Tuesday Morning Notes

September 9, 2003


Congratulations to Sherry Betts and her colleagues for the new experiential professional development opportunity that partners communities in Arizona and Kingston, Jamaica. The joint community development training cuts across Arizona's Extension program areas and is the state's first attempt to integrate international programming into its plan of work.

The Arizona Section, Society for Range Management held their summer meeting at Mahan Park on the V Bar V Ranch Experiment Station August 14 & 15, 2003. The topic of the meeting was "Making Science-Based Rangeland Management Decisions During Drought." The 50 attendees/presenters included a diverse mix of ranchers and resource management professionals that represented federal, state, tribal, and private lands. Special thanks Dave Schafer, Bopper Cannon, and Floyd White of the V Bar V Ranch for their hospitality and Dean Fish, Dan Bell (Santa Cruz County Rancher), and Emilio Carrillo (NRCS) for the food and entertainment.

The V Bar V Ranch and Yavapai County Cooperative Extension hosted the Annual Ranch Explorers Field Day on August 23rd. The event was a huge success with 202 participants all raving about the presentations, displays, bovine bingo, barn wood branding and especially the food. Many thanks go out to all the U of A presenters: Jeff Schalau, Wim van Leeuwen, Peder Cuneo, Gary Sabbag, Tom DeGomez, Wade Albrecht and to the Forest Service representatives, Sharon Valdez and Kristen Martine. A special thanks to: Beverly Emerson and the Yavapai County Master Gardeners, Heather Mulcarie and the Mingus Union High School FFA students, Billie Helm and Ron Pearson (youth activities), Debbie Pearson (organizing the event and preparing displays), Bopper Cannon (cooking), and Karen Pizzuto and Leslie Lutey (assistance as needed). Many thanks to all...this is truly a team effort!

Gila County Cooperative Extension has obtained a student Cooperative Extension intern from BYU-Idaho from September 16 - December 16 to assist in range monitoring, forest health and noxious weeds, and 4-H programs and data collection. Nearly 90% of academic programs at BYU-ID require completion of an internship for graduation. To make this arrangement with BYU-ID through the University of Arizona, it was necessary to go through the U of A Office of Student Financial Aid and to award a one-time stipend for the semester for the stipend and travel expenses. Forms that needed filling out and submitted were a Student Stipend Account Information form and the Student Scholarship Authorization Form. The intern at BYU-ID was also required to produce proof of enrollment at BYU-ID. It was necessary to proceed in this direction to avoid issues with overtime.

Arizona Cooperative Extension has a new section on our website called "Homeland Security Plan for Cooperative Extension Field Offices". It can be viewed at http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/home_security.html.



PHONE NUMBER UPDATES:

- Park Romney, Associate Agent, 4-H, has a new phone number - it is 520-626-0522. - Matt Livingston, Agent, ANR/4HYD, Hopi Reservation has a new phone number - it is 928-734-3708.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 9 - Cotton Field Day, Statewide Upland Cotton Variety Test, 8:00-11:00am, Wellton. Three hours of CCA CEUs have been applied for from Arizona and California. Directions: from I-8, take exit 29, travel North until 10th County Street, make a left turn and drive West until 28E, make a right turn, go to the second field north of 28E and 10th County Street. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact Mohammed Zerkoune (928-580-0222 or zerkoune@ag.arizona.edu).





James A. Christenson, Ph.D.
(jimc@cals.arizona.edu)
Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Forbes, Room 301
Tucson, Arizona 85721
520/621-7205
520/621-1314 FAX