Sudden Oak Death

Jim Baird
Assistant Cooperative Extension specialist in turfgrass management and sssistant turfgrass horticulturist

Baird is working with colleagues to develop a turfgrass fescue-ryegrass hybrid to improve drought resistance over that of tall fescue. The short-term goal is developing a cool-season turfgrass (which provides year round color) with improved drought resistance. In the long-term and under the worst-case scenario, he said warm-season turfgrasses are the future of California turf because of their adaptation to heat and drought. On the down side, these grasses go dormant in the winter and have poor shade tolerance. Baird says his career goal is to develop a warm-season turfgrass that stays green year round with acceptable shade tolerance. Baird is also working to determine the best methods to convert lawn from cool-season to warm-season grass species and he is evaluating the potential positive role turf can play in filtering unwanted compounds (pharmaceuticals, personal care products, etc.) in reclaimed water. Because of predicted water shortages, he believes reclaimed water use will be increasing in lawns/landscapes, so more research emphasis will be placed on salinity management.
Contact: (951) 827-5630, (951) 827-2137, james.baird@ucr.edu

Michael Hanemann
Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics and director of the California Climate Change Center

Hanemann's research covers the economic value of water to urban and agricultural users in California, the role of pricing in water allocation, water marketing and the reform of water rights, the tradeoff betwen water diversions and environmental restoration in the Central Valley watershed, the impact of global warming on California water, and the need for a climate change adaptation policy in California.
Contact: (510) 841-6443, 510-693-2627 (cell), hanemann@are.berkeley.edu.

Milt McGiffen
Cooperative Extension specialist and plant physiologist

McGiffen can comment on drought's impact on crops. His work is aimed at sustaining agriculture in an ever more urbanized world. His research focuses on weed management, vegetable crops, and models of cropping systems and population dynamics.
Contact: (909) 560-0839, (951) 827-5989, milt@ucr.edu

David Sunding
Professor of agricultural and resource economics and co-director of the Berkeley Water Center

Sunding is an authority on water supply, pricing and efficiency, and can speak about the relationship of endangered species protection and climate change to water policy. He served as a senior economist with President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, advising on natural resource, agricultural and environmental policy. He currently sits on the advisory board of the national Water Policy Institute.

Sunding says the combination of a federal court ruling in December 2007 restricting the diversion of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect threatened fish populations and the lack of sufficient rainfall has produced a "double whammy" for California. "There is going to be a lot of pain this year," says Sunding. "Agricultural contractors who will only get 20 percent of the water they're entitled to from the Delta are abandoning crops, which will be reflected in higher food prices for consumers. This situation highlights the need for longer term solutions to water management in this state, including the decentralization of supplies so there is less pressure on the Delta."
Contact: (510) 642-8229, sunding@are.berkeley.edu

Laosheng Wu
Cooperative Extension water management specialist
Soil water management, irrigation management, salinity management and water reuse
Contact: (951) 827-4664, laowu@ucrac1.ucr.edu

David Zilberman
George W. and Elsie M. Robinson Chair in Food and Agricultural Resources Economics

Expertise: Zilberman's research interests are agricultural policy, water quality and conservation, economics of technological change and natural resources, and micro-economic theory. He has studied the adoption of modern irrigation technologies in California, and the economics of water markets and water rights. A study he led on how California responded to the drought of 1987-1991 showed the importance of having reservoirs that allow for slowing the impact of drought. The study also demonstrated the capacity of California agriculture to adjust to shortages by increased reliance of groundwater and adoption of conservation tools.

Zilberman says this year's drought is more challenging because protecting threatened smelt limits water transfers from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. "Water prices in the Central Valley are expected to reach several hundred dollars per acre-foot, and some farmers will be forced to curtail their operations, possibly with some permanent damage to tree crops," says Zilberman. "The current drought also emphasizes some of the potential gains that might have happened if we had some peripheral canal or any other environmentally sound arrangement to transfer water south of the Delta."

Contact: (510) 642-6570 or (510) 290-9515 (cell), zilber@are.berkeley.edu