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December 28th, 2016|Tags: Climate, urban forests|0 Comments

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By Joe Duckworth, American Forests

Tempe, Ariz. Credit: Sarina via Flickr.

When most people think of forests, they probably think of massive expanses of trees in national forests and parks. It’s safe to say that they don’t think of deserts in the American Southwest. But, as this region grows and more people move into its cities, the need for urban forests in metropolitan areas, like Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque, increases.

The benefits that urban forests provide are well documented. They improve air quality, make city streets safer and lower the temperature of cities — all the more important in places where the temperature routinely rises to more than 100 degrees in the summer. Cities are often hotter than the surrounding environment due to the urban heat island effect, which, in turn, causes higher rates of energy use for air conditioning. This phenomenon is caused by materials such as concrete, buildings and asphalt reflecting the sun’s heat. A robust urban forest helps to mitigate the higher temperatures by providing shade and increasing the amount of water that evaporates from soil and leaves.

The scientific knowledge about how trees can reduce this effect has primarily been associated with cities in traditionally forested environments, such as the Northeastern U.S. In the desert, different strategies may produce better results for the ecosystem. American Forests is, therefore, working with the City of Tempe, Ariz., and Arizona State University to create “cooling zones” in public space that help reduce the urban heat island effect and make Tempe a more walkable and bikeable community, even in the heat of the summer.

Being in a desert, there are different challenges to face, including determining the most effective species for an arid environment. American Forests is excited to find ways to help desert communities benefit from trees and to promote the benefits of a well-managed urban forest. With the lessons learned from our work in Tempe, we will be able to assess the impact similar work could have in cities and towns across the southwest.

The post Creating Urban Forests in the Deserts of the Southwestern U.S. appeared first on American Forests.

December 27th, 2016|Tags: End-of-Year Campaign 2016, wildlife|0 Comments

The post Home for the Holidays: The Pacific Salmon and Rivers across the Northwest appeared first on American Forests.

Elvis Cordova, Acting Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, addressing the North Dakota Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force in Bismarck, North Dakota

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery and many survivors of it didn’t realize that their situation was a crime. This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will.  Any child engaged in a commercial sex act is a victim of trafficking, regardless of force, fraud, or coercion.

This summer, USDA and HHS leveraged its resources to coordinate efforts that address the needs of human trafficking survivors in rural and tribal areas.  This joint partnership resulted as part of the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the U.S., a five-year plan by the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This Plan outlines more than 250 actions the Federal government will take to coordinate and collaborate on anti-trafficking responses with state, Tribal, and local government and non-government organizations.

In June, July and August, USDA and HHS hosted a series of listening sessions as part of a pilot project so that we could better understand the challenges facing rural and tribal communities when meeting the needs of human trafficking survivors. Leaders from USDA and HHS participated in outreach sessions in Marksville, Louisiana; Bismarck, North Dakota, and New Town, North Dakota; and Denver and Greeley, Colorado. These locations were chosen as pilot states because both USDA and HHS have equal equities in these locations.

In order to launch this joint USDA and HHS pilot project, we used USDA’s StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity Initiative which works to address the unique set of challenges faced by many of America’s rural and tribal communities. Through StrikeForce, we were able to leverage USDA resources as well as collaborate with partners and stakeholders to improve economic opportunity and quality of life in these areas.  Because USDA’s StrikeForce partners with rural communities and regions on locally-supported projects, the StrikeForce infrastructure was a good mechanism to launch the USDA and HHS pilot project in its efforts to better help rural and tribal communities deal with the human trafficking issues.

Mark Greenberg, (Acting) Assistant Secretary for the Administration of Children and Families speaking at a site visit with the Council on Abused Women Services, in Bismarck, North Dakota

And through HHS’ Administration for Children and Families programs, we were able to work with grantees that serve survivors of human trafficking and who build the capacity of the anti-trafficking field, including local organizations and the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The intersection of human trafficking in rural communities provides a key opportunity for inter-agency collaboration to better understand how rural providers encounter and confront issues of human trafficking, including victim identification, provision of services for survivors, and prevention of trafficking.

Through these outreach sessions, we focused on (1) understanding the challenges facing rural-based service providers in meeting the needs survivors of human trafficking and those at risk of trafficking for safe and appropriate services, (2) recognizing best practices in supportive services for trafficking survivors, and (3) helping identify potential changes in policies, training and technical assistance, outreach, or other areas to better assist rural communities to effectively meet the needs of victims of human trafficking.

These meetings were very insightful and helped us really gain a better understanding about the complexities of such tragic circumstances in these communities.  For example, the outreach session in Newtown, ND connected local law enforcement and the state human trafficking training professionals.  This connection will ensure that Newtown, ND police officers receive training so that they better understand human trafficking and how to spot it in their community.

Because human trafficking is a hidden crime, victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, fear of the traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement. Victims might be afraid to come forward or we might not recognize the signs even if it is happening right in front of us.  We need to bring this crime out of the shadows. Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation.

Criminals often prefer conducting illegal activities in rural communities over urban and suburban cities because smaller towns have fewer resources to deal with criminal behavior, including less law enforcement on patrol. While there are a number of factors that drive the presence of human trafficking within rural localities, persistent and disproportionate rates of poverty are often a major contributing factor.

The results and key findings from these invaluable listening sessions will be compiled and released early next year.  Recognizing key indicators of human trafficking is the first step in identifying victims and can help save a life.  The DHS Blue Campaign is a valuable resource for more information about human trafficking.  The Blue Campaign unifies DHS efforts to combat human trafficking.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888), funded by HHS, is a national toll-free hotline answered live 24 hours a day.  Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocates provide assistance to victims in crisis through safety planning, emotional support and/or immediate connections to emergency services through our network of trained service provider and law enforcement partners.  The hotline also takes tips about potential situations involving all forms of sex and labor trafficking and facilitates reporting to specialized human trafficking task forces, federal authorities, local law enforcement, and service providers throughout the country.

HHS team at the USDA-HHS Listening Session in Greeley, CO. From left to right: Flavia Keenan-Guerra, Program Specialist with the ACF Office on Trafficking in Persons; Jenna Novak, Program Specialist with the National Human Trafficking Hotline; Sandy Naatz, Anti-Trafficking Liaison with ACF Region 8

USDA Director Janet Nuzum shows the USDA exhibit at “Fast Forward 2060” to Dr. Paul Watanabe, a Commissioner on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Director of the UMass Boston Institute for Asian American Studies.

Did you know that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) make up the fastest growing population group in the United States?  Increasing over four times as rapidly as the overall U.S. population, AAPIs are projected to more than double by 2060, from 20 million today to 50 million. A recent event in the nation’s capital focused on the implications of this trend, in a public exhibit and conference entitled “Fast Forward 2060″ (FF 2060) As USDA’s Senior Advisor and Director of AAPI Affairs, I was excited to participate in this event and exhibit the ways that USDA serves the AAPI community.

Community-based organizations, government agencies, associations, businesses and media gathered in Washington, DC on December 7, 2016 to reflect on the progress that had been made under the White House Initiative on AAPIs (WHIAAPI) and discuss the challenges that still lay ahead. Since 2009, the White House Initiative on AAPIs under President Obama has been working to improve the quality of life for AAPIs by increasing access to federal programs and assistance, as recounted in a legacy video shown by WHIAAPI at FF 2060. USDA has been very strategically engaged in WHIAAPI throughout the Obama Administration.  USDA’s exhibit at FF 2060 showcased some of our focused results.

Language access is a priority for the AAPI community, with two out of three AAPIs born outside the U.S., and one in three having limited English proficiency. Knowing this, USDA has translated a wide range of program information so that the AAPI community has access to its resources that range from the nutrition education tool, MyPlate, to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to Rural Development programs, to food safety materials, to animal and plant health information, to farm and conservation programs.

USDA also supports a project through Michigan State University, called Hmong Language Media Resource.  This project brings together both written and audio information of interest to farmers and the rural community in the Hmong language.  It is in the process of expanding to include other AAPI languages as well.

In addition to written translations, USDA is increasing the availability of its translation services.  Below, NRCS technical advisor Frank Wu speaks in Mandarin Chinese to a New Jersey farmer whose native language is Chinese, about FSA farm loan programs and NRCS conservation programs.

New Jersey farmer Liang Shao Hua listens to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) technical advisor Frank Wu provide advice in Chinese Mandarin.

Growth of the AAPI population is occurring in all regions of the country, in both urban and rural areas. So, it is not surprising that farms operated by AAPIs also are increasing.  The USDA Census of Agriculture reveals that Asian American farm operators tend to be younger in age, newer to farming, more likely to be female, and more likely to have farming as their primary occupation. To learn more about an overview of Asian farm operators, please visit the Ag Census’ Asian Farmers Highlights. Complete coverage and analysis of AAPI farms in the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture is an upcoming priority for USDA.

To strengthen USDA’s engagement at the local level with AAPI communities and our interagency partners, USDA has more than 30 field employees across the country who represent USDA on the ten WHIAAPI Regional Networks (RNs). These networks ensure that the local AAPI communities that USDA serves have local points of contact to help them understand and access federal programs.

USDA works hard to improve access for all under-served groups.  As an American of Japanese descent, I am proud to have led USDA’s implementation of WHIAAPI and worked with colleagues all across USDA to support the AAPI communities.  As the AAPI population continues to grow, so too will the need for greater outreach and engagement by USDA.

USDA members of the WHIAAPI Regional Networks across the country met in Washington, DC on December 7-8 to discuss future plans for the Regional Networks. Pictured here are (left to right) RD employees Christine Sorensen, Tim O’Connell, Gregory Dale, and Angela Callie; USDA’s Janet Nuzum; and FSA employees Lindsay Mutegi and Nangpay Vang.

December 22nd, 2016|Tags: wildlife|0 Comments

The post Top 10 Documentaries on Apex Predators appeared first on American Forests.

Ben & Jerry’s and its dairy partners will use the information generated by COMET to identify on-farm conservation actions—such as approaches to manure management and soil health management practices—that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon. Photo: Kari Cohen, NRCS.

Eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream may make you feel guilty about your waistline, but thanks to a new partnership between the ice cream company and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), you may be able to feel less guilty about contributing to climate change. The partnership is designed to help Ben & Jerry’s milk suppliers—generally small dairies—understand their greenhouse gas footprint and consider voluntary conservation approaches to reduce that footprint.

NRCS and Ben & Jerry’s will help dairies implement conservation practices that meet Ben & Jerry’s objective of “Happy Cows, Happy Planet, & Happy Farmers.” Through its Caring Dairy sustainability program, Ben & Jerry’s will use USDA’s suite of greenhouse gas estimation tools, COMET-Farm^TM and COMET-Planner^TM, to quantify on-farm GHG emissions and reductions. The COMET tools—COMET stands for CarbOn Management & Emissions Tool – are a product of a long-standing partnership between NRCS and Colorado State University.

Ben & Jerry’s and its dairy partners will use the information generated by COMET to identify on-farm conservation actions—such as approaches to manure management and soil health management practices—that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon. Ben & Jerry’s has financial assistance available to its dairy producers who can also apply for NRCS assistance to adopt or implement conservation activities.

“Ben & Jerry’s should be applauded for its corporate commitment to increasing the sustainability of its supply chain,” said NRCS Vermont State Conservationist Vicky Drew. “They approached us and we were happy to leverage our scientific tools and expertise to help increase the adoption of climate smart conservation practices.”

NRCS is increasingly engaged in supply chain partnerships as corporations look to increase the sustainability of their operations. In some cases, food companies are participating in NRCS programs. For example, Miller Coors and General Mills are partners in Regional Conservation Partnership Program projects. In other cases, as with Ben & Jerry’s, Blue Apron and Campbell’s Soup Company, NRCS is providing technical expertise and tools such as COMET and the new Resource Stewardship Evaluation Tool.

“These corporate partnerships are relatively new for NRCS, but they hold a lot of promise,” said NRCS Chief Jason Weller. “Food companies and agribusiness touch a lot of farmers and ranchers, and we hope these partnerships can help us reach new customers and also bring additional resources to bear for working lands conservation.”

A teacher in the Mara region of Tanzania proudly shows her classroom full of learning resources in a reading corner she created with help from PCI’s McGovern-Dole program. The program is more than a school feeding program, it also helps feed students’ appetites for learning.

USDA’s McGovern–Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program helps reduce hunger and improve literacy and primary education in low-income, food-deficit countries around the world. Today, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) works hand-in-hand with non-profit charitable organizations and others to operate McGovern-Dole programs in 25 countries. One of these partnerships is with Project Concern International (PCI) for a multifaceted school feeding program in northern Tanzania.

FAS caught up with PCI Operations Officer Kara West while visiting Tanzania to glean an insider’s perspective on the program.

1. Why did PCI begin this program in Tanzania?

PCI began implementing a McGovern-Dole program in Tanzania in 2010 when tens of thousands of children in the Mara region lacked access to basic education as a consequence of food insecurity, challenging environments and limited resources for learning. With the assistance of USDA, PCI now provides school meals daily, which is often the only meal of the day for many children, along with a series of holistic interventions in order to improve literacy and primary education.

2. Describe a typical day living in the communities you reach.

One of those children who is now benefiting from the program is 14-year-old Violet. The roosters crowing early in the morning cues the start of Violet’s day and she is ready to help her mother with small chores around the home before participating in the morning prayers. While her parents are off to work in the fields for the day, Violet skips to school to meet her friends and attends a lesson from her teacher who has received a number of training sessions from PCI to improve teaching methodologies. In the early afternoon, she eats a nutritious meal of USDA-provided rice, fortified vegetable oil and beans, complemented with bright green amaranth leaves donated by school parents. Violet’s favorite time of the day is her trip to the library where she enjoys reading one of her favorite books Chatu na Mbwa or The Python and the Dog. Towards the end of her school day, she attends the “Healthy Choices Club” meeting where she learns about healthy eating and exercise. When Violet returns home in the late afternoon, she helps her mother fetch water to use for the next day. She lends a hand cooking dinner and then enjoys one of the library books she brought home before she falls asleep.

3. How has the program impacted the people it serves?

Every time I visit Tanzania, the gratitude for USDA and PCI is evident to me when I see the smiling faces and hear the grateful words from students, teachers, parents and local government administrators. On my trip, the teachers and students greeted me by saying “Karibu” in Swahili or “You are welcome here” as they repeated “Asante sana” or “Thank you so much”. The impact of the program has been profound in so many aspects. In 2012, the average attendance rate of students was 73.6 percent and it is now 87 percent. Furthermore, USDA and PCI were recently recognized by Mara’s Regional Education Officer as having a positive effect on the outcomes of the recent standard exams in the Mara region which is now in 13^th place out of 26 regions (previously in 17^th place).

For more on-the-ground coverage from Tanzania, including program challenges and future steps, read Kara’s complete story on the FAS website.

Violet receives a nutritious meal of USDA-provided rice, fortified vegetable oil and beans, complemented with bright green amaranth leaves donated by school parents. PCI is collaborating with the local government to ensure students continue to benefit from improved food security long after PCI and USDA have left the Mara region.

The new online resource: Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know gives a brief overview of the adaptation options, resistance, resilience, and transition, and how to incorporate them into natural resource planning, as well as providing definitions and descriptions of mitigation and restoration.

The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) has recently released a new education resource on climate change adaptation responses to help the USDA Forest Service, USDA Climate Hubs, other agencies, and the general public learn more about responding to a changing climate.  The CCRC is an online, nationally-relevant resource that connects land managers and decision-makers with credible, relevant, and useable science to address climate change in natural resource planning and application.

Natural resource managers are already observing changes in their forests and rangelands and experiencing challenges managing these lands in a changing climate.  In order to continue to maintain healthy forests and rangelands into the future, land managers need to understand how to address these challenges and respond to climate change effects.  This requires that managers assess the vulnerabilities and risks associated with climate change and choose the best course of action for the landscapes they manage.

The new interactive module, “Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know”, provides a brief, 15-minute overview of adaptation options for resistance, resilience, and transition, and describes how to incorporate these ideas into natural resource planning and activities.  The interactive features within the module allow users to control their learning experience, with opportunities to explore outside links and see examples of how managers are adapting to climate change on the ground.  This is the third module in a series of education modules produced by the CCRC.

The first education module, “Climate Change Science and Modeling” covers the fundamentals of climate change science, and the second module, “Climate Change Effects on Forests and Grasslands” builds on that foundation, examining climate change effects around the country.  This third new module completes the series by focusing on solutions for adapting ecosystems to climate change.

The “Responses to Climate Change” learning material is followed by a regionally-specific activity that engages users in creating their own adaptation plan based on real-world examples.  Completing the activity will generate a personalized certificate.  The module is available at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/education/responses-climate-change.

Robert G. Bruton was hired as an ARS lab technician after participating in a USDA program that helps train students at tribal colleges – Native Americans and those from other backgrounds – in science and technology. (Photo credit: USDA-ARS)

Robert G. Bruton grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana in a family that, like many others, was severely challenged by the rising college tuition costs. He is not a Native American, but he chose to attend Salish Kootenai Tribal College in Pablo, Montana, in part because of its reasonable cost.

He knew he liked chemistry and his grades were good enough to qualify him to serve as a science and math tutor for fellow students. The school was one of the few tribal colleges nationwide that offered four-year bachelor’s degrees. But as a first-year student, Bruton was like a lot of other people – he wasn’t quite sure what direction his life would take.

One day, some students who came to him for tutoring mentioned a USDA program that would pay for his tuition at a four-year college of his choice. It also would guarantee him summer internships at federal research laboratories where he would receive practical scientific training.

He applied and was accepted into the USDA 1994 Tribal Land-Grant Colleges and Universities (1994 TLGCU) Program. The program is designed to help students at tribal colleges – Native Americans as well as students from other backgrounds – get training and internships that will equip them to work in fields related to science and technology. The program is for the nation’s Tribal Colleges and Universities, so anyone who attends those schools is eligible, regardless of ethnicity. Students apply through a USDA administrative process and once accepted, the student is selected by a host USDA agency.

USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) selected Bruton for the program.  He completed two years at the tribal college and transferred to Washington State University in Pullman. Bruton spent his next three summers interning with ARS scientists, where he helped them search for ways to control parasitic diseases in livestock and poultry.

“The program opened up a whole new set of doors in terms of my options for the future,” Bruton said.

Bruton graduated from Washington State in 2014 and is now a full-time biological sciences laboratory technician at ARS’s Chemistry Research Unit in Gainesville, Florida, where he is part of a prominent team searching for ways to control fruit flies and other pests that threaten some of our most important agricultural products.

He is developing skills that are likely to be in demand for years to come, while he works in a field that will become more important as the impacts of a changing climate and the world’s population grow. He plans to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Florida.

“It’s a good field of research, and I do get tremendous satisfaction out of knowing that the work I’m doing is part of a scientific effort to protect the world’s food supply,” Bruton says.