SANTA PAULA, CA – Come be a Citizen Scientist for a day! The University of California Cooperative Extension and Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center are inviting the public to come participate in a day of science and fun at a historic farm in Santa Paula on May 8th as part of the Centennial Celebration of Cooperative Extension! The Celebration of Science & Service event is free and available to all.

Preschoolers are encouraged to attend 9-11 am, with school-age youth attending 11-2, but activities for everyone will be on-going until 5pm. County Extension Advisors and Master Gardeners will be leading demonstrations and talks throughout the day. Additionally, Master Gardeners will be hosting a plant sale 9 am to noon.

The event is free to attend, but registration is requested so that we can ensure that there are enough materials for everyone. Visit http://ceventura.ucanr.edu/ANR_Centennial_/ for details and registration.

Youth and adults are encouraged to participate in a state-wide scientific research opportunity to collect data involving water conservation, food and pollinators. This sort of wide-spread observation collection is known as citizen science. Even those who can’t make it to the farm can participate in our citizen science data collection by visiting beascientist.ucanr.eduon May 8th.

The Celebration of Science & Serviceactivities as well as the citizen science observationswill focus on pollinators, water and food.

How many pollinators do you see?

Bees, butterflies, beetles and bats—our food depends on their ability to pollinate all kinds of crops. Spend three minutes outdoors in your community counting pollinators and add your numbers to a statewide pollinator map. The beascientist.ucanr.edu website will help you identify which ones are pollinators.

“This information will give us a baseline understanding of pollinator populations across California,” according to Beth Grafton-Cardwell, University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside and leader of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) strategic initiative on endemic and invasive species.

How do you conserve water?

Do you conserve water in your garden, landscape, household or farm? Let us know by clicking on our California water map.

“Conserving water is essential, especially during a drought,” says Doug Parker, director of the UC California Institute for Water Resources and leader of the UC ANR strategic initiative on water quality, quantity and security. “This information will help us understand how water is being used and conserved across the state.”
Where is food grown in your community?

Do you grow your own food or get homegrown food from a neighbor who gardens? Is there a community farm nearby, or vegetable plants growing in the parkway between the street and sidewalk?

This project encourages you to discover exactly where food is grown in your community, and at the same time contribute to a statewide understanding of how widespread local food production is throughout California.

At the Celebration of Service and Science, food is not available for purchase. Visitors may bring a snack or lunch to enjoy on picnic tables. Participants are also encouraged to wear sturdy shoes and bring hats, sunscreen and water. The grounds are unpaved, but stroller friendly.

The UC Hansen Agricultural Research & Extension Center is located at 14292 W. Telegraph Road in Santa Paula, at thecorner of Briggs Road and Telegraph Road. Free parking is accessible from Briggs Road.

This celebration in Ventura County is part of a larger celebration taking place state-wide. The University of California is asking the public to join its faculty, students, staff, 4-H volunteers and master gardeners in a vast science project across the state, in recognition of the 100th anniversary ofUCCE.

About UC Cooperative Extension UCCE
On May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Smith-Lever Act, which created Cooperative Extension to serve as a conduit for scientific advances in agriculture, nutrition and natural resources from the nation’s public, land-grant universities to its farmers, youth and communities.

“UC Cooperative Extension is all about science and service,” said Barbara Allen-Diaz, UC vice president for the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which administers Cooperative Extension in California. “To celebrate the anniversary of Cooperative Extension, we are asking Californians to help us collect scientific data so that all of us will better understand our natural, agricultural and urban communities.”