Amador County – University of California Cooperative Extension Officer Scott Oneto reported to the Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, saying the state’s first multi-county Cooperative Extension office ended the year with a total budget of $3.025 million, of which $1.1 million came from volunteers.

Oneto said the U.C. Extension program created the first multi-county partnership in the state last fiscal year, with $134,000 contributed by Amador County, $148,000 from Calaveras, $144,000 from Tuolumne and $270,000 from El Dorado County. He said the office has worked on researching controls for apple disease and a winegrape virus, evaluating new Christmas tree species, and also did a master food preserving class in El Dorado, that it wants to take to other counties.

Supervisor Vice Chairman Richard Forster asked if the partnership has investigated the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter, a grasshopper that is detrimental to grapes, and has caused million of dollars in damage. He said in a tour of Napa, officials there told him they had released sterile males in the wild, and found that they were helping decrease breeding.

Scott Oneto said the partnership counties have not been infected, but are looking at pest detection. He said his U.C. Extension colleagues are working in areas where the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter are already present, and they are looking at biological controls of the species with pathogens and insecticides.

Supervisor Brian Oneto asked about studies the Extension partnership is doing to look at the effects of cattle on the water source. He asked if, besides cattle grazing, they would also look at the effects of hiking and other human activities.

Scott Oneto said the study will look at hiking, forest service operations, beneficial use of grazing, and all other impacts to water quality in the Sierra, along with sediment runoff and construction impacts.

Brian Oneto said that some people had told him that Mace Meadows looks like a “toilet paper garden,” and that is “not from cattle.” Forster said that deer outnumber the cattle up there. Scott Oneto said the studies would also look at the impacts of deer and human waste on the water quality.

Scott Oneto said U.C. Extension’s “new organizational structure has saved both participating counties and University funds while putting additional savings back into local programs.” The 2011-2012 budget included $590,000 in grants, $450,000 in federal and state funding and $110,000 in fundraising and indirect county funding.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.