Rangelands

Who can participate in citizen science? Everyone. Our 4,000 certified California Naturalists recorded over 7,000 volunteer hours under citizen science in 2019. Though citizen science is a relatively new term, people have been participating and contributing to scientific research throughout history.

Got squash blossoms? You've probably got squash bees. Unlike honey bees, which are generalists, squash bees are specialists. They pollinate only members of the cucurbits or squash family, Cucurbitaceae, which includes pumpkins, squash, gourds, cucumbers and zucchini.

Congrats! You've been awarded a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Healthy Soils Program. Now what? Once your grant has been executed and before you implement any of your practices, you need to take soil samples to measure the soil's baseline organic matter content.

Grower Profile #1: Frank Fernandes Practices: No-Till, Strip-Till, and Cover Crops Frank Fernandes grew up in a big dairy family in Tulare County. He has continued that tradition and now farms about 1,500 acres near Pixley. He grows corn, wheat, and alfalfa as forage for his cows.

It is indeed a lovely beast, as lepidopterist Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, says. Ann Sievers, owner, grower and miller of Il Fiorello Olive Oil Co.

I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to get a fair bit of formal education - from my undergraduate days at UC Davis studying agricultural economics to the online coursework I took while obtaining my master's degree at Colorado State University.

Hedgerows are an approved practice under California Department of Agriculture's Healthy Soils Grant Program. That means, growers are eligible to receive grant funding for planting hedgerows.

UC Davis third-year student Naomi Murray, a researcher in the laboratory of ecologist Rick Karban, professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is now a Goldwater Scholar.

It's a damsel, but not in distress. It's a Familiar Bluett, but it's not all that familiar--unless you study Odonata. Lately we've been seeing scores of damseflies zigzagging in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.

You may have lost track of the hours, days, weeks and months due to the coronavirus pandemic, but how can you forget National Pollinator Week? Especially if you've ventured out in your yard, garden or park and witnessed the pollinators doing what they do best.