Congratulations to Julie Adamcin, Joe Leisz and all those involved in making
the Tucson Pima Arts Council's Ponies del Pueblo auction a big
success.Cynthia Flynn and Pima County Extension sold their pony for $10,000
and "American Sport," painted by a Marana artist, sold for $19,000. Net
proceeds from both sales will complete the Jim Kolbe 4-H Citizenship
Endowment fund in the 4-H Foundation in support of Pima County 4-H'ers who
will attend the annual Citizenship Washington Focus program.
Special thanks to Linda Block, Lynne Borden, Melinda Burke, Janice Shelton &
Soyeon Shim for organizing the "Take Charge America Financial Fitness
Academy" program which was held October 29-30 at the Windmill Inn.
National speakers were Jeanne Horgarth-Federal Reserve Board, Robert
Wynne-Financial Education Officer for the Wisconsin Dept. of Financial
Institution, Mike Hall-keynote speaker. Other Arizona speakers included
Julia Ogden and John Stephens.
Last week Jim Christenson, Russ Tronstad and Trent Teegerstrom attended the
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers (TAA) conference in San Diego. Travel
was funded by a new grant. TAA is a new federal program included in the Trade
Assistance Act of 2002 (H.R. 3009). Administered by the USDA through CSREES,
it is intended to provide financial and educational resources to farmers who
grow crops that are adversely affected by international competition. For more
in-depth information on TAA, go to the following websites: http://www.agrisk.umn.edu/taa/
or http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/taa/taaindex.htm.
Santa Rita Experimental Range celebrated 100 years of accomplishments and
contributions. A symposium was held October 30-November 1 in Tucson at the
Holiday Inn. Several invited speakers gave talks and many poster paper
presentations were given, along with Cowboy Poetry at one of the lunches.
The new Sant Rita supervisors, Mark Heitlinger, did a superb job with a cast
of 30 supporting him. This was a very special experience.
According to the Climate Assessment for the Southwest, hydrological drought
is expected to continue in the Southwest through the early winter. The most
likely scenario is that long-term trends toward above-average temperatures will
continue throughout the autumn and winter. There is no indication that the Southwest
will receive significant precipitation during the next several months. The worst
case scenario is that reservoir levels continue to drop throughout New Mexico
and on the Colorado River. The best case scenario is that El Niño rebounds this
fall and winter and brings increased chances of above-average precipitation.
For more information, see the CLIMAS October Climate Outlook at http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/forecasts/swoutlook.html
UPCOMING EVENTS: November 10, 17, & 24 Nutritional Management: An Educational
Series for Horse Owners, Sonoita. A series of three weekly, 2-½ hour sessions.
A Tucson program is scheduled for January 26, February 2 & 9, 2004 and a third
program is scheduled for Prescott on March 15, 22 & 29, 2004. For more information,
contact Dr. Mark Arns (marns@ag.arizona.edu
or 520-626-9538). I attended the program last Saturday. It was well attended
and very informative. Mark Arns and Bill Schurg also had a program on Sunday
and will be conducting a program at Dine? College in the near future.