preserving w88 casino games login our natural resources
University ecologists help firefighters protect w88 casino games login's lands
The inaugural offering of the College's new Rangeland Ecology & Management w88 casino games login course for wildland firefighters culminated with a trip to the Pine Nut Mountains. There, students worked in groups to critique and improve upon the management of the area.
Tamzen Stringham
Story by Ashley Andrews
Wildfires have unleashed devastating losses on w88 casino games login ranches, grazing areas, and habitat for wildlife and recreation. Knowing how to care for w88 casino games login's land before and after it is affected by fire and other disturbances is key to reducing wildland fire risk and repairing lands post-fire. This is where Tamzen Stringham and Devon Snyder, and the land managers they teach come in.
Stringham is a professor and Snyder is an ecologist in the College. With support from its Experiment Station, Stringham leads and Snyder works in the College's Rangeland Ecology Lab.
In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management w88 casino games login, Stringham and Snyder developed in 2019 the first training course for wildland firefighters who work on dry lands. Through the training, called the Rangeland Ecology & Management Program, Stringham and Snyder are instilling the decades of rangeland ecology research their lab has conducted and distilled into w88 casino games login's land managers.
Wild horses: Another burning issue for w88 casino games login land managers
The number of wild horses living on public lands in the arid west is too high for the health of those lands, and consequently, the health w88 casino games login horses as well. The herds are growing so fast that management strategies, such as adoptions, contraception and gathers and removals, are inadequate. This also endangers other wildlife on those lands, as well as the economic benefits of public lands, including livestock grazing and recreation.
In 2019, Stringham started a new project designed to help land managers balance wild horses and other land uses, including native wildlife, livestock and recreation. In the project, she's creating models for monitoring and managing habitat using satellite imagery, an 18-year data archive, and knowledge of how ecological sites respond to disturbances.
This includes the pair's state-and-transition models. The models describe how different combinations of plants and soil respond to events like w88 casino games login, grazing, soil disturbances and invasive plants. The models also describe, when recovery is possible, pathways to help restore lands.
The training is much needed by w88 casino games login's lands and its workforce. It helpsthe Bureau's employees meet enhanced educational requirements for fire program management specialists.Without the specialists, it would be hard to reduce w88 casino games login rangeland's likelihood of ignition and, should a fire start, to ensure adequate firefighting resources and leadership to minimize damage.
University-trained firefighter volunteers to help Australia
"They called us down to help ease the fire front as it's hitting thousands of people driving on the highway. So, we were directing air tankers and showing them where to drop so people could get out of there and get out of being trapped in their vehicles." -Rangeland Ecology & Management Program student and Bureau of Land Management w88 casino games login firefighter Matt Petersen
Fulfilling our University's land-grant mission
"What's better to teach w88 casino games login land issues than University of w88 casino games login, Reno. It already has a large knowledge base of Great Basin and w88 casino games login issues, climatology and range types. And it's a great opportunity to partner with a land-grant college. We're a land management agency." -Bureau of Land Management w88 casino games login State Fire Management Officer Paul Petersen
Extension’s Living With w88 casino games login Program helps residents prepare family and property
Extension’s Living With w88 casino games login Program presented "Five Ways to Prepare Your Family and Property for Wildfire." The Sept. 1, 2020, virtual session covered insurance and wildfire. Photo courtesy of the Living With w88 casino games login Program.
Story by Tiffany Kozsan
New forest ecologist seeks to increase awareness of fire w88 casino in Nevada. She and her Living With w88 casino games login Program team presented several educational offerings in 2020 to help Nevadans reduce the wildfire risk.
The program presented an online speaker series during w88 casino games login Wildfire Awareness Month in May. The "Living With Fire Conversations" sessions included:
- How to prepare for a power outage
- Fire restriction orders on federal lands in w88 casino games login
- Defensible space and reducing the wildfire hazard
- The w88 casino games login weather outlook and red flag warnings
- Removing noxious and nuisance weeds
Then, in response to a drier than normal winter and a wild wildfire season, and as part of National Preparedness Month in September, the w88 casino games login presented the virtual workshop series, "Five Ways to Prepare Your Family and Property for Wildfire."
"Wildfire is a part of our everyday life now, w88 casino games login seems," Restaino said. "Nevadans, like others around the world, need to be proactive to help protect themselves and their homes."
Christina Restaino
Session topics included:
Session 1
w88 casino games login Insurance Division's Perspective on the Insurance Industry and Wildfire
Session 2
Animal Services & Disaster Preparedness
Session 3
Be Red Cross Ready
Session 4
5 Steps to Creating Effective Defensible Space
Session 5
Retrofitting Your Home to Increase Wildfire Survival
The program also presented the w88 casino games login Network of Fire Adapted Communities Summit in December 2020, in partnership with w88 casino games login Division of Forestry’s Fire Adapted Communities. The theme was "Creating the Toolbox for a Fire Adapted w88 casino games login."
Finally, in 2020 the w88 casino games login launched a brand new website to help homeowners, families and communities get prepared, informed and involved. The site has many different resources and steps homeowners can take during shelter-at-home restrictions.
Preparing Nevadans for wildfire
"It's easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about all the different ways to prepare for wildfire. We aim to help residents understand simple steps they can take to get their family, home and property more prepared for w88 casino games login." -Extension Natural Resources Specialist Christina Restaino
Scientists keep watch on climate and weather as drought grips w88 casino games login
The Lahontan Reservoir is fed by the Carson River and by the Truckee River with water diversions from the Derby Dam, supplying water for irrigation. Pictured here in 2014, in the third year of a four-year w88 casino games login, much of the lake was completely dry.
Kerri Jean Ormerod Story by Mike Wolderbeek
w88 casino games login ranchers, water providers and public land managers rely on the U.S. Drought Monitor to keep track of climate and weather.The drought monitor also triggers relief programs that can help agriculture-related businesses in w88 casino games login.
"The w88 casino games login Monitor isn’t a simply a map; it's the best assessment of where there is w88 casino games login, and the severity of w88 casino games login,"Kerri Jean Ormerod, who leads Extension’s Living with w88 casino games login program, said."Volunteer-submitted information helps to complement more traditional metrics and can bridge some w88 casino games login data gaps across the state."
Ormerod conducts research and education on water, climate and w88 casino games login hazards for Extension and is an assistant professor of geography with the University's College of Science. Besides helping meteorologists and others better prepare for and respond to w88 casino games login's confusing weather, she hopes to help various groups, such as farmers, ranchers, emergency management personnel and research scientists, to make better-informed decisions.
"If we can collect more data on our precipitation and weather, and analyze and explain it, it can serve several purposes," Ormerod said. "As the driest state in the nation, it is especially important to report zeros, or the lack of precipitation. This is critical information necessary to track and respond to w88 casino games login."
She said they are recruiting volunteer observers from "anywhere and everywhere" across the state through either the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or a related citizen science platform designed for w88 casino games login monitoring.
Ormerod said, "My message to potential weather observers: you can help, get involved – we need you."
w88 casino games login research addresses w88 casino games login managers’ information needs
Of the many forward-looking climate initiatives of which Extension is a part, perhaps the most comprehensive effort has been the recent w88 casino games login for the Seasons five-year collaborative research and outreach program. Based in the Truckee-Carson River System, Extension designed and coordinated an interdisciplinary research approach that included hydrologists, engineers and resource economists working with stakeholders representing diverse and competing municipal, industrial, agricultural, environmental and regulatory w88 casino games login management organizations from the system’s headwaters to its terminus.
"Demand is diverse for w88 casino games login – and includes sustaining wildlife and wildlife habitat, irrigated agriculture, growing municipal populations and economic development initiatives," Loretta Singletary, an interdisciplinary outreach liaison and economist with Extension, said. "w88 casino games login for the Seasons sought to find solutions to variable w88 casino games login supply in a changing climate."
The research team developed 10 key takeaways, including that:
- climate projections across the river system generally show warmer temperatures and increased w88 casino games login supply variability;
- measurable snowpack changes affect the timing and availability of w88 casino games login supply;
- cycles of wet and dry years are important for evaluating future basin w88 casino games login supply and reservoir operation;
allowing for storing w88 casino games login earlier in the year could enhance w88 casino games login supply; - aquifer recharge can mitigate long-term impacts;
- and there is a need for additional collaborative research.
Ormerod's Living with w88 casino games login website provides a one-stop-shop for homeowners, gardeners, farmers, ranchers, natural resource managers and others to find information they need, including current w88 casino games login status information; data and tools that can be used to track and report w88 casino games login impacts; and information about the basic types and causes of w88 casino games login.
RELATED STORY | Communicating [w88 casino games login] science in a divided society
Stephanie McAfee, climatologist and associate professor with the College, discussed issues that come with communicating scientific findings related to w88 casino games login at the launch of the University's Hitchcock Project, part of the Reynolds School of Journalism. McAfee shared insights about the challenges in a presentation of her work, followed by a Q&A from the audience.
At the event, McAffee said, "There have been no times in the past where there weren't natural disasters. We can point to events and say w88 casino games login's really bad this year and study the information, but studies take a long time to complete."
Partnering with Nevadans to research climate and w88 casino games login
"We are always looking to increase climate monitoring and research. There aren’t a lot of weather stations. There’s a paucity of data – so not a lot of information to work from to say it's a drought, and not a lot of data to inform decisions. w88 casino games login has a problematic landscape. It's hard to do remote sensing and gather data, so we facilitate partnerships at the federal, state and local level, and down to the ground for reports, to characterize the climate outlooks." -Extension Drought Specialist Kerri Jean Ormerod
Celebrating 25 years of research
Center for Urban w88 casino games login Conservation invites publicto tours, demonstrations, plant and produce sales.
Prediction tool shows how forest thinning may increase Sierra w88 casino games login snowpack
University students perform maintenance on data-collection equipment to help with projects to maintain the Sierra w88 casino games login forest. Photo by Adrian Harpold.
Story by Tiffany Kozsan
The forest of the Sierra w88 casino games login mountains is an important resource for the surrounding communities in w88 casino games login and California. Thinning the forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests. However, finding the best way to thin forests by removing select trees to maximize the forest’s benefits for water quantity, water quality, wildfire risk and wildlife habitat remains a challenge for resource managers. The U.S. Forest Service is leading an effort to balance all these challenges in landscape-scale forest restoration planning as part of the Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership.
As part of this effort, the College's Adrian Harpold recently led a team in developing a modeling tool to focus on the issue of w88 casino games login quantity. The tool predicts how different approaches to thinning the forest impact snowpack accumulation in Lake Tahoe, which controls how much w88 casino games login is available for downstream communities such as Reno.
"The snowpack we’ve relied upon is under pressure from years of w88 casino games login suppression that increased tree density, combined with the effects of climate change and warming temperatures," Harpold, a natural resources & environmental science assistant professor, said.
Adrian Harpold
He explained that too many trees means less snow reaches the ground. In addition, when many trees are clumped together, they warm up and release heat, which can melt the snow on the ground. However, too few trees means the snowpack is less protected from the sun and wind, which also melt snow.
The tool, developed with funding from our College’s Experiment Station and the U.S. Forest Service, was built to specifically model the west shore of Lake Tahoe, which the team felt was a good sample of the Sierra w88 casino games login forest. The team initially created a small-scale high-resolution model using data collected with 3D laser scanners, called "LiDAR."
Developing realistic solutions for resource managers
"The LiDAR data lets us see individual trees, which we use to 'virtually thin' the forest by taking trees out w88 casino games login model. As such, it lets us create a thinning experiment that’s realistic." -Assistant Professor Adrian Harpold
Plant tissue engineering improves w88 casino games login and salinity tolerance
Thale Cress engineered to behave like a succulent, improving water-use efficiency and w88 casino games login tolerance.
Story by Mike Wolterbeek
After several years of experimentation, scientists have engineered thale cress, or Arabidopsis thaliana, to behave like a succulent, improving water-use efficiency, salinity tolerance and reducing the effects of w88 casino games login. The tissue succulence engineering method devised for this small flowering plant can be used in other plants to improve w88 casino games login and salinity tolerance with the goal of moving this approach into food and bioenergy crops.
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Professor John Cushman published in 2020 a paper on his research team's breakthrough. The team includedDepartment of w88 sports betting & Molecular Assistant Professor Won Cheol Yim.
The work will be combined with another of Cushman’s projects: engineering another trait called crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a w88 casino games login-conserving mode of photosynthesis that can be applied to plants to improve w88 casino games login-use efficiency.
With demand for agricultural products expected to increase by as much as 70% to serve a growing human population, which is predicted to reach about 9.6 billion by 2050, Cushman and his team are pursuing these biotechnology solutions to address potential future food and bioenergy shortages.
John Cushman
Helping solve future food and energy shortages
"Water-storing tissue is one of the most successful adaptations in plants that enables them to survive long periods of w88 casino games login. This anatomical trait will become more important as global temperatures rise, increasing the magnitude and duration of w88 casino games login events. -Professor John Cushman
Native pollinator gardens attract beneficial insects for w88 casino games login agriculture
The pollinator garden at the Lost City Museum hosts native plants such as Baileya multiradiata (desert marigold), which is a southern w88 casino games login perennial wildflower that attracts native bees. Photo by Kevin Burls.
Story by Hannah Alfaro
Native insect pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, wasps and flies, are crucial in helping to produce fruits and vegetables and serve as pest control on many farms. In 2017, the College’s w88 casino games login unit received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to construct gardens of native plants to attract these insects, evaluate the survival and growth of native plant species on an ongoing basis, and assess the plants' attractiveness to native pollinators and other beneficial insects.
The project, headed by Associate Professor and w88 casino games login State Specialist Heidi Kratsch, allowed w88 casino games login to build six demonstration gardens at both the residential scale and in agricultural settings around the state.
The gardens are located at the w88 casino games login office in Washoe County, the w88 casino games login office in Elko County, Jacobs Family Berry Farm in Gardnerville, a housing development in Las Vegas, the Lost City Museum in Overton and the Walker River State Recreation Area in Yerington. A seventh garden is in development at the proposed Truckee Meadows Nature Study Area in Reno.
Heidi Kratsch
In addition, Extension Integrated Pest w88 casino games login Programs Educator Kevin Burls began teaching classes at the Lost City Museum location. The first class was held in early 2019, with another held in October 2020 following all COVID-19 safety restrictions. These workshops covered local pollinator diversity and ecology and reviewed common native plants. They also included a hands-on demonstration on how to garden for pollinators. Burls hopes that these classes will show participants that all w88 casino games login residents can plant gardens that are not only attractive, but are also healthy for beneficial insects.
BUSY AS A BEE
See additional pollinator work done by the College:
College beekeeping programs buzzing
w88 casino games login creates new club, Experiment Station helps veterans with PTSD
w88 casino games login orchard hives now producing honey
Extension creates beekeeping educational program for southern w88 casino games login
Protecting pollinators to protect our food supply
"More than 90 species of U.S. specialty crops, such as pumpkins, squash, cucumbers and fruit trees, require pollination to produce food products for human consumption. Wild and managed bees together add billion in crop value each year. Attracting and protecting pollinators protects our food supply, and that is our ultimate goal." -w88 casino games login Horticultural Specialist Heidi Kratsch