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New CLN Module featuring Dr. Marshall Shepherd of the Weather Channel!

CLN has produced a new module in response to stakeholder feedback entitled “Climate Science 101 for Extension Professionals” featuring Dr. Marshall Shepherd, host of the Weather Channel’s Wx Geeks. This module provides the basics of climate, weather and climate variability and is designed to provide Extension Professionals with the background they need to get started down the path to climate literacy.

Dr. Shepherd is a leading international expert in weather and climate. Dr. Shepherd was the 2013 President of American Meteorological Society (AMS), the nation’s largest and oldest professional/science society in the atmospheric and related sciences. He is only the 2nd African American to hold this post. Dr. Shepherd is Director of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Atmospheric Sciences Program and Full Professor in the Department of Geography. He is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences. Dr. Shepherd is also the host of The Weather Channel’s Sunday talk show Weather Geeks, a pioneering Sunday talk show on national television dedicated to science. He also is a Contributor to Forbes Magazine Online. In 2014, Ted Turner and his Captain Planet Foundation honored Dr. Shepherd with its Protector of the Earth Award. Prior recipients include Erin Brockovich and former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He is also the 2015 Recipient of the Florida State University’s Grad Made Good, Association of American Geographers (AAG) Media Achievement award and the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Sandy Beaver Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2015, Dr. Shepherd was invited to moderate the White House Champions for Change event. Prior to UGA, Dr. Shepherd spent 12 years as a Research Meteorologist at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center and was Deputy Project Scientist for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, a multi-national space mission that launched in 2014. President Bush honored him on May 4th 2004 at the White House with the Presidential Early Career Award for pioneering scientific research in weather and climate science. Dr. Shepherd is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and in 2014, he was asked to join the Board for Climate Central, a leading science and media non-profit organization. In 2014, Dr. Shepherd was invited to join the Partnership Council for Mothers and Others for Clean Air. Two national magazines, the AMS, and Florida State University have also recognized Dr. Shepherd for his significant contributions.

HHS and USDA Collaborating Since 2012 to Improve Local Access to Healthcare in Rural America

Getting Covered is Good for Rural America

It has been five years since the President announced that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed an agreement to streamline how our programs work together to support rural health and to improve the health and wellbeing of rural communities through the use of technology and health information that is accessible when and where it matters most.

In those five years, rural communities and rural health care providers in every state and territory have accessed USDA financing and HHS technical assistance to help improve local access to care and, and to support an interoperable health system.

For example, USDA Rural Development has financed projects to:

Build rural hospitals and expand rural health clinics
Rehabilitate infrastructure (e.g., servers, routers, computer docking stations) for wired and wireless health IT solutions in Critical Access Hospitals.
Purchase, install and adopt equipment and software necessary to ensure interoperable exchange of health information and support advanced health IT capabilities.
Offer telehealth specialty care in retirement communities and skilled nursing facilities,
Help health care organizations serving Indian and Tribal Reservations transition from paper to electronic health records
Enable rural hospitals to add beds for mental and behavioral health care and
Improve senior living conditions

$2.5 Billion invested in rural health across 20 states

We in HHS and USDA worked together with Government and non-Government partners at the local, state and National level in 20 states to convene collaborative workshops focused on linking health care providers with financing, technical assistance, and broadband connectivity they need to adopt health IT, engage in interoperable exchange of health information and adopt or expand the telehealth services they provide their communities.

USDA invested over $2.5 Billion in low interest loans, loan guarantees and grants for rural health across these 20 participating states between FY 2012 and FY 2016: Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

Appalachian Regional Commission invested at least $13.1 Million across 8 states

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) was among our key partners in this initiative. In fact, ARC invested at least $13.1 Million in rural health projects in 8 participating states between FY 2012 and 2016. These states’ ARC supported projects totaled $31.6 Million , including $13.1 from ARC with matching funds from local, state and other Federal partners.

2016 Forests in Focus Photo Contest Winners!

November 17th, 2016|Tags: photography|0 Comments

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After many hours of grueling debate, the judges have spoken: we have our winners! With more than 900 submissions, there was a lot to choose from, and we at American Forests would like to thank all of you for participating and submitting such incredible photos.

If you would like to browse the complete gallery of all submissions, check out our Flickr page.

Without further ado, here are the winners!

Grand Prize Winner: “An Ancient Bristlecone Pine”

Photographer: Garret Suhrie (CA); Location: Methuselah Grove, Inyo National Forest, Calif.

Forest Landscapes Winner: “What Lies Beneath”

Photographer: Bob Ross (UT); Location: Redwood National Forest, Calif.

Big, Beautiful Trees Winner: “For the Love of Trees”

Photographer: Amanda Joy Mason (MD); Location: Kings Canyon National Park, Calif.

Forest Recreation Winner: “Above It”

Photographer: Adam Roades (N.C.); Location: Craggy Pinnacle, Blue Ridge Mountains, NC

Forest Wildlife Winner: “Roosevelt Congress in the Mist”

Photographer: Max Forster (CA); Location: Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Calif.

Honorable Mention: “Big Baby”

Photographer: Wasim Muklashy (CA); Location: Mariposa Grove, Yosemite, Calif.

Honorable Mention: “Fox”

Photographer: Joseph Ridgeway (NJ); Location: Joe’s Backyard, West Deptford, N.J.

Honorable Mention: “Watered Woodlands”

Photographer: Brian Carlisle (MS); Location: Pascagoula River Swamp, Miss.

People’s Choice: “Edgy Highline Trail”

Photographer: Brian Zinke (WY); Location: Glacier National Park, Mont.

All of these photos have a story behind them. If you want to discover more about the Grand Prize and winning photos in each category, the photographers and the reasons why the judges picked them, make sure to become a member before January 1, 2017 to receive the Winter/Spring 2017 issue of American Forests magazine, which will feature more information about the 2016 Forests in Focus contest winners!

The post 2016 Forests in Focus Photo Contest Winners! appeared first on American Forests.

Trump carbon and the Paris agreement

The recent US election has prompted cries that the decision on Earth’s climate has now been irrevocably made, that the US has unilaterally decided to scrap the peak warming target from the Paris agreement of 1.5 ^oC. What do the numbers say? Is Earth’s climate now irrevocably fracked?

The short answer is that, strictly speaking, the future of global climate would have been fracked even had the election gone the other way, unless stronger action to cut CO₂ emissions is taken, very soon.

Here are some numbers. Carbon emissions from the United States have been dropping since the year 2000, more than on-track to meet a target for the year 2020. Perhaps with continued effort and improving technology, emissions might have dropped to below the 2020 target by 2020, let’s say to 5 gigatons of CO₂ per year (5000 megatons in the plot). In actuality, now, let’s say that removing restrictions on energy inefficiency and air pollution could potentially lead to US emissions by 2020 of about 7 gigatons of CO₂. This assumes that future growth in emissions followed the faster growth rates from the 1990’s.

Maybe neither of these things will happen exactly, but these scenarios give us a high-end estimate for the difference between the two, which comes to about 4 gigatons of CO₂ over four years. There will also probably be extra emissions beyond 2020 due to the lost opportunity to decarbonize and streamline the energy system between now and then. Call it 4-6 gigatons of Trump CO₂.

This large quantity of gas can be put into the context of what it will take to avoid the peak warming threshold agreed to in Paris. In order to avoid exceeding a very disruptive warming of 1.5 ^oC with 66% probability, humanity can release approximately 220 gigatons of CO₂ after January, 2017 (IPCC Climate Change 2014 Synthesis report, Table 2.2, corrected for emissions since 2011). The 4-6 Gtons of Trump CO₂ will not by itself put the world over this threshold. But global CO₂ emission rates are now about 36 gigatons of CO₂ per year, giving a time horizon of only about six years of business-as-usual (!) before we cross the line, leaving basically no time for screwing around. To reach the catastrophic 2 ^oC, about 1000 gigatons of CO₂ remain (about 20 years of business as usual). Note that these estimates were done before global temperatures spiked since 2014 — we are currently at 1.2 ^oC! So these temperature boundaries may be closer than was recently thought.

An optimistic hope is that humanity may soon feel the need to clean up the atmosphere by direct CO₂ removal. The American Physical Society estimates a cost for this at about $600 per ton of CO₂. Based on this the cost of carbon emitted by the US in the next four years would come in at $8-10 trillion, which amounts to about 14% of US GDP over that time. Even under the scenario that lost in the election, $6 trillion of clean-up costs would have been incurred (8% of GDP).

If you are in a new-found panic about the future of Earth’s climate, know that what you’re feeling now would still have been almost as appropriate had the election gone the other way. The fight to defend Earth’s climate would still be just beginning.

To Wash or Not Wash

Food Safety experts (including us at USDA) do not recommend washing raw meat and poultry before cooking. Many bacteria are quite loosely attached and when you rinse these foods the bacteria will be spread around your kitchen.

In fact, research shows that washing meat or poultry in water spreads bacteria throughout the kitchen—onto countertops, other food, towels and you. Water can splash bacteria up to 3 feet surrounding your sink, which can lead to illnesses. We call this cross contamination. Researchers at Drexel University have shown that it is best to move meat and poultry straight from package to pan, since the heat required for cooking will kill any bacteria that may be present.

But what about a whole turkey? USDA does not recommend washing a whole turkey before you cook your Thanksgiving meal. You are likely to spread germs around your kitchen if you do so. The only reason a whole turkey (or any meat or poultry for that matter) should be washed is if it was brined. Thanksgiving cooks who are purchasing a brined turkey, or brining their turkeys at home, must rinse the brine off before the turkey goes into the oven. If you plan on serving a brined turkey this year, here is how to minimize the risk of cross contamination.

Brined Turkey

If you must rinse the turkey and clean out the cavity, first take the time to remove dishes, dish drainers, dish towels, sponges and other objects from around the sink area. Then cover the area around your sink with paper towels. Place the roasting pan next to the sink, ready to receive the turkey.

Clean the sink with hot soapy water, rinse well, and fill it with a few inches of cold water. Even if the cavity is partially frozen, use cold water to rinse the cavity. Cold water is still warmer than the frozen cavity. Run the water gently to prevent splashing. Make sure the water is coming out the other end of the cavity. If it isn’t, the neck or giblets may still be in there.

And that’s it! No need to scrub or rinse the rest of the turkey. Hold the turkey up to let it drain into the sink and gently place the turkey in the roasting pan. Remove the paper towels, clean the sink and the area around the sink with hot soapy water, and proceed with your preparations.

Remembering Fallen Champion Trees

November 16th, 2016|Tags: big trees, Climate, Pests and Disease, wildfire|0 Comments

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By Joe Duckworth, American Forests

Fallen Champion Pacific madrone.

We all love big trees. We love them so much at American Forests that we have kept a register of the largest known tree for each species throughout the country since 1947. While we admire and work to protect these champions, they are not immune to the threats that trees across the country face, including invasive species, fire and extreme weather.

The Emerald Ash Borer has made its way across the country beginning in Michigan in 2002. This tiny insect can devastate populations of ash trees, and champion trees are no exception. The former national champion green ash in Cass County, Mich., with a total of 395 points, fell to this invasive species. Due to the damage it sustained, the 98-foot-tall specimen had to be removed by the county.

As fires grow in intensity throughout the country, our largest trees are at a higher risk. The champion Pacific madrone, originally nominated to our registry in 2003, was devastated by the Soberanes Fire in the Big Sur area of California. The tree has been through fires before, but this one may have been the final straw. However, western trees are not the only ones at risk from fire. In Kansas, the national champion little walnut tree was killed in the wildfires the area experienced in March 2016.

Windstorms have taken many of our champions down as well. Just this year, we lost the champion longleaf pine to stormy weather. The North Carolina giant was more than 100 feet tall and more than 12 feet in circumference while it was standing.

While we can’t protect every tree, we must continue to do our part to protect these giants. By planting trees and restoring ecosystems, American Forests is giving trees the opportunity to grow and replace these specimens.

If you would like to donate to American Forests to help support our Big Tree program, as well as support the planting of new trees, which one day could become a champion, visit our Donate Now page.

The post Remembering Fallen Champion Trees appeared first on American Forests.

CLN and Northeast Regional Climate Hub launch Climate Discussion Google Groups pilot project

Screen Shot 2016-11-15 at 11.17.29 AM.png After conducting stakeholder needs assessment, the USDA Northeast Regional Climate Hub discovered that simple discussion groups on specific regional climate topics may be useful to producers and Extension Professionals. In response, CLN and the Hub have teamed up to pilot a set of Google Groups to facilitate this line of communication.

Topics in the pilot include: Row Crops, Forestry, Aquaculture, Specialty Crops and more. This effort will expand to include other USDA Hub Regions based on the response to the pilot and interest from the Hubs.

Northeast readers can join the groups now at http://www.climatelearning.net/discuss/.

If you experience any issues with the system please let us know at cln@sref.info.

Weather & Climate Decision Tools for Farmers, Ranchers, and Land Managers Conference to be held Dec 5-7 in Gainesville, FL

The Climate Learning Network is collaborating with the Florida Climate Institute to present a conference providing information and engaging participants in a discussion about the state-of-the-art in decision support tools designed to give producers and land managers a competitive edge in increasing productivity and reducing risks associated with climate variability and change. The conference is designed for extension professionals, crop consultants, producers, researchers and developers, policy makers, and business and agency representatives.

Participants will learn about the latest developments, strategies, and collaborative opportunities throughout the interactive event.

Why I’m Here: A Young Documentarian’s Story

November 15th, 2016|Tags: American Forests|0 Comments

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By Sydney Straschnov, American Forests

Growing up, I was that kid that mostly watched Animal Planet and Discovery Channel — the seven year old that loved to learn about habitats that were thousands of miles away and species that had died off millions of years ago. I gained an inherent love for untamed wild places, for nature and the emotions its beauty inspires in myself and so many others.

Thanks to my parents’ passion for travel, I had the unique opportunity to explore some amazing National Parks, such as Yellowstone, sprawling forests and lakes, like Muir Woods and Lake Tahoe in Northern California, and breathtaking mountain ranges from the Rockies to the Alps. Yet, even though I have seen much more of the world than many people my age, my travels have given me only a glimpse of what this planet has to offer. I resolved from a young age to see everything, and although seven continents, 196 countries and around 50,000 cites is not an amount my adolescent mind could quite comprehend, I willingly excepted the self-appointed challenge.

As I entered into my later teen years, I began to notice that there was something very wrong with our progression as a species. Pollution, carbon emissions, waste, deforestation, habitat loss, extinction, climate change; terms that began to gain a voice as the destruction of our earth became more and more apparent. We were eliminating the very thing that gave us life and in, doing so, were sealing our fate as a species. I realized that the wilderness was slipping away to the advancement of industry, that forests were being decimated, that oceans were being polluted and our air contaminated and that time was running out to witness the grandeur of this planet. Due to this I became invested in environmental studies and conservation efforts, wondering daily how I could make a positive impact on such a huge, global problem.

During high school I garnered a passion for photography, and as I began my college career at American University I considered what my options would be if I decided to enter into the media field and how I could tie that back to my resolve to befit conservation efforts. It struck me how thoroughly the old documentaries on Discovery and other channels had affected my development, and I realized that my competence in film and photography could lead to a promising career in documentary work. I resolved to major in film and media communication studies and focus on forest and habitat conservation within the school of international service. Upon determining this I wished to immediately begin making an impact, and thankfully living in D.C. I have the opportunity to intern at American Forests. Working here I have the chance to inspire, as I was inspired as a child, a love for and desire to preserve the earth’s forests and the animals who call them home through documentary, photography and writing.

I still wish to travel the world, but now I have a purpose in doing so. I hope to one day be able to work globally as a documentarian, exploring and recording the wild places that most will never glimpse, so that we as a population realize how much beauty and how much importance the world’s wilderness holds for humanity.

The post Why I’m Here: A Young Documentarian’s Story appeared first on American Forests.

ERS Makes FoodAPS Purchase and Nutrition Data Easier to Access

FoodAPS data show the sources of food acquisitions (e.g., store types, restaurants, and schools) by SNAP households and by non-SNAP households of differing income levels.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has developed a unique treasure trove of data from a survey on food purchases and acquisitions by U.S. households – USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey FoodAPS. To protect individual survey respondents’ privacy, access to the data had been restricted to researchers from academic institutions and government agencies. Now, a modified version that aggregates information so individuals cannot be identified, but still provides valuable data for research and planning is available to everyone.

What can FoodAPS data tell us? USDA’s investment in FoodAPS was undertaken to fill a critical knowledge gap and encourage research that can support an evidence-based approach to Federal food assistance policies and programs. The data are being used to address a range of questions such as where households acquire food in a typical week, which foods they acquire, how much they pay for the food and how the acquired foods match recommendations for a healthy diet.

What makes FoodAPS data unique? FoodAPS is the first nationally representative survey of American households to collect data on food purchases and acquisitions from all sources, including grocery stores, restaurants, workplaces and schools as well as data on food acquired free of charge (e.g., food banks, friends). The nearly 5,000 sampled households include low-income households and participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), making the data particularly valuable to policy makers and program managers. In addition, FoodAPS links food acquisitions with detailed information about the local food environment (e.g., number of food stores near respondents’ locations) and nutrients in the food acquired by the respondents over a seven-day period.

To broaden access to the FoodAPS data, ERS has posted pubic-use files on the ERS website that users can download in several file formats. To protect the identity of the surveyed households, identifying variables (like place names and specific locations) are removed and others are slightly modified (like categorizing a person’s age).

Who will find FoodAPS data useful? In addition to policy makers and academic researchers, potential users include nutrition advocacy organizations, state and local agencies that address food-related issues, and journalists covering nutrition and food security topics. We invite potential users to explore this unique dataset.

Visit the ERS website to view the new FoodAPS public use files. ERS will present a webinar on Food APS and the new public use files on Thursday, November 17 at 1 pm EST.

NIFA invests in and advances innovative and transformative research, education and extension to solve societal challenges and ensure the long-term viability of agriculture. USDA has invested $19 billion in research and development since 2009, touching the lives of all Americans from farms to the kitchen table and from the air we breathe to the energy that powers our country. Learn more about the many ways USDA scientists are on the cutting edge, helping to protect, secure and improve our food, agricultural and natural resources systems in USDA’s Medium Chapter 11: Food and Ag Science Will Shape Our Future.

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