TopicsNovember 21, 2023
- Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
- Forbes Emergency Walkthrough
- Yuma County Water Factsheet Available
- WRRC Water Webinars
- Extension Onboarding Experience for Faculty
- Invasive Weed Workshop
- Job Opening
- New Publication
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Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
Road Trip Report 57: I visited the Yavapai and La Paz County Extension offices this past week. As always, both offices impressed me with their programming, activity, and, most importantly, their impact on the communities in their counties. I want to thank everyone who made me feel so welcome. Thanks, also, to the stakeholders in La Paz, who joined us for lunch and engaged in our conversation about the needs in their county.
As the holiday season quickly approaches, and although we all have many challenges in our lives, we also have much to be thankful for in Extension. We have the support of stakeholders, colleagues, state legislators, friends, and families. I saw a quote from Seaman A. Knapp, one of the original architects of the Cooperative Extension system. The quote reads:
“Your mission is to solve problems of poverty, to increase measures of happiness, to harness the forces of all learning to the useful and needful in human society.”
That’s a tall task for any organization, but I am thankful for working in a system striving to achieve such endeavors. Have a great week, enjoy your time off, and take a moment to think about things to be thankful for.
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Forbes Emergency Walkthrough
During this virtual walkthrough, Gene Hall, Ryan Daily, and Jeff Ratje will prepare you to:
- Locate Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s) and fire extinguishers
- Identify emergency exits on each floor
- Know and access the Forbes building emergency plan before you are in an emergency
When: 10-10:30 a.m., Thursday, November 30
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| Yuma County Water Factsheet Available
As the tenth installment in the WRRC’s Arizona Water Factsheet series, this resource outlines how Yuma County’s proximity to the historical floodplains of the Lower Colorado and Lower Gila Rivers, advancements in agricultural efficiency, and high priority entitlements to Colorado River water are some of the conditions that have allowed a prominent agricultural industry to thrive in some of the most productive soils found in Arizona.
The factsheet also provides a general overview of the county’s water supply and demand, sustainable water management strategies, and a profile of the regulatory context that determines potential future impacts related to continued drought and reductions to Colorado River water. As is the case for each of the WRRC’s Water Factsheets, input from a local Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was critical to producing a locally relevant, county-scale, and valuable water resource. The Yuma County TAC helped provide local insight to contextualize existing water-related data. For Yuma County, the formation of the TAC was led by Russ Engel, Yuma County Cooperative Extension Director, and Meghan Scott, Attorney at Noble Law, and included representation from Yuma County, the Bureau of Reclamation, Yuma County Water Users Association, and Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation District. Additional municipal, academic, and federal stakeholders outside the TAC provided input for the factsheet, reflective of their deep local knowledge about the county’s water resources and management.
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WRRC Water Webinars
104(b) Grant Program – Student Research Presentations, Part I
Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Localized Flooding and Affected Populations: Climate change effects are seen and felt by local and regional populations. These effects negatively impact the community due to loss of property and loss of life. The groups most impacted are minority groups due to their location, resources, and integrity of their infrastructure. Many studies predict flood patterns with an increased influx of water; not many show the communities or groups affected by these flood patterns. This research analyzes how increased precipitation due to climate change affects flooding patterns of cities. A Flo-2D model was used to create flood inundation maps of areas of interest. To understand flooding impacts in an area, a range of events were run in the Flo-2D model. Once the inundation maps were created, they were overlain with demographic data. This mapped out the groups most affected by flooding and overall climate change.
Three-Dimensional Characterization of a Deep Karst Aquifer Beneath the North Rim of the Grand Canyon: For Grand Canyon National Park and some adjacent Tribes, karst-fed springs are currently the sole source of drinking water. Previous studies on the north rim of the Grand Canyon show that annual snowpack on the Kaibab Plateau is an important driver for spring discharge. Dye tracer and other studies indicate the presence of a complex network of fractures and conduits that can efficiently transport groundwater over large distances in timeframes of days to months. However, the recharge areas and flow paths that snowmelt takes from the sinkholes on the plateau to the springs in the canyon are not well understood. These unknowns raise questions about the aquifer’s vulnerability to climate change and contamination. To better delineate sensitive areas of recharge and predict flow regimes, the research team characterized hydrologic parameters from within the aquifer directly. In the Fall of 2022, over 10 km of hydrologically-active cave passages were mapped using a mobile lidar scanner, enabling extrapolation of joint sets, bedding planes, and faults from the Redwall and Muav limestones from within the Kaibab Plateau. These data were integrated with aerial lidar from the surface and other studies to develop a three-dimensional hydrogeologic model of the Kaibab Plateau aquifer system. These findings illustrate how subterranean features mapped within hydrologically-active caves relate to regional geologic structures. The results identify data gaps, indicate areas of interest for future research, and provide a powerful interactive and interpretive tool for visualizing complex karst systems.
When: Noon-1:15 p.m., Tuesday, November 28
Speakers: Adriana Arcelay, doctoral student, University of Arizona; Blase LaSala, graduate student, Northern Arizona University
104(b) Grant Program – Student Research Presentations, Part II
Low-Energy Inland Brackish Water Desalination: As water shortages become more relevant within the American Southwest, additional reductions from traditional water supplies will occur. Consequently, to meet the water demand, inland regions will require exploring non-conventional sources to secure their water supply, including brackish groundwater. Arizona has over 600 million acre-feet of brackish groundwater that may be a viable source of potable water using desalination technology. The golden standard for treatment of brackish water is desalination via Reverse Osmosis (RO). However, RO comes with the major drawback of producing high-cost water and large volumes of concentrate to dispose of. Thus, there is a need for low-energy water treatment technologies that are economical, widely accessible, and have low environmental impacts to produce high-quality and cost-effective potable water for all. Nanofiltration (NF) is another pressure-driven membrane process and, compared to RO, consumes less energy while maintaining a high-water flux. Through modeling and pilot testing NF and RO hybrid configurations, the researchers optimized a membrane treatment train to decrease operating pressure, energy consumption, and scale producing ions while analyzing the tradeoffs. These hybrid configurations aim to improve the applicability of desalination in inland regions with the overarching goal of increasing water-energy circularity.
Increasing Water Storage in Arid Soils with Biological Applications: For over twenty years, Arizona has experienced extreme drought. As a result, many farmers and ranchers are now required to reduce their water usage by up to forty percent. One way to meet this requirement would be to develop methods for soils to hold more water. Livestock are often viewed as bad for water resources and soil health, but can livestock be a tool for land managers to improve their soil and save water? In this project, the research team partnered with a farm in Red Rock, Arizona, to study adaptive rotational grazing — a way of grazing livestock that moves herds to new pasture to maintain land and animal health. This grazing treatment was tested by using control plots in two fields. One field had been unused for over 25 years, and the other was in its third year being rotationally grazed. The team measured soil carbon and nitrogen content, bulk density, and water infiltration. Results of the study showed that rotationally grazed plots increased levels of organic carbon and nitrogen in the soil and decreased levels of soil bulk density. Therefore, the less dense the soil is, the more water it can hold. The results showed rotational grazing can help farmers and ranchers decrease their water use. By better understanding how livestock impacts the land, herds can be raised sustainably. This research could also help with flood control, groundwater recharge, and restricted water use.
When: Noon-1:15 p.m., Thursday, November 30
Speakers: Arianna Quinn Tariqi, PhD student, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona; Dustin Fancher, graduate student, Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona.
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| Save the Date
Extension Onboarding Experience for Faculty: Part I
February 26 & 27 - In-Person Only
Faculty will have an opportunity to learn and review the framework and core competencies for being a successful Extension Agent or Specialist.
The two-day interactive experience at the University of Arizona Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Office (in-person only) is scheduled from 10 a.m., Monday, February 26 until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27. Travel and lodging will be covered by the Extension administration. Space is limited. Registration and a detailed agenda will be forthcoming. The event is being chaired by Dr. Patty Merk and Dr. Cathy Martinez.
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Please join us for this one-day invasive weeds workshop. A variety of speakers will present updated information about pesticide law, safety, and local invasive weed updates. Six AZ CEUs available (pending approval).
When: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 5
Cost: $15 and lunch is included.
Please register with the provided QR code.
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| Job Opening
Extension Specialist (Assistant/Associate) – Family Health and Well-being, Norton School of Human Ecology – This continuing status (i.e., tenure-track) position will develop and lead a statewide initiative to address community health and family well-being, particularly emotional-behavioral health, using a family systems and intergenerational life course approach to human behavior, health and well-being. This work will be informed by the Cooperative Extension System’s National Framework for Health Equity and Well-being (2021).The Specialist will work to strengthen and improve family and community health and well-being and the social-environmental context(s) in which family groups interact. Using effective research-based, equity-focused approaches and advancing policies that help families be resilient and thrive, the Specialist will demonstrate impact through rigorous program evaluation and other applied research. The Specialist will maintain a program of extension, research, and scholarly outreach in community-based family health and well-being programs. This position will involve 60% extension, 30% research, and 10% service as a member of the Human Development and Family Science faculty. For more information and to share the job posting, visit the posting on the UA Talent site.
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New Publication
Joshua Farella
Raising a swine is a great way for youth to learn about livestock and raise a market product through 4-H. In this document we have listed some strategies and resources that are important in making show weights and growing a high-quality agricultural product. Some important things to know about your swine project include appropriate feeds and feeding, planning to ensure your swine makes weight for the show, and how to spot common health problems. Be sure to work with your county Extension staff and 4-H Leaders to find additional resources and have the best chance for success!
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