UC Riverside field day attracts more than 225 golf and landscape professionals

The University of California Riverside (UCR) turfgrass and landscape program recently held their 2014 Research Field Day in Riverside, Calif.  More than 225 golf and landscape professionals attended the full day event to learn about the world-class research activities conducted at UCR. 

Headed by Jim Baird, Ph.D., turfgrass specialist at UCR, the day provided a synopsis of UCR’s current research activities and featured numerous tours through state-of-the-art research areas designed to study water and salinity management issues on turf and landscapes.  

Dr. Jim Baird speaking to GCSAA superintendents at the annual UC Riverside Turfgrass and Landscape Research Field Day.

Some of the highlights of the day included the evaluation of natural and hybrid turf for water conservation; drought tolerance of turfgrass species and cultivars/evaluation of fertilizer products under deficit irrigation; evaluation of products for alleviation of salinity and drought stress; evaluation of fungicides for control of anthracnose; nematode control and managing of Kikuyu grass under deficit irrigation using Maxx and wetting agents/herbicides. 

New to the field day this year was the UCR turfgrass breeding project. Due to the long-term drought concerns and diminishing potable water supplies, UCR is developing drought tolerant turfgrass cultivars specifically for California climates. The objective of the program is to develop cultivars with improved drought, heat and salt tolerance, as well as winter color retention. Major efforts are being employed in selecting superior germplasm and early cycles of hybridizations in tall fescue, bermudagrass, perennial ryegrass and Festulolium. I found the breeding project to be of great interest and look forward to seeing its progress in the coming years.  

The UC Riverside turfgrass research facility and program, funded in part by the California Turfgrass & Landscape Foundation (under the executive leadership of former GCSAA pas president Bruce Williams, CGCS) currently provides the only university based turf research in the state of California. 

On behalf of the California GCSA Chapters, thanks to Dr. Baird and his team for a research program that meets the interests and continuing needs of the golf industry. To learn more about the field day, visit the website at http://ucanr.org/sites/turfgrassfieldday or donate to the program by visiting the California Turfgrass & Landscape Foundation site at www.CAtlf.com. 

EPA action benefits Arizona communities and golf facilities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  issued a final regional haze rule under the Clean Air Act that provides for an emission-reduction plan for the Navajo Generating Station located in Page, AZ.  The decision ensures the long term viability of the generating station that provides stable and reliable power supplies to the Central Arizona Project (CAP) which supplies water to the majority of Arizona’s population.  

A technical work group (TWG) made up of representatives from the Central Arizona Project, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Gila River Indian Community, the Navajo Nation, Salt River Project, the U.S. Department of the Interior and Western Resource Advocates worked on an alternative plan that addressed the complex situation at the plant.  

The alternative plan allows CAP to continue to deliver affordable and renewable supplies of water while preparing for future cost increases in a deliberate manner.  The Cactus & Pine GCSA led by the efforts of board member Rory Van Poucke, Class A superintendent and general manager at Apache Sun Golf Club in Queen Creek, AZ. supported the alternative plan presented by the TWG.  “I attended several meetings with the EPA and CAP and we had numerous GCSAA superintendents who wrote letters of support to the EPA on behalf of the alternative plan,” said Van Poucke, who will run for the GCSAA board of directors in 2015.  “It was an important decision and will allow CAP to keep water delivery costs down which will benefit the golf facilities throughout Arizona.”  “Without this decision, we would have been looking at immediate water increases that would have further diminished the golf industries economic return.”

For more information on the decision, visit the Central Arizona Projects website at http://www.cap-az.com/index.php/public/navajo-generating-station/twg-bart-proposal.