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IN THIS NEWSLINE ISSUED July 31, 2007:
- UA SCIENTISTS CHASING STORM RUNOFF
- CALS TEACHER GUIDE FOCUSES ON WATER AND EDUCATION
- DESERT CURSE: BUFFELGRASS
- STUDENT BOTANICAL PRINTS AT BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM
- CHEMICAL DEFENSES IN HERBS AND SPICES
- EXPLORE A HIGH COUNTRY ARIZONA RANCH AUGUST 27
- MARKET CLUSTERS ARE GOOD FOR ARIZONA'S ECONOMY
- PLANT SURVIVAL IN THE DESERT HEAT
- TUCSON LECTURE ON SUSTAINABLE WATER USE AUGUST 30
- IT'S TIME FOR CACTUS CUTTINGS
- RISE SYMPOSIUM IN TUCSON OCTOBER 6
1 UA SCIENTISTS CHASING STORM RUNOFF
A team of University of Arizona scientists is braving the pelting rains of Tucson's monsoons to collect storm runoff.
The UA Desert Stormchasers project, headed by Kathleen A. Lohse, UA assistant professor of watershed resources, is checking for pollutants, metals and nutrients in the urban storm runoff headed down washes, gullies and ditches toward potential recharge areas.
To read the rest of the story in the Tucson Citizen, go to the link below.
To learn more: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/58067.php
2 CALS TEACHER GUIDE FOCUSES ON WATER AND EDUCATION
The CALS Arizona Conserve Water Educators Guide provides teachers of middle school and high school students with the ins and outs of water conservation. Features include a hydrologic primer for background information and case studies drawn from actual situations. It covers the state's unique geography, its history of water resources and photo and map illustrations.
In 2004, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano called for the development of a culture of conservation through education in Arizona. In response, the UA's Arizona Project Water Education for Teachers (WET) partnership was formed to develop a teachers guide focused on water conservation in Arizona.
Kerry Schwartz, Project WET, kschwart@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/AZWATER/WET/R_Curriculum.html
University of Arizona researchers are preparing their first concerted attack against buffelgrass, an invading species that threatens to forever change this part of the Sonoran Desert.
The search-and-destroy mission begins Aug. 2 at the Santa Rita Experimental Range east of Sahuarita, followed a couple of weeks later by an assault on thick stands of the tough, hard-to-kill plant on Tumamoc Hill, on Tucson's West Side.
Buffelgrass, brought to this area decades ago from Africa as a possible source of erosion control and cattle forage, has spread like wildfire, crowding out native vegetation and creating a severe fire hazard.
To read the rest of this story from the Arizona Daily Star, see the link below.
To learn more: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/191291.php
4 STUDENT BOTANICAL PRINTS AT BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM
A wide array of printing techniques and styles, from intaglio to woodcut, collagraph, silkscreen, and even photo-polymer gravure showcases botanical art by students of two Pima Community College print-making classes through the end of August. The exhibit is in the Boyce Thompson Arboretum Visitor Center gallery.
The Arboretum, part of the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is also an Arizona State Park. Summer hours are daily from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Paul Wolterbeek, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, pwolterb@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/bta/featuredartist.html
5 CHEMICAL DEFENSES IN HERBS AND SPICES
The sweet basil that tops your spaghetti sauce, the ginger blended into your pumpkin pie, and the turmeric mixed in your potato curry add more than just taste.
All three of these culinary flavorings contain powerful compounds; eugenol, gingerol and cucurmin, respectively, that can fight certain types of inflammation, infection and other threats to human health. People have used these and other herbs and spices for thousands of years, not only to flavor and preserve their food, but also as medicine.
Of more immediate interest to the plants that produce these substances is their own survival. They create compounds called phenylpropanoids that include not only eugenol, gingerol and cucurmin, but also hundreds of others, to defend themselves against animals and microorganisms like bacteria and fungi.
Scientists at the University of Arizona are studying the chemical properties of herbs and spices to find out not only how these protective compounds work, but also how and where they are synthesized in plants.
To read the entire story from the most recent CALS Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station report go to the link below.
David Gang, BIO5, dgang@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/general/resrpt2006/article7_2006.pdf
6 EXPLORE A HIGH COUNTRY ARIZONA RANCH AUGUST 27
The V Bar V Ranch Explorers Day, Saturday, August 27, will give the public a chance to learn about ranching in Arizona. At the high elevation location of the ranch in Mahan Park, near Happy Jack, Arizona a day of educational activities, presentations, displays will be offered.
The highlight of the day is a V Bar V beef barbeque lunch with Dutch oven cobbler for dessert. All activities, lunch and bus transportation from Camp Verde or Prescott are included in the registration fee.
The V Bar V ranch is a CALS research center which addresses environmental, wildlife and domestic livestock issues applicable to Arizona and the Southwest. Vegetation zones, including high desert chaparral, pinyon-juniper, and pine, are typical of those on most of the commercial ranches in central and northern Arizona.
Dave Schafer, CALS V Bar V Ranch, dschafer@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/aes/vbarv/ranchexplorersday.html
7 MARKET CLUSTERS ARE GOOD FOR ARIZONA'S ECONOMY
You see it everywhere without knowing it has a name. Businesses gear up in strategic locations along new transportation corridors. Scientists convene online to share the latest research data. Media outlets congregate close to government centers for easy access to information. Whether they know it or not, each of these groups is participating in the economic dynamic of "market clustering."
The idea of market clustering has its roots in British economist Alfred Marshall's early twentieth century work. It became part of the common language in economics and regional planning. There has been a resurgence of interest in this concept after years of neglect.
Over the past two decades economists and business scholars have taken notice of market cluster theory. They have examined how disciplines such as marketing and management might contribute to solving development problems in the least
developed parts of the world.
To read the entire story from the most recent CALS Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station report go to the link below.
Eric Arnould, Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, eja1@email.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/general/resrpt2006/article2_2006.pdf
8 PLANT SURVIVAL IN THE DESERT HEAT
How cultivated and native plants endure desert extremes is the topic of the featured presentation at the Maricopa County Short Course. Landscape shrubs and trees, melons and vegetables, alfalfa and cotton, citrus and turfgrass all endure unique desert heat and cold conditions, shortages of and poor quality water, various soil conditions, pest infestations and diseases differently.
"Dog Days of Summer and Every Plant Deals with it in a Different Way" will be presented by Terry Mikel, CALS commercial horticulture area extension agent. Mikel has been studying desert plants for over 20 years. He will be speaking at the 14th Annual Maricopa County Short Course, held at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, 4341 E. Broadway Road in Phoenix, on Wednesday, August 29.
Registration and details are available at the link below.
Kai Umeda, Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, kumeda@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://turf.arizona.edu/events.htm
9 TUCSON LECTURE ON SUSTAINABLE WATER USE AUGUST 30
Innovative strategies for achieving sustainable water use is the topic of a free lecture by Peter Gleick, co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security.
In Tucson to also participate in a regional water symposium, Gleick will be speaking at the Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club, Tucson at 7:30 p.m.on Aug. 30.
Gleick is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water issues, and the BBC named him a visionary on the environment in its Essential Guide to the 21st Century. He is the principal author of the recent publication, The World's Water 2006 - 2007, The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, published by Island Press.
Cas Sprout, Water Resources Research Center, csprout@cals.arizona.edu
10 IT'S TIME FOR CACTUS CUTTINGS
Any cacti having pads, segments or branches can be propagated easily from cuttings taken during the summer.
These include prickly pears, chollas, hedgehog and branching columnar cacti such as night-blooming cereus.
Take your cuttings from healthy cacti, and, most important, the cacti you want to propagate should not be stressed for moisture. Those are the ones whose pads or stems are wrinkled, sunken or shriveled.
To read the rest of this story in the Arizona Daily Star, see the link below.
To learn more: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/190521.php
11 RISE SYMPOSIUM IN TUCSON OCTOBER 6
The latest research findings on watersheds in southern Arizona will be presented at the fourth annual Research Insights in Semiarid Ecosystems (RISE) Symposium. It will feature invited speakers presenting recent research on the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed and the UA Santa Rita Experimental Range and other outdoor laboratories.
The symposium will be held Saturday, October 6th from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at
UA Marley Auditorium (Room 230), in Tucson.
Details and registration information can be found at the link below.
Mitchel McClaran, School of Natural Resources, mcclaran@u.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/rise/
To find out about available CALS publications and upcoming events, go
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