(1110) Ag Extension Division

Conduct practical research related to ranching, natural resources, and youth development, and extend that research to ranchers, agency staff, and the 4-H community through educational programs.

• 4-H: 4-H has been fast at work to meet the needs of our community under the shelter in place order. Now that schools are closed, it’s more important than ever to keep our youth engaged and 4-H is taking the lead on that. We have created online resources to allow for remote community service and 4-H projects for our youth. We created a new project to send uplifting virtual messages of kindness to medical staff, patients and elderly. We are also teaming up with other community organizations to provide youth and families access to online learning resources. With a focus on online programming, we intend to reach a more diverse audience than we’ve been able to reach in the past, expanding the reach of 4-H in our county.
• Livestock & Natural Resources: We were recently awarded a CAL FIRE grant in the amount of $379,785. This grant will allow us to hire a half time Prescribed Burn/Fire Safety Coordinator, purchase prescribed burning equipment, develop a Prescribed Burn Association, and conduct educational programs related to prescribed burning and fire safety. We also received funding from the California Cattle Council to estimate how many livestock there are in each county across the state and how grazing decreases fire speed across the landscape. Through this project we will provide example scenarios in different regions to demonstrate how additional grazing could drastically reduce the speed and intensity of fire, providing firefighters far greater time to respond to wildfire. Finally, we received funding from Pinnacles National Park to help them develop and implement an experiment to see if livestock grazing can help them achieve their conservation goals related to restoring a prairie.
• Administration: The Administrative Assistant provided guidance related to University and County financial processes and policies to the Livestock & Natural Resources Advisor during her transition to the position of County Director/Department Head. The Administrative Assistant assisted the 4-H Representative and 4-H families with administrative questions. She fostered ongoing business relationships within the county with the Auditors, RMA, Admin, and IT Offices allowing for a more efficient office workflow. This past year she continued to take trainings to increase her knowledge and efficiency of various administrative tasks, including better workflow in managing County accounts, County’s ERP system, several UC and County accounts. The Administrative Assistant learned how to add information to our UCCE San Benito County Website. She is now able to add workshops and training events to the calendar. This increases our ability to advertise research and educational events broadly to San Benito County residents.
• In addition to programs listed above that are based in San Benito County, seven additional UCCE advisors who are located in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara Counties have projects or programs in San Benito County. Because of the work of these other advisors, their staff, or their volunteers, an equivalent of more than 1 FTE worth of UCCE time was dedicated to San Benito County this past year. Their work in San Benito County was related to viticulture, strawberries & caneberries, irrigation & water resources, entomology, small farms, vegetable crops & weed science, and Master Gardeners. In addition to their time, these advisors brought $10,000 of grant funding into our county. See table on next page for additional details. Also, UCCE specialists from UC Davis and UC Berkeley contribute their time to San Benito County by collaborating with me and providing guidance on my research projects in the county and by speaking at my workshops. UCCE specialists contribute a combined total of about 5% FTE to San Benito County each year.

• Our top concern is maintaining excellent service to the community in light of diminishing financial resources.
• Decrease in state funding, UC is no longer able to cover the full cost of the half-time 4-H Representative. We are requesting the county to cover the shortfall this year.
• Ability to cover a half time Administrative Assistant.

• Identify county-based funding opportunities to increase our 4-H Representative FTE from 0.5 to 1. This will allow us to double the number of 4-H youth and adult volunteers enrolled in the program and provide more consistent and timely services to the community.
• Work with the County to fully fund our Administrative Assistant at 0.5 FTE.
• Collaborate with Community Corrections (Probation) to develop Master Gardener program to provide classes and trainings at the jail.
• Increase program and research opportunities to address needs leading to increased economic prosperity, a prepared workforce, improved natural resources management, and enhanced community health and wellness.