USDA California Climate Hub
News & Notes
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The USDA California Climate Hub within the Agricultural Research Service at the UC Davis John Muir Institute works with partners across federal and state agencies, universities, and industry to help enable climate-informed decision making and advance the adaptive capacity for California's working and managed agricultural, range, and forest lands. Through these newsletters we share news and information of relevance and interest to our stakeholders. We encourage you to get in touch with us if we can be of further service or assistance.
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Climate-Wise Reforestation Toolkit
California's recent drought resulted in significant tree mortality and the need to reforest in areas where the overstory was lost. In partnership with the Forest Service, UC Berkeley, and the John Muir Institute of the Environment,
the California Climate Hub developed a toolkit
that can be used to inform reforestation decisions with climate change in mind. The toolkit's three tools can help land managers to identify priority areas for reforestation, understand current stand conditions in the aftermath of the drought, and develop a reforestation planting guide based on known best management practices. Check out the toolkit through the link below!
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California's Wet Season: Today and Tomorrow
This Year's Dry Wet Season
The Wet Season of the Future:
Less Snow, More Floods?
Climate change projections tell us we can expect a warmer future, with lower snowpacks compared to historical conditions. A
new study from researchers at Stanford
shows that watersheds that receive more of their precipitation as snow rather than rain have significantly smaller peak runoff compared to watersheds that receive mostly rain. This suggests that as the climate warms, the snow line moves higher, and California's mountain watersheds receive a greater percentage of their precipitation as rain rather than snow, the risk of flooding will increase. Importantly, the study's findings indicate there is a large possibility for climate change to lead to greater flood risk, even in the absence of changes in precipitation frequency, magnitude, or timing.
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In the Spotlight:
Dr. Nina Bingham
Did you know that adding crushed rocks to soils can increase the ability of the soil to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? Dr. Nina Bingham did and she is now working with the
UC Working Lands Innovation Center
to quantify just how much carbon can be captured and stored in agricultural lands across California. Rocks made of silicate minerals are able to capture and store CO
2.
By crushing these rocks and adding them to agricultural fields, the soils in those fields are able to trap more carbon dioxide, and the crushed rocks can also replenish some depleted soil nutrients. These types of soil amendments can be a win for the climate and a win for soil health and crop production. To read more about Dr. Bingham's research at the forefront of agriculture-based climate solutions, check out this month's Spotlight piece!
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From labor to water, and regulations to climate change, check out this piece on
California Agriculture in 2050
for more on where the state's ag industry may be headed.
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Our partners are hiring!
UCANR and UC Merced Sierra Nevada Research Institute is hiring a
Climate and Agriculture Project Scientist
to
develop locally relevant, climate-based agriculture decision support systems and dissemination processes designed to give specialty crops a competitive edge in increasing productivity and reducing risks associated with climate variability and change
.
Apply by February 24th!
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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We would be pleased to share your newsworthy items, outputs or products, or associated resources with the USDA California Climate Hub community. If you would like to reach the Climate Hub community, provide a feature for this newsletter, or contribute content for our website, please contact
Steven Ostoja
, USDA California Climate Hub Director, or to
Lauren Parker
, USDA California Climate Hub Postdoctoral Fellow.
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USDA California Climate Hub | climatehubs.oce.usda.gov
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