Tuesday Morning Notes

August 21st, 2001


Just a reminder that our two candidates for Associate Specialist, Family and Consumer Sciences, will be on campus for seminars and interviews this week. Please plan to come and be involved in this process. Lisa Lauxman's seminar will be August 23rd at 11:00 in FCS 219, with interview time with agents and volunteers at 1:30 and FCS faculty, staff and students at 2:30. Lynne Borden's seminar is on August 24th at 2:30 in FCS 219 with interview times with agents and volunteers at 11:30 and FCS group at 3:30. We look forward to your feedback.

* Coconino County has benefited greatly from Americorp and is welcoming its fourth and fifth Americorp volunteers. Amy Sweir is a Youth Development/Community volunteer who will be working with the Sunnyside Youth Council. Mindy Hildebrand is a Community Youth Development volunteer who will be co-facilitating and training using the Building Communities model. A third volunteer is being recruited to work in community development. Noelle Frances, although not an Americorp Volunteer, is a young (high school) person who is hired to be an on call youth facilitator.

* The Geospatial Extension Program (Barron Orr), and the Advanced Resource Technology Laboratory (Craig Wissler) wish to congratulate 20 Cooperative Extension Agents on their successful completion of the "Introductory ArcView GIS Training for University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Agents".They also wish to thank Andy Honaman and Terry Rice (ART Lab) for technical support and the seven students from the Arizona Remote Sensing Center who designed the third day of the training and provided in-class assistance throughout. The training was the second of a three part introduction to geospatial technology. The third piece in this series tentatively scheduled for early 2002 will introduce the power of satellite imagery for addressing natural resource and agriculture problems.

* The USDA Tribal Colleges Research Grants Program was designed to encourage research at 1994 Land Grant institutions through collaborative efforts with 1862 Land Grant institutions. Jim Matlock of Diné College, and Barron Orr of the UA Geospatial Extension Program have recently learned that their proposal "Navajo Watershed Research Project" has been awarded funding under this competitive program. This two year project will involve designing the methodology for and implementing an interdisciplinary effort to address land degradation issues in Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Nation. The primary objective of the project is to conduct applied, participatory research to characterize the condition of the watershed, identify the primary processes involved in land cover change, and develop mitigation strategies with the participation of all stakeholders. The approach is designed to involve the ultimate constituents of any mitigation effort in research design, interpretation of results, and informing the intervention process.

* Saturday, August 25, the V Bar V Ranch will hold its annual Ranch Explorers Day at Mahan Park (40 miles east of Flagstaff). Buses to the ranch will originate in Tucson, Phoenix, Prescott, and Camp Verde! The day will include presentations on the history of the V Bar V Ranch, forest management, meat cutting, and food safety. Demonstrations on cattle handling, branding, predator control, forage use, and the use of GPS units are planned, as well as displays on noxious weeds, remote sensing, corral innovations at the ranch, and current projects on the ranch. Youth activities are planned in the afternoon. It will be a fun and educational day for the entire family! Cost is $5 per student, $10 per adult. And that includes transportation and a V Bar V Beef lunch. Call (928) 646-9113, ext. 10 for more information and to register!

* Cotton Field Day will take place this year at the Maricopa Agricultural Center on Wednesday, October 10, 2001. As in years past, they will be holding a poster session under a tent on the west side of the main building. The poster session will begin at 9:00 a.m. and last throughout the morning, officially ending with lunch. For more information and to reserve a booth, contact Ed Martin at (520) 568-2273 or edmartin@cals.arizona.edu.

* Also on October 10-12 the San Pedro Watershed Tour "Linking Physical and Ecological Processes on Southwest Watersheds" will be held in Tombstone, starting at noon. Contact the Cochise County Extension office for details and registration. 520/384-3594




James A. Christenson, Ph.D.
(jimc@cals.arizona.edu)
Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Forbes, Room 301
Tucson, Arizona 85721
520/621-7209
520/621-1314 FAX