UC Cooperative Extension, LA and Ventura County Natural Resources

03/26/2022

Hey! I am really excited to be the organizer for two sessions at The Nature of Cities Festival! The festival is an international forum to talk about urban ecology, and ways to increase and support nature in cities for ecological health and human well-being. REGISTRATION IS FREE! March 29th, from 10:00-11:30 EDT (7:00-8:30 PDT) join is for a discussion about increasing water justice in cities around the world! Session title: An Ethical Code for Water - Diversifying the Global Conversation

Check out the schedule for TNOC Festival 2022

03/10/2022

The Nature of Cities Festival is happening March 29-31! TNOC Festival pushes boundaries to radically imagine our cities for the future. The virtual festival brings together planners, managers, researchers, activists, and artists from around the world for 3 full days with programming across time zones and languages. The festival focuses on facilitating transdisciplinary dialogue, small group workshops, arts engagement, and fostering a collaborative spirit around solutions for how to build cities that are better for nature and all people.

I'll be facilitating two sessions, one on how to implement and ethical code for water management to change the urban water paradigm (3/29, 10-11:30 EDT) with Naomi Tsur, Peter Schoonmaker, Fred Tutman, Anushri Tiwari, Nancy Grimm and Diane Pataki from ASU College of Global Futures and one on how to foster deep community engagement to co-generate knowledge and solutions (3/29 3-4:30 EDT) featuring James Rojas, author of the new book Dream Play Build, Moira Zellner from Northeastern University, and folks from Streetwyze community mapping!

A core philosophy of the festival is to foster inclusivity and lower barriers to participation, and in that spirit, you can register free, or make a nominal contribution to support TNOC's work.
https://tnoc-festival.com/wp/

A virtual festival where many people join together for better, greener cities.

01/28/2022

Super excited to be hosting Fred Tutman, Patuxent Riverkeeper, at our next NECI Monthly Webinar, to learn about Supporting Climate and Environmental Action with Marginalized Communities! https://nationalextensionclimateinitiative.net/pd-meetings/

12/22/2021

Are you interested in learning LOTS more about gardening and getting engaged to help your community?

The application deadline for the Los Angeles County 2022 UC Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program is January 10, 2022.

You can learn more about the requirements and apply here: https://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

11/29/2021

UC California Naturalist is hiring two Regional Community Educators! Both job postings close on 12/3/2021. If you are looking for a great opportunity or know someone who is, please take a look or share this message.

Both positions represent the UC California Naturalist program, including the and certification courses. They both emphasize skills and experience in collaborative design to tailor our courses to local issues, culture, and priorities and advance our program’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategic plan. Please help us spread the word to your networks! One position is based in the Central Valley and Sierra regions and the other is based in the Bay Area and Capitol Corridor regions. Join us to give Californians the knowledge, skills, and network to protect and preserve our unique and diverse natural resources, wild and urban alike, and increase ecosystem and community resilience. Please see these links for full description & details.

Central Valley and Sierra regions (Job ID # 26509): https://lnkd.in/gnqejZaW
Bay Area and Capitol Corridor regions (Job ID # 26705): https://lnkd.in/gQQvhxzG

10/13/2021

Make your voice heard!

10/12/2021

This Thursday we wrap up our 2021 Wildfire Symposium with a focus on community wildfire resilience - how do we build and re-build infrastructure, plan land use, manage natural resources, and strengthen communities in the wildland/urban interface? Learn with the Council for Watershed Health and UC ANR, joined by the RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains, US Forest Service, CalFire, LA County Fire Department, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, SoCal Edison, the Green Building Council, Las Virgenes MWD, and the National Forest Foundation. Register at https://www.watershedhealth.org/2021-wildfire-symposium

09/23/2021

Please join us a week from today (9/30) for session 2 of our 2021 Wildfire Symposium: Weather, Weeds, and Wildlife, offered in collaboration with the Council for Watershed Health! UC experts this week include Chris McDonald, Desert Natural Resources Advisor and Kendall Calhoun, UC Berkeley, with myself and Travis Longcore (UCLA) moderating. Panelists include experts from US Forest Service, National Park Service, USGS, CA Botanic Garden, Conservation Biology Institute, Point Blue Conservation Science, San Diego State, and the Climate Science Alliance. To see the full program and register visit https://www.watershedhealth.org/2021-wildfire-symposium

08/23/2021

STARTING THIS THUSDAY, PLEASE COME LEARN WITH US! join us at Wildfire: Weather, Water, Weeds, Wildlife over three days, 9/16, 9/30, and 10/14 as UCCE and the Council for Watershed Health seek to better understand the interactions between climate, fire, habitat, and communities in Southern California. Jessica Morse, Deputy Secretary for Forest and Wildfire Resilience for CA will launch us. UC ANR speakers include myself, Toby O'Geen, Julia van Soelen Kim, Max Moritz, Chris McDonald, and Van Butsic, joined by scientists and experts from UCLA, the National Park Service, USFS, USGS, Point Blue, Theodore Payne Foundation, and more! Registration and more info at https://www.watershedhealth.org/2021-wildfire-symposium

Join us as we seek to better understand wildfire effects on communities and the health of our watersheds! Expert panelists will share recent education efforts, guidelines, and research on the physical, cultural and ecological conditions related to increasing frequency and scale of wildfires in our r...

08/18/2021

Angelinos - there will be a Town Hall meeting later today about the incident at Hyperion. Go here to register - https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_eJMQykMAS8ygif6KW0M0Bg.

07/10/2021

What a great graphic from Laura Chow Fun to explain what we do!

06/01/2021

We are less than a week away from California Invasive Species Awareness Week, and our Invasive Species Lunchtime Talks! This year we'll be talking about crabs and w**ds in the Bay area and how YOU can keep Lake Tahoe healthy, track w**ds after fire, and protect urban forests! https://ucanr.edu/sites/invasivelunch/2021/

Webinars are free, but registration is required for each day. You can find the link to register just below the presenter information. 

05/21/2021

At the recent 2021 Hansen Symposium - Climate Change: What Does it Mean for Southern California, UCCE Extension Fire Specialist Max Moritz, Central Coast Range and Natural Resources Advisor Matthew Shapero, and yours truly, Urban Natural Resources Advisor LA/Ventura Sabrina Drill discussed the impacts of and ways to adapt to climate change and wildfire at the regional, subdivision, rangelands, and home scale. https://ucanr.edu/sites/SAFELandscapes/?blogpost=47632&blogasset=51426

At the recent 2021 Hansen Symposium  - Climate Change:What Does it Mean for Southern California, UCCE Extension Fire Specialist Max Moritz, Central Coast Range and Natural Resources Advisor Matthew Shapero, and yours truly, Urban Natural Resources Advisor LA/Ventura Sabrina Drill discussed the i...

05/04/2021

What a fantastic program by my colleagues at the ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center!

It’s been an absolute pleasure to help serve the needs of students and staff at UCI Fresh. Can’t believe it’s been about a year since the folks at connected our two organizations. We also couldn’t have done this without the steady stream of avocados from ! Here’s to another year and beyond’ 🥂 Posted • Last month we harvested almost 2,000 lbs worth of avocados and citrus through the Harvest Project with UC South Coast Farm! Our team is grateful to provide this much produce to our pantry users. Visit http://screc.ucanr.edu/ or follow to learn more about how UC South Coast farm is getting involved in their community!

04/29/2021

Always a need to be careful with biocontrol. But boy, YST really puts the noxious in noxious w**d - fingers crossed for sucess! https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=46459

04/21/2021

Tonight at 6:00 there is a Q&A session about the LA River Master Plan, and comments are due May 13th! Add YOUR voice! http://larivermasterplan.org/

04/20/2021

Want to learn more and share your expertise and perspective on the development of California's commitment to conserve 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030 and accelerate nature-based solutions to address climate change? Join in! https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Expanding-Nature-Based-Solutions

Governor Newsom advanced Executive Order N-82-20 in October 2020, enlisting California’s vast network of natural and working lands – forests, rangelands, farms, wetlands, coast, deserts and urban greenspaces – in the fight against climate change. A core pillar of Governor Newsom’s climate ag...

04/06/2021

New article in National Geographic about the Los Angeles River and projects to restore habitat. https://twitter.com/urbanfishDr/status/1379422757000216584?s=20

“Childhood life goal achieved - I'm quoted in ! While I do think there are other opportunities for stream restoration that may achieve more for , I very much support restoring the to support urban nature and ”

04/05/2021

Good shaky morning Los Angeles! Today, as everyday, is an excellent time to make sure you are prepared for a big quake. You can find some great resources at https://www.listoscalifornia.org/

IT ONLY TAKES FIVE STEPS. Whether it’s an earthquake, wildfire, flood, or COVID-19, Listos California wants everyone to get ready and stay safe. Together, let’s establish resilient communities and build a new culture of disaster preparedness for all Californians.

03/30/2021

Are you planting your garden? My colleague Jim Downer shares some tips for planting trees and perennials to keep them hardy. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/

Green news from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

03/05/2021

There is one week left to review the draft Los Angeles River Master Plan - and LA County and RiverLA really need to hear from community members, scientists, and conservationists! https://www.larivermasterplan.org/

The Public Draft of the LA River Master Plan is now available for public comment until March 14th, 2021. Please share your thoughts below!

02/24/2021

"Our future climate, the final state that we reach, is still largely within our collective control as a society. We still get to decide how much more warming there is." Watch this short interview of climate scientist and self-proclaimed weather geek Daniel Swain, author of the Weather West blog.

ABC10 Meteorologist Rob Carlmark talks with Dr. Daniel Swain, creator of the Weather West blog, about the extreme weather conditions in California and how it...

02/18/2021

Recent collar replacement for our urban wildlife superstar.

02/09/2021

Feburary 19th I'll be discussing urban stream restoration and the LA River with the UC ANR Water Resources Program Team, join us!https://ucanr.edu/sites/watershedslaventura/files/344545.pdf

02/07/2021

Great shot Day Scott!

02/07/2021

Excited to be working with the authors of this paper on our next phase - how to local biodiversity plans and global biodiversity agreements interact? Coming soon.....https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/news/how-do-cities-across-the-world-plan-for-biodiversity

This study explores actions, indicators, and outputs in urban biodiversity plans and conducts a multinational analysis of city practice

02/03/2021

Yay for Rue Mapp and our friends at Outdoor Afro!

Outdoor Afro began with a blog.Rue Mapp has loved the outdoors all her life. Tracking tadpoles in the creek adjacent to her family's Clearlake ranch, watching the stars at night—nature was a skillful teacher. But as her adventures grew in scope, so did Mapp's realization that, in the wilderness, t...

02/02/2021

Congratulations to the City of Los Angeles for becoming the National Wildlife Foundation's largest urban area to join the Community Wildlife Habitat Program, and on its 2020 Biodiversity Report! Well done, and glad I could participate in reviewing the City's Index. https://blog.nwf.org/2021/01/the-city-of-los-angeles-leaders-in-biodiversity-protection/

The National Wildlife Federation is excited to announce that the City of Los Angeles (LA) has registered in its Community Wildlife Habitat program.

01/15/2021

Proud to have worked with my amazing colleagues on this!