Many people who are interested in gardening and sustainability have become familiar with the term “colony collapse disorder.” While no single cause has been identified, local bee experts attribute the loss of bees in recent years to a mix of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and more typical predation by mites and diseases that destroy hives. (Hampshire Gazette 6/20/14)
News from the Media
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Home gardeners can help save the bees — and our food supply
June 24, 2014 -
Recent Federal National Climate Assessment Report Discussed
June 24, 2014Professor Michael Rawlins, Manager Climate system Resource Center at University of Massachusetts discusses recently released federal National Climate Assessment Report. (WGBY 5/19/14)
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State Initiative Shows Brockton Residents How to Eat Better
June 23, 2014An event, which kicked off a healthy food initiative by Mass in Motion Healthy Market Program, is intended to promote the importance of eating healthy.
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U.S. Department of Agriculture’s NIFA awards $495,950 grant to improve food safety
June 4, 2014A research team led by UMass Amherst food scientist Sam Nugen has received a $495,950 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to improve food safety by developing faster methods for detecting and separating microbial contamination out of food. New techniques designed by Nugen and fellow food scientists Amanda Kinchla and doctoral student Juhong Chen, with nanochemist Vincent Rotello, should help food manufacturers avoid costly waiting for safety tests before products can be sold. (Springfield Republican/MassLive, 6/4/14; Azonano.com, 6/4/14; Phys.org, Nanowerk, 6/3/14)
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Researchers from UMass Amherst will discuss bee health and pollination issues
May 29, 2014Researchers from UMass Amherst will discuss bee health and pollination issues at the fourth annual Bee Fest from 10 a.m. to noon, June 7, on the town common in Greenfield. (Recorder, 5/29/14)
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Compact orchards growing in Greater Boston
May 27, 2014Today, with the fresh emphasis on local food and sustainability, experts say they are seeing a renewed interest in planting backyard orchards. For an investment of about $400 for a 10-tree orchard and a little time, urban and suburban dwellers can discover the joys of growing their own fruit — even in small backyards. (Globe 5/27/14)
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A Gathering With Mother Nature
May 21, 2014When it comes to promoting sustainable local agriculture, what could be more sustainable than preparing the next generation to understand and act on issues that affect local farms? (Leominster Champion 5/9/14)
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In these games, Earth’s the big winner
May 19, 2014At Leominster’s Sholan Farms, student competitors bring Massachusetts Envirothon front and center.
(Sentinel & Enterprise 5/16/2014)
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Efforts to combat winter moth
May 19, 2014Joseph Elkinton, UMass Extension, comments in two stories about efforts to combat the winter moth, a destructive insect that is damaging trees in eastern Massachusetts and has now been found in part of Connecticut. (The Day [New London, Conn.], 5/16/14; Wicked Local Marlborough, 5/10/14)
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The emerald ash borer spreading throughout region
May 8, 2014The emerald ash borer, an insect that kills ash trees, is spreading throughout the region and kills the trees in about two or three years, says Paul Catanzaro, UMass Extension. The insect is spread primarily by humans who move infected firewood from one region to another. (WWLP-TV 22, 5/6/14)
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Alumnus John Organ, division chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fishing Restoration Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recieves Award
May 8, 2014Alumnus John Organ, division chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fishing Restoration Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is profiled. He is also an adjunct professor of environmental conservation. Organ recently received the Wildlife Management Institute’s 2014 George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resources Conservation. (Gazette, 5/7/14)
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Michael A. Rawlins, manager of Climate System Research Center, says more change coming for Massachusetts
May 8, 2014Michael A. Rawlins, manager of the Climate System Research Center, says in response to the new federal climate report that Massachusetts is already seeing changes and can expect more. “Here in Massachusetts, we can expect moving forward, increases in the growing season period, warming, an increase in heavy precipitation events.” In winter, he says, “We can expect wetter winters, not necessarily more snow.” (WWLP-TV 22, 5/6/14)
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Raymond S. Bradley, Climate System Research Center, says the new federal report on climate change is “sobering.”
May 8, 2014Raymond S. Bradley, geosciences and director of the Climate System Research Center, says the new federal report on climate change released this week is “sobering.” He calls for action by Congress to “follow the strong example set by Massachusetts to move the country away from a carbon-based economy toward renewable energy, efficient energy distribution systems and energy conservation measures.” (Globe, 5/7/14)
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Residents of 32 Massachusetts towns can receive free, expert identification of ticks
April 30, 2014Residents of 32 Massachusetts towns can receive free, expert identification of ticks and the disease-causing pathogens they carry, with testing provided by the Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ) at the UMass Amherst. The two-year, free tick-testing program funded by the governor’s Community Innovation Challenge Grant helped to establish the state’s first Tick-Borne Disease Network (TBDN) for surveillance of ticks and tick-borne diseases. The LMZ identifies, tests and reports ticks and associated diseases to residents, local boards of health and the state Department of Public Health. (Republican 4/30/14)
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Acid Rain Monitoring Project’s 30-year record shows little recovery in Massachusetts
April 30, 2014Though acid rain has begun to fade from public consciousness since environmentalists, scientists and even legislators rallied around the issue in the ’80s and ’90s, the problem still persists. One of the longest running volunteer monitoring corps in the country is keeping track of the issue in waterbodies across Massachusetts.
Since 1983, volunteers have been grabbing water samples for the Acid Rain Monitoring Project coordinated by UMass Amherst’s Water Resources Research Center.
Environmental Monitor April 24, 2014
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Northampton celebrates farmers market 40th anniversary
April 29, 2014In 1974, UMass Extension vegetable specialist John Howell visited area farmers to talk them into coming to Gothic Street on Saturday mornings to sell their produce directly to customers at a little thing he was trying to start called a farmers market. Forty years later they are celebrating success as one of the first in the state.
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ReGreen Springfield leads tree planting in Upper Hill neighborhood
April 10, 2014Rick Harper, University of Massachusetts assistant professor of urban forestry, center, with help from High School of Commerce students Breyonno Jones, left, and Kelen Dessources, right, and Alexandra Santiago, behind them at left, plant a tree on Rochelle St. in Springfield Massachusetts Thursday, April 10, 2014. Commerical and school volunteers planted 41 trees here and on Annawon St., part of a regional effort to reforest urban areas.
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Schloemann Gives Informative Talk on Berries
April 4, 2014Sonia Schloemann, fruit specialist, UMass Extension, recently gave an informative talk to the Garden Club of Amherst about growing berries.
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Dairy Farmers Mention Extension at Public Hearing on Regs
April 4, 2014Dairy farmers spoke up at public hearing in Springfield about proposed nutrient management regulations, mentioned the statutory connection to UMass Extension Best Management Practices.
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A Campaign to Grow UMass Farming Site
April 3, 2014As the demand for locally produced food continues to grow, a proposal gaining traction in the Legislature would provide $20 million to help rejuvenate the University of Massachusetts agriculture extension site in Waltham, which has lacked funding for decades. State legislators are in the beginning stages of considering a $1.7 billion environmental bond bill that includes earmarking funds to revitalize the UMass site, which spans 58 acres over two plots along Beaver Street. The project is dubbed the UMass Center for Urban Sustainability.
