2020 Annual Report

For the past 11 years, we have offered the four-week Grow LA Victory Garden gardening classes, which offer the basics of vegetable gardening, from soil preparation and planting to harvesting. These classes, held at various community locations throughout Los Angeles County, are taught by our dedicated UC Master Gardener volunteers. Then in spring, just as classes were getting started, the COVID-19 restrictions caused the cancellation of all classes. The new reality required our Master Gardeners to pivot to different ways of reaching out to communities and teaching gardening. By summer, our resilient Master Gardener volunteers created new online and hybrid versions of offerings, allowing Los Angeles County residents to continue to learn how to grow their own food.

As our Master Gardener volunteers had to pivot online for our gardening courses, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP) transitioned online to continue offering valuable nutrition education to low-income parents and children. Educators modified the curriculum to facilitate online learning and received training on online security and learner engagement strategies. As the pandemic exacerbated disparities in food security and diet-related chronic diseases, our program in nutrition education and food resource management became, more than ever, critically important to residents as they struggled to improve their health and well-being.

The new realities of 2020 did not slow down Siavash Taravati, our integrated pest management advisor. He trained more than 1,000 licensed pesticide applicators and pest management professionals on the latest pest-control research findings, policies and regulations, and integrated methods of pest control. Despite the pandemic restrictions and numerous event cancellations, he was able to provide consultations and trainings for professionals and Los Angeles County residents through online meetings, email and telephone communications, and social media connections. Taravati’s articles, photographs and videos were viewed more than 15,000 times.

Taravati also launched a webinar called “Pest Insights” which attracted more than 80 pest control professionals to various online workshops led by IPM specialists and researchers. Topics included control methods for ants, wasps and cockroaches; common inspection violations; and updates on research and industry products.

Healthy ecosystems are a vital part of resilient communities for several reasons. They can supply ecosystems services, such as a river that supplies water and helps to absorb and remove pollution; and an urban forest that provides shade and cooling and generates clean air. In addition, a hiking trail in a park reduces stress and promotes emotional and physical health. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River, along with a network of urban parks, enhances the quality of life for many residents. Elected officials and municipal personnel need science-based information and tools to help them protect these valuable resources as well ensuring equitable access to urban nature to benefit all Los Angeles County residents.

Six years ago, Janet Hartin, our environmental horticulture advisor, and her colleagues at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service planted several species of promising climate-ready trees in coastal and inland parks throughout Southern California (including sites in Los Angeles County). With partners at City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, California Urban Forests Council, U.S. Department of Agriculture, TreePeople and CAL FIRE, Hartin is evaluating the tree species to determine their long-term ability to withstand pressures from heat and drought, while fighting climate change by cooling urban heat islands, providing shade, creating wildlife and pollinator habitat, removing air pollutants, and absorbing and storing carbon emitted from the burning of fossil fuels.

The selected tree species will enhance the biodiversity of Los Angeles County landscapes, which currently represent less than 1% of street trees. CalAdapt, which provides various climate change tools and models, was used to model future climate scenarios that would be ideal for these trees to grow well.

Hartin and her colleagues regularly assess growth and health of the trees in parks and at UC sites. Irrigation was turned off in March 2020; and since then, and most species have been doing well, with the exception of island oak (Quercus tomentella). This oak tree displayed many symptoms of drought in inland climate zones. However, in coastal climate zones, it was doing well.

Andre Biscaro is UC Cooperative Extension’s irrigation and water resources advisor. His work focuses on improving the efficiency of irrigation and nutrient management of berry and vegetable crops. He translates the research knowledge into educational materials and workshops that help provide solutions to problems people face in agriculture. He produces new information and integrates technology to support his work with growers. He also works closely with the private sector, local and state agencies, as well as the public to support agriculture in Los Angeles County.

Coyotes exist in sizeable and increasing populations within most urban areas in Los Angeles County. Attacks by coyotes on domestic animals and humans are a primary concern. In urban areas, unlike in rural areas, lethal management is not the primary method for controlling coyotes. Thus, an assortment of non-lethal management practices are emphasized in urban areas, especially hazing coyotes. Hazing involves any variety of tactics to scare a coyote away from humans in order to re-instill fear of humans in coyotes. Although hazing coyotes is frequently and commonly suggested as an effective non-lethal management technique, there is no empirical research to support the effectiveness of this management recommendation in terms of changing coyote behavior to reduce negative coyote-human/pet interactions.

Niamh Quinn, human-wildlife interactions advisor, examines whether community hazing is an effective and appropriate method of coyote management and control. In collaboration with the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner, her research project, “Coyote Conflict in Los Angeles: The UC ANR Hazing Study,” traps coyotes to collar them with a high-tech GPS device. Once on, the collar serves as a tracking device and provides important acceleration data to help determine whether an animal did run off at top speed after being hazed.

In 2020, Quinn and her team captured and collared 16 coyotes. They are spread across the county in 35 different cities (Artesia, Bellflower, Burbank, Carson, Cerritos, Compton, Culver City, Diamond Bar, Downey, El Monte, Gardena, Glendale, Hawthorne, Industry, Inglewood, La Canada Flintridge, La Habra Heights, Lakewood, Laverne, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Lynwood, Norwalk, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Pomona, Rosemead, San Dimas, Santa Monica, South El Monte, South Gate, Temple City, Torrance, West Covina and Whittier) and multiple unincorporated areas (Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Ladera Heights, Athens, West Rancho Dominguez and more) in Los Angeles County. To view the map of the coyotes’ movements, visit  https://arcg.is/1eraH5 .