The Rangelands West Partnership held their 5th annual meeting the last two days at the University of Arizona. It was
attended by over 40 rangeland scientists and agricultural librarians from most of the eighteen participating Western land-grant
universities. During the meeting, members demonstrated newly developed state rangelands websites, broke into working groups to
develop plans for new content based on the SARE grant requirements, attended metadata and website training workshops, and discussed
issues of quality control. There was also a keynote presentation delivered by Jeff Schalau, Yavapai CED and David Cook, DC Cattle
Company. It is also noteworthy that Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, a key leader in this effort, has accepted a new position at the UA
Library as an Assistant Dean. She will keep a faculty appointment in the Office of Arid Lands Studies in CALS.
The 2006 National Fire Plan Award Winners were honored last week at the Phoenix Civic Center. The Excellence in Collaboration Award
was presented by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Department of the Interior to Steve Campbell, Lloyd Wilmes and
their team. The Sitgreaves Community Wildfire Protection Plan (Navajo and Coconino Counties) was chosen from 31 nominations nationwide.
Congratulations!
The Arizona Pest Management Center (APMC) is announcing the availability of funds and requests Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
proposals. This program supports applied research and education to move IPM knowledge and technologies from researchers into the
hands of end-users (e.g., farmers, ranchers, pest managers, homeowners). Interested faculty are invited to submit proposals to
address local and statewide IPM Extension needs in applied research and outreach. Funding priority will be given to those projects
that address specific priority issues identified by the APMC IPM Coordinating Committee (listed in the RFP). Approximately $50,000
is available. There is no maximum award; however, it is expected that 3-10 proposals will be funded under this RFP. Proposals are
due to Al Fournier by March 31, 2006. Funds will be distributed shortly after decisions are made by the IPM Coordinating Committee
in April. Funds should be expended by September 30, 2006. To get a copy of the RFP, or for any questions, contact Al Fournier (520-381-2240).
According to the University of Arizona Economic and Tax Revenue Impacts (FY 2004), published by the Office of Economic and Policy
Analysis, for every dollar of state appropriated funds the University generated another $3.50 in grants, contracts and gifts in
support of teaching, research and public service. Federal grants and contracts were the largest source of University revenues
accounting for more than $346.3 million or 31 percent of all revenues in fiscal year 2004. You can use this in your county reports.
Do you have a question about a University or Extension policy? The Program & Procedural Manual for University of Arizona Cooperative
Extension Faculty can be read and searched on line at http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/pandp/. We were recently queried
about use of university accounts to pay professional association dues. The answer “Individual Cooperative Extension faculty are
responsible for personal payment of their professional association membership and/or related fees” can be found on-line in
Section 6.05.05.
Upcoming Events & Reminders:
We have requested that each Extension agent send the Arizona Cooperative Extension Program Priorities questionnaire to a minimum
of 10 clients or stakeholders. You are responsible for entering the completed questionnaires into the database. The URL is:
http://cals-cf.calsnet.arizona.edu/exact/stakeholder/. Use cals for username and ua for password. Contact your county director
if you have any questions about the questionnaire or need another copy. Contact Robert Armstrong if you have questions about the
database. The deadline for entering information is April 28, 2006.