UCCE Sonoma

 _{Chris Coursey | James Gore | Susan Gorin | Lynda Hopkins | David Rabbitt}  

The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE Sonoma) team is proud to present our 2021 Annual Report, highlighting the department’s accomplishments through our innovative programs in Sonoma County. UCCE is the main County department that conducts private landowners’ outreach, especially as it relates to agriculture production and natural resources management, along with youth development. We have aligned programmatic delivery with the County’s strategic pillars:  Climate Action and Resiliency  and  Racial Equity and Social Justice . UCCE focused on climate-smart strategies to build a more resilient community food system and on working landscapes -- rangelands, forests, and agricultural lands -- to enhance all the services they provide: food, clean air and water, and carbon sequestration. UCCE Climate Smart Agriculture program assisted over 55 agriculture producers in applying for CDFA Healthy Soils and Sustainable Water Efficiency and Enhancement Programs; if funded, these applicants will sequester 14,750 MTCO₂e by the year 2025 of carbon in soil. We expanded our Vegetation Management Division, with programs from defensible space to the landscape scale. We hired a Vegetation Mitigation Program Manager, and launched the Wildfire Fuel Mapper 1.0, in partnership with Pepperwood Preserve. We are partnering with Sonoma Water to further extend County funding, creating the Wildfire Decision Support Framework which includes the Wildfire Fuel Mapper 2.0 (Parcel-scale) and Wildfire Resilience Planner (Landscape-scale). Our Forestry Advisor conducted a vegetation disturbance analysis using remote sensing data and modeling to help inform Permit Sonoma in the planning and development of a new vegetation ordinance. UCCE Dairy Advisor worked closely with Sonoma Water, to ensure that local livestock and dairy producers had water for their animals and directed producers to state and federal relief programs, assisting with economic security during the drought. UCCE Youth Development Program, reconnected families with place-based 4-H youth development programming focusing on animal science, STEM, healthy living, and civic engagement content; with an emphasis on reaching culturally diverse families. UCCE Food Systems Advisor led community-based innovations to make farmers’ markets in Sonoma County more accessible to CalFresh and Latinx customers, including a comprehensive bilingual marketing campaign, as well as structural and operational changes to make farmers markets more welcoming and inclusive to the whole community. UCCE Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor led research on the grapevine red blotch disease (GRBD), whose impact to the grape industry is estimated to be as high as $15,242 per acre in Sonoma County. UCCE IPM Advisor validated a model in five grape growing regions (Geyserville, Healdsburg, Calistoga, Glen Ellen, and Mt. Veeder) enabling growers to use their local weather data to predict the ideal time to till under or remove cover crops in their vineyard.

UCCE Agriculture Ombudsperson has expanded programmatic outreach, exploring opportunities that increase land access and farm business viability for limited resource farmers & ranchers.  UCCE Master Gardener program responded to community needs by providing critical educational outreach on climate smart sustainable landscape practices for the home gardener such as fire preparedness, water conservation practices, growing food and minimizing use of pesticides, among many other topics. The program developed a sustainable & firewise landscaping educational outreach program on defensible space;  Zone Zero Defensible Space Video and Sustainable Defensible Space video. UCCE Master Food Preserver program has increased, as begins its second programmatic year. Volunteers are engaging with community partners to deliver education and outreach on food insecurity and food waste reduction, which continues to be a concern related to our changing climate.

Finally, UCCE is extremely excited to bring three new UCCE Farm Advisors; Viticulture, Specialty Crops and Fire Science into the County, expanding research and educational based information to Sonoma County residents.

 _{Stephanie Larson, Ph.D | County Director & Livestock and Range Advisor}