in a honey bee colony. No Labor Day holiday for the queen, either.

Cynthia Kerson With the weather getting warmer by the year, it's time we recognize the difference between heat and water stresses in our plants. The temperature is averaging 83, and according to www.GreenCastOnline.

The Placer County Resource Conservation District (Placer RCD) is rapidly expanding their prescribed burning program offerings to improve community wildfire resilience.

They're here and more are coming! Be on the lookout for migratory Monarch butterflies from the Pacific Northwest heading south to their overwintering sites along the California coast.

Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, has been looking for monarchs all year long on the UC Davis campus--as have scores of others. On Friday, Aug. 26, he met with success. He spotted four within half an hour.