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TopicsMay 30, 2023
- Message from the Associate Vice President and Director of Extension
- Help Arizona Solve Water Challenges - WRRC Annual Conference
- New Cochise County Extyension Director Announced
- Dial the Dean on June 20
- Arizona Cooperative Extension Annual Conference Poster Submissions
- WRRC Seminar: Homeowners Associations - An Overlooked Water Sustainability Opportunity in the Desert
- CCT Data Science Workshops
- Climate Science Working Group Needs Your Help
- Yavapai County Extension 2022 Annual Report Avaialble
- Navajo, Yavapai County Job Openings
- New Publications
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Message from the Associate Vice President
and Director of Extension
I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. I want to remind everyone that we are in the process of hiring several faculty members in Extension. This includes county faculty and academic Unit Specialists. These positions span the full range of Extension in 4-H, ANR, and FCHS – all at both the Specialist and Agent levels. Like many employers, we have challenges finding qualified applicants for these positions. I encourage everyone to help with recruitment for these positions. We have positions open on campus and in county offices. Please check Tuesday Extension Notes – yes, what you are reading right now. Just scroll down a bit to see the open positions listed. I had a faculty member ask about a position that was filled over a year ago. I checked in TEN, and the posting was listed, and when we hired, a “welcome” was posted. Since we have almost 30 positions we are working to fill, your assistance is critical to ensure we get the best-qualified applicants. Thanks to everyone’s support and a big thank you to everyone serving on Search and Screen committees.
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Limited Number of Free Registrations Still Available!
The 2023 Water Resources Research Center annual conference, What Can We Do? Solutions to Arizona’s Water Challenges, is your chance to join a conversation about solving water problems affecting all of us at home, at work, and in our communities. A limited number of cost-free registrations are available for UArizona Cooperative Extension faculty and staff (contact Jessie Hampton for more information). Free registrations are first come, first served, so register soon.
The conference is set for July 11–12 at the University of Arizona Student Union. The goal is to address pressing state, regional, and tribal water resource challenges by collectively coaxing out ideas that enhance water security. The two-day program will feature sessions on water quality, information gaps, farming practices, working with nature, adapting policy, growing the workforce, technology, and more. There will also be ample opportunity for networking to continue the solution-focused discussions of the conference. Keep an eye on our conference page as the agenda develops.
Early bird registration is $110 ($65 for one day), until June 14. Student registration is $30. A free, non-interactive livestream registration will be available soon. We hope to see many of you in Tucson this July!
Click here to become a conference sponsor.
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New Cochise County Extension Director
Carol Holden was raised in Willcox in a 4-H family on a small family ranch. She earned her bachelor's degree in accounting and master's degree in administration-public management, both from Northern Arizona University. She has many years of experience in finance and administrative leadership in government, nonprofits, and higher education. She returned to Cochise County in 2016 and looks forward to serving her community through the Cooperative Extension program.
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Special Guest: Kim McReynolds, Greenlee County Extension Director, discusses the challenges facing communities in her county and how Cooperative Extension is making a positive impact.
Please join us! If you are unable to take part in the 30-minute call, a link to a recording will be published in the Weekly Bulletin after the event. Click here to register. Send questions in advance to rosberg@arizona.edu. Previous Dial-the-Dean recordings are available here.
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Submit a Poster!
Arizona Cooperative Extension Annual ConferenceAugust 2-4
The 2023 Annual Arizona Extension Conference will be August 2-4 in Tucson on the University of Arizona Main Campus. This year's conference theme is Building the Future of Extension Through Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration.
Poster Session Submissions - Posters can be on any Arizona Extension-related topic, including, but not limited to, community issues, extension initiatives, programs, or research projects. Posters presented at other conferences are eligible for display. Poster space is limited. Posters will be accepted in the order they are received until space capacity is reached. Click here to submit a poster. Provide the title, authors, a short (150-word maximum) abstract, the style (hanging vs. tabletop), and the approximate size of your poster. Deadline: July 3, 11:59 p.m. Your submission will be confirmed by Friday, July 7.
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WRRC Seminar Series: Homeowners AssociationsAn Overlooked Water Sustainability Opportunity in the Desert
Located in the Tucson Mountains, the Agua Dulce Homeowners Association has supported common-area water conservation and green stormwater infrastructure since 2015. To date, respective strategies have saved 4.6 million gallons of water and $19,000 relative to a 2016 baseline. Savings have been realized through landscape maintenance and careful management of our common area irrigation. In this WRRC webinar, Hans Huth will summarize strategies he has tested and the challenges faced in building landscape resiliency to the ongoing megadrought when working within a managed community.
What: Webinar - Homeowners Associations: An Overlooked Water Sustainability Opportunity in the Desert
When: Noon – 1:15 p.m. (Arizona Time), Thursday, June 1
Speaker: Hans Huth, UArizona MS Hydrology (1998); Agua Dulce HOA Water Harvesting Chair and Volunteer
Click here for more information.
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CCT Data Science Workshops
This three-part series will help you to unlock the full power of `ggplot2` functionality so you can create beautiful visualizations from start to finish without manual editing. You'll learn to plot multiple data sets, customize the appearance of your plots, and harness advanced features with ggplot2 extensions.
When: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., June 5, 12, 26 (Mondays)
Instructors: Jessica Guo, Eric Scott, Kristina Riemer
Location: Zoom
Registration: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Prerequisites: Recent versions of R and RStudio installed. Familiarity working with R and RStudio. Some familiarity with making plots using the `ggplot2` package in R (e.g., you've gone through Jeff Oliver's ggplot2 lesson).
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Climate Science Working Group Needs Your Help The Cooperative Extension Climate Science Working Group wants to know about the current level of interest and involvement in climate change-related training, programming, and collaboration within Extension. Your responses will be used to guide climate change program development and better integration of climate change information across Extension programs. Even if you feel that your role within Extension is not a “climate” role, we encourage you to submit a response.
The information will also help the UArizona Extension Climate Science Working Group leverage resources and opportunities to better serve Extension and Arizona stakeholders.
The survey's introduction page contains more information about confidentiality, how your responses will be used and stored, and your rights.
What: There are 27 quick, simple questions that should take 10 – 15 minutes to complete.
Who: You must work within Arizona Cooperative Extension, be 18 or older, and read English.
Click here to complete the survey. Please contact Dawn Gouge at dhgouge@arizona.edu or 602-418-5202 with questions or complaints about the study.
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Yavapai County Extension 2022 Annual Report Avaialble
The Yavapai County Cooperative Extension is excited to share 2022’s activities with you. A high level summary is now available here.
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Job Openings
Assistant/Associate Area Agent – Small Acreage and Food Production, Yavapai County. The Agent will focus on crops and small farm production. They will collaborate with growers, educational institutions, and community organizations to develop a program that introduces new technologies and appropriate varieties for crop production with the focus of providing fresh local produce and value-added products to direct markets, CSAs, restaurants, and other outlets. This position is based in Camp Verde, Arizona. A complete description of this position can be found at the University of Arizona Talent website.
Administrative Assistant, Yavapai County. The Administrative Assistant will provide general administrative functions and assistance which includes communicating with internal and external stakeholders, preparing documents and reports, compiling records, scheduling meetings, organizing, and maintaining information, coordinating calendars, and composing correspondence. This position is based in Prescott, AZ. A complete description of this position can be found at the University of Arizona Talent website.
Assistant/Associate Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent – Range Management, Yavapai County. The Agent will focus on creating and supervising community outreach programs, providing leadership in the development and implementation of a science-based educational programing in rangeland management. This position is based in either our Camp Verde or Prescott office. A complete description of this position can be found at the University of Arizona Talent website.
Assistant/Associate Livestock Agent, Yavapai County. The Agent will focus on providing stakeholder education programs on topics such as animal health and welfare, nutrition, livestock breeding/genetics, and beef quality assurance (BQA) with the overall goal of improved profitability and long-term sustainability. They will be responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating an effective outcome-based program that supports identified issues in the community. This position is based in our Camp Verde office. A complete description of this position can be found at the University of Arizona Talent website.
Assistant/Associate Agent, 4-H Youth Development, Navajo County. This continuing eligible, Assistant/Associate Agent, 4-H Youth Development position is responsible for the 4-H Youth Development Program for Navajo County Cooperative Extension and will work with 4-H Youth Development at the state and national level. This position will be responsible for the recruitment, training, certification, and development of 4-H Volunteers. This person will be required to develop and implement positive youth development programming for Navajo County youth through non-formal educational opportunities and work with traditional 4-H clubs and non-traditional youth programs. This person will also provide support and management of the 4-H club program. A complete description of this position can be found at the University of Arizona Talent website.
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New Extension Publications
Beekeepers in Arizona are lucky to live in a state where the growing season is long and there is something in bloom almost all year long. Many beekeepers choose to have one apiary location and harvest ‘wildflower’ honey once a year ($2.18 per pound)i. Other beekeepers choose to move their hives according to what is blooming and harvest specialty monofloral honeys ($12 to $18 per pound) from each nectar flow. With a little planning and cooperation with landowners or farmers, they can produce much more honey per hive as well as charge more per pound for their honey produced. To get truly monofloral honey the hive must be placed where there is an abundance of one floral resource, and not much else. Bees tend to focus on the type of nectar that is most abundant and easily available, so they cooperate with this type of management. Honeybees will fly up to 3 miles to find nectar and pollen, but they love efficiency, so placing them in the middle of, or at the edge of a large crop will ensure the best results. Pollination by bees can increase fruit set and quality as well as seed set by up to 70% in some crops! Best pollination occurs when there is at least one robust hive per acre.
Lead Author: Anne Lesenne
Most people don’t realize how many different flavors of honey exist so they probably haven’t given any thought about how to taste them and pick their favorites. Taste is how we describe what happens on our tongues and Flavor is much more about what happens in our noses.
According to the National Honey Board, most of the $920 million of honey purchased last year in the U.S. was from a grocery store in a 12 oz. plastic bottle.ⅰ This honey is usually processed (not raw) Wildflower, Clover or a blend of honeys to achieve a consistent light amber color and mild flavor. Most people don’t know that there are over 300 different plants that honey can be produced from here in the United States. Since each plant is different, the nectar they produce is also different, and will produce a honey with a unique flavor profile. These honey flavors can be categorized according to the sensations they trigger in our taste buds: Sweet, Spicy, Sour, Bitter, Savory. Since taste is closely related to our sense of smell, flavors of honey will also remind us of other tastes and smells we’ve experienced.
For successful Spring management of your honeybee colony, there had to be successful Fall and Winter management as each affects the other. Springtime for honeybees begins much earlier than we might think it does, especially in the low desert of Arizona.
The Society of Ecological Restoration defines restoration as the process in assisting in the recovery of a habitat that has been degraded or destroye. Essentially, ecological restoration means fixing up the environment. Restoration can enhance plant cover, provide habitat to wild animals, make habitants more resilience to climate change, and more. Get involved in helping out the environment where you can by caring for native plants and animals, picking up litter and saving water. This activity book was made with love by the Gornish Lab at the University of Arizona for kids of all ages.
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