IN THIS NEWSLINE ISSUED OCT 16, 2002:

1. 4-H CELEBRATES CENTENNIAL
   
2. CALS HOMECOMING CELEBRATION
   
3. UA ARBORETUM GRAND OPENING
   
4. ARIZONA FIREWISE
   
5. NEW DROUGHT WEBSITE
   
6. WEST NILE VIRUS IN ARIZONA
   
7. PLANS FOR WATER IN NORTHERN ARIZONA
   
8. FARM MARKETS IN ARIZONA
   
9. HEALTHY WEIGHT 4 LIFE
   
10. HAPPIER FAMILIES
    
11. MULTI-MEDIA CLASSROOM LEARNING

The largest youth development organization in the United States turns 100 this year, with 6.8 million participating young people from all 50 states and another 5 million in 80 other countries.

These youth, along with an estimated 60 million alumni, proudly call themselves 4-H'ers. In Arizona, more than 74,000 youth ages 5-19 are involved in 4-H clubs, camps, non-formal groups, school enrichment programs and special interest programs.

With 4-H programs in all 15 counties, the state's 4-H program offers educational projects, events and activities for both urban and rural youth. More than 4,400 adult volunteers assist with this program.

Although the centennial celebration continues throughout 2002, Gov. Jane D. Hull recently proclaimed October 6-12 "4-H Week" in recognition of the contribution 4-H has made in helping youth an adults learn and grow and work together in Arizona.

The state office for Arizona 4-H Youth Development is located at the University of Arizona in Tucson. For more information about the programs listed above and about Arizona 4-H in general see http://ag.arizona.edu/4-H. Full story at http://uanews.org. Click on Ag & Life Sciences.

CALS will start celebrating Homecoming 2002, A Century of Pride, at 8 a.m. on Friday, November 8th, with the Touchstone Energy AgCat Open Golf Tournament. To register, call 520-621-7883.

Additional Friday events include a Family & Consumer Sciences luncheon, alumni awards reception, alumni council board meeting, "Bear Down Bash," and evening bonfire and pep rally.

Saturday November 9th festivities start at 7:30 a.m. with the 12th annual Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean's Almost-World-Famous Burrito Breakfast and Auction in the Bear Down Gym. The auction benefits many alumni programs that strengthen the student body and the College.

The Aggie House Alumni and the AGR Alumni Boards will also meet before the Saturday afternoon homecoming parade. The UA Wildcats will play UCLA at 7:07 p.m.
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/alumni

The name is new, but the UA Campus Arboretum feaures a unique collection of trees and shrubs that date back to the University's beginnings. In fact, the UA campus has the oldest continually maintained green space in Arizona.

The olive grove on the north side of North Campus Drive was planted in 1895 by Dr. Robert H. Forbes, then director of the experiment station. The much beloved cactus garden named for Joseph Wood Krutch is now a feature of the Campus Mall, but it began in the mid-1890s on the west side of Old Main.

Conifers were planted in a formal design on both sides of the main gate on Park Avenue before 1919. Elegant Washingtonian palms have lined the entrance drive since the 1920s.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Warren Jones, professor of landscape architecture, collected, installed, and evaluated hundreds of plants from arid climates around the world. Many of his trees are heritage trees that can be adopted by UA Arboretum patrons.

The proposed Alumni Plaza will use indigenous plants to celebrate the University's location in the Sonoran Desert

At the grand opening on September 28th, 2002, the Campus Arboretum celebrated its acceptance into the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. The inclusion gives the UA Campus Arboretum the same status already accorded the Tucson Botanical Gardens, The Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and the ASU Campus Arboretum.

Elizabeth Davison, arboretum director
To learn more: http://arboretum.arizona.edu

Arizona's population is growing rapidly. More and more, people are building homes in once natural forest, grass, and brush lands--areas that are more susceptible to wildfires. Fire is unpredictable; once it occurs, it can find the weakest link in your fire protection plans and gain the upper hand.

You can protect yourself. Although there are no fireproof plants, some are more fire resistant than others. You can create a defensible space around your home that will reduce a wildfire's intensity and ability to spread. Such a space will also reduce the chance of a house fire spreading into surrounding lands.

Start by fire-proofing your house. Use Building Code Class C or better fire-resistant materials on your roof. Always have smoke alarms inside. When you build a deck or patio, use concrete, flagstone or rock instead of wood. When appropriate, use retaining walls.

To be a "firewise" homeowner, plan well, build well, use the right plants in the right places, and maintain them carefully.

Fred Deneke, fire education extension specialist

To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/firewise

Extreme to severe drought conditions have been developing over the past three to four years, and the effects are increasingly being felt over much of the Southwestern United States. El Nino conditions have developed in the equatorial Pacific, but what the impacts of the 2002-2003 El Nino event will be for the Southwest still remains uncertain.

Arizona Cooperative Extension has brought together faculty from campus and counties to address drought issues -- topics include households,climate,
finances, and animal, fire, and range management. Check out the new web site listed below.
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/drought

Already identified in more than 30 states, the West Nile Virus (WNV) will probably be found in Arizona sometime soon. Arizona has expanded its longstanding mosquito-borne virus surveillance network to detect, monitor, and control WNV. The virus is spread by mosquitoes that have fed on infected birds.

CALS entomologists are studying the mosquito's ecology--its life cycle and feeding habits. Also Cooperative Extension veterinary programs focus on educating the state's livestock industry and general public about animal health problems.

Currently, the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is screening flocks of sentinel chickens monthly to determine whether they were bitten by virus-infected mosquitoes. Mosquitoes, dead birds, and sick horses are being tested for WNV.

WNV causes a significant amount of disease and death among horses; last year, more than 20 percent of infected horses died. The most common signs of WNV infection in horses are wobbly gait, stumbling, leg weakness, and lying down.

Thus far, all WNV testing in Arizona has proved negative.

To help prevent the disease, eliminate standing water in which mosquitoes breed. People can protect themselves from WNV by avoiding mosquito bites by wearing clothing covering arms and legs. Use insect repellents.

Also, physicians and veterinarians need to report cases of mosquito-borne disease in humans and horses.

Peder Cuneo, Cooperative Extension veterinarian
Henry Hagedorn, Department of Entomology
Paul Baker, Pesticide Coordinator
Arizona Livestock Review, Department of Animal Sciences, http://ag.arizona.edu/ans/alr
For information on dead bird surveillance and mosquito control, contact
http://www.hs.state.az.us/phs/local_health/health_depts.htm
For information on the West Nile Virus, contact http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
To learn more: http://microvet.arizona.edu/AzVDL/index.htm

Is a another pipeline from the Colorado River the best solution to water problems in rural north central Arizona? What are the options? Plans for regional collaborative management are needed.

Water to support the greatly expanding population in the area is limited. Groundwater has already receded more than 1,500 feet below the soil surface.

Concern that a pipeline was being promoted to the exclusion of other options led to organizing a regional water study, the 22-member Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council. They are investigating the proposed pipeline, but they are also looking at conservation, alternative well fields, treatment and reuse of effluent--whatever mechanisms they can identify to help meet a growing water demand.

U.S. Senator Jon Kyl has also commissioned a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation study to examine water supply and demand options in the area.

Joe Gelt, editor, "Arizona Water Resource," newsletter for the Water Resources Research Center
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/awrmain.html

Many Arizonans prefer to buy fresh vegetables and fruits "down on the farm." They also appreciate the fresh farm market atmosphere and the fun.

On-farm sales are concentrated in Cochise County, but you can also find markets in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, Prescott, Verde Valley, Dewey, Chino Valley, Yuma, Flagstaff, and Pinetop.

Growers sell a variety of fresh products. For example, in Yavapai Clunty, eager shoppers can find fresh vegetables, fruits, beef, pork, turkeys, honey, chili strings, and floral supplies. Some growers use farm markets; some hold festivals; and some sell in Prescott. The same marketing techniques are common in other counties.

Russell Tronstad, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Jeff Schalau, Yavapai County Cooperative Extension
The "Direct Farm Marketing and Tourism Handbook" is available online at the link below.
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/AREC/pubs/dmkt/dmkt.html

Obesity is a problem for more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. Obviously, effective weight management programs are needed, programs that integrate all the factors that contribute to this health-threatening problem.

In 2001, 120 women enrolled in Phase One of the Healthy Weight 4 Life program. It emphasizes physical activity, healthy eating, developing healthy interpersonal relationships, and dealing with psychological and emotional berriers to losing weight. During the first 16 weeks, they lost an average of 11 pounds; some women lost 37 pounds.

Phase Two features 18 months of online support that encourages maintaining previous weight loss. More than 75 percent of the enrolled women maintained their previous weight loss or continued to lose additional pounds.

Scott Going, Department of Nutritional Sciences
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/impacts/31.pdf

Young parents are learning to use less harsh, but still effective discipline--learning how to take care of their homes--learning where and how to get the help they need.

High risk families getting this help from Cooperative Extension often include too-young, too-tired parents. They're parents whose lives are torn by fighting abuse, alcohol, or drug addictions.

In Pinal County, extension agents teach paraprofessionals and community volunteers to work one-on-one with parents. The successful program now includes truant teenagers, prisoners soon to be released, and parents going off welfare.

Ninety-four percent of participants in the Family and Community Connection program report their lives have changed for the better.

Darcy Dixon, Pinal County extension agent
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/impacts/10.pdf

Keeping up with teaching standards and professional demands isn't easy for agricultural education teachers in remote Arizona areas. Traveling long distances to attend university classes is costly and time-consuming. Now they have an alternative.

CALS developed a self-contained multimedia command center to deliver workshops to teachers and students wherever they are in the state. Instructors can capture classroom participation, use email, the Internet, multimedia, video, and 3-D image display.

High-quality classroom videos can go directly to off-site students. They can interact and ask questions using email.

As one teacher said, "This technology enabled me to complete my degree without traveling 230 miles or paying the added expense."

Jack Elliot, Department of Agricultural Education
To learn more: http://ag.arizona.edu/impacts/21.pdf

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