In April, we celebrate National Volunteer Month and Week (April 17-23), honoring all of the contributions that volunteers make in our communities. All week long, the UC Master Gardener Program will feature stories of exceptional volunteers, or Gardeners with Heart, making a difference in California communities. This year we recognize our community connection leaders, harvest helpers, and environmental stewards. The passion and support of UC Master Gardener volunteers have been and continue to be essential in the program continuing to serve our mission.
Please join me as we celebrate and share our Gardeners with Heart and their remarkable stories, projects, and impact. Today, we celebrate Gardeners with Heart, who are true environmental stewards, developing and delivering educational programming that addresses environmental and climate change-related issues in California so that our communities are informed and resilient when facing wildfire, drought, invasive pests, and other challenges.
Linda Haque
For more than a decade, UC Master Gardener Linda Haque has dedicated herself to helping save California's citrus from the threat of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and the devastating disease it vectors, Huanglongbing. Shortly after becoming a UC Master Gardener in 2010, Linda Haque pioneered the Ventura County Invasive Pest Outreach Group (IPOG), where she works closely with the Farm Bureau, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and UC ANR to support outreach that increases awareness of ACP across the state, and encourage communities to monitor and report pests.
“There are several motivations for me to work on what began as the 'ACP Committee' back in 2010 as a new UC Master Gardener trainee,” says Haque. “First, the challenge of learning something new was reinforced by interacting with and learning from so many knowledgeable, dedicated people who were also working on this challenge. These people ranged from other UC Master Gardener volunteers, UCCE advisors, people in the farming community, researchers from a variety of institutions […] as well as interact with dedicated, hardworking staff at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. It is gratifying to see how many people care about the value of citrus to our everyday quality of life. As a motto for UCLA Extension notes, 'if you're not learning, you're not living.' Agree!” exclaims Haque.
Today, Linda is well known for her work and has been an integral player in the statewide effort to slow and stop the spread of ACP. Linda's educational efforts have contributed to the well-being of California's citrus industry and we are proud to celebrate her environmental stewardship.
Leslie Hart
Leslie Hart's leadership in guiding the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County's Garden Sense team has sustained the program through the challenges of the pandemic and has brought Garden Sense to new levels of achievement with her creative and exceptional program management. Hart and the team of Garden Sense consultants made a direct impact on landscape water savings during an exceptional drought period. “We estimate that as a result of the Garden Sense program with the square footage of lawn removed by clientele after a visit, we helped Sonoma County save 10.67acre-feet of water in 2022 (one acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons)!” says program manager Mimi Enright. “They did this through a record number of visits in a year: 289!”
We're celebrating Leslie as a Gardener with Heart, for her leadership with this impactful project. While we celebrate her, we also recognize and applaud the entire dedicated team of 41 UC Master Gardener volunteers who serve as Garden Sense consultants. This incredible and dedicated team are inspiring transformed landscapes county-wide. In an impact survey, a client shared, “the women who came out were absolutely fabulous. It is true that I could not have started my project without them. They could see things that I just couldn't see, and left me with some very helpful information. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Fay Mark
In the wake of a series of devastating fires across California, Fay Mark used her horticultural knowledge as a UC Master Gardener to organize a movement in Marin County. Her goal was to educate fire officials and residents to look at their landscapes in a new way. She sought to reverse the existing policy of un-constrained defoliation to mitigate wildfire risk, which damages the environment. Fay advocated using best horticultural practices to create defensible space. “I have enjoyed using my horticultural knowledge and leadership skills to educate fire officials and residents to look at landscapes in a new way. Mitigating wildfire risk must be done in a manner that combines the creation of defensible space while continuing to support the environment using horticultural best practices,” says Mark.
The guiding principle for residents was that defensible space and a reduction in fuel could be created with proper plant placement and landscape maintenance while preserving the ecological well-being of the environment. Fay coined the phrase “healthy landscapes are fire-smart landscapes” and the UC Master Gardener Program of Marin County's Fire-Smart Landscaping (FSL) committee spread the adoption of the term Fire-Smart Landscaping.
Recruiting and leading the FSL Committee members, Fay established a demand for UC Master Gardener educational materials among a broad array of agencies. Each became a channel of communication for the Fire-Smart Landscaping message, through the use of videos, print publications, webinars, landscaping tips, news articles, and social media blurbs. Agencies included FireSafe Marin, Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, the Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership, FireWise communities, public library programs, and individual City Councils.
“Fay paved the way for the UCCE Marin Master Gardeners to receive a meaningful grant from the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority to enable the UC Master Gardener Program of Marin County to hire a Fire-Smart Landscape Science Coordinator late last year. This person is continuing Fay's excellent and impactful work,” says fellow volunteer Julie McMillon.
In the spring of 2021, the City of Santa Rosa, a long-established leader in environmental sustainability and an advocate for stable, healthy and functional landscapes, reached out to the UC Master Gardener Program in Sonoma County with an interest in developing a list of low-water, climate smart trees suitable for streetscapes and landscapes throughout the city.
Tim Coyne, a recent UC Master Gardener transfer from Ventura County, led the team of volunteers who developed the Climate Forward Trees list for the City of Santa Rosa. Tim brought 35 years of corporate experience in project management to this innovative project. The Climate Forward team used available research to develop a set of criteria and a scoring system to evaluate potential tree species. They selected another California city with a current climate similar to that projected for Santa Rosa in 50 years to select potential trees for evaluation. After an exhaustive evaluation process, the team developed a final list of 29 ‘Climate Forward' tree species. The list is of tree species that are expected to adapt and thrive over the next 50 years despite changing climate conditions. “Without Tim's leadership, the Climate Forward trees project would not have been the success that it is,” says UC Master Gardener Anne Haddix.
The Climate Forward team (Linda King, Kim Pearson, Bill Klausing, Roger Bucholz, Kim Roberts and Rosemary MacReary) will now use their methodology to evaluate the trees that UC Master Gardeners currently recommend for home gardens in Sonoma County to determine if some should be added or dropped from the list given changing climate conditions, especially drought. “This project shows that we can tackle climate change through partnership, science, and community volunteerism. And the process can be rewarding for all involved,” explained Haddix.
Daveta Cooper
Elizabeth Andrew's quote, “volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart” perfectly describes Daveta Cooper's passion for volunteering. Even before becoming a certified UC Master Gardener volunteer in 2020, Deveta Cooper dedicated her time to serving the program.About becoming a UC Master Gardener, Cooper said, “I would like to continue learning about soil health and plant propagation and encourage others to learn about vermiculture and compost.”
Daveta Cooper is passionate about soil health and is an avid composter; she shares her wealth of experience in composting and vermicomposting through hands-on composting demonstrations to help divert green waste from landfills. Moving forward Cooper is planning on expanding her volunteer efforts to help gardeners reduce pesticide use, or improve their pest management practices. “I would like to introduce the basic concepts of integrated pest management (IPM) to non or new gardeners, giving them options besides the automatic use of herbicides and pesticides,” says Cooper. Her work contributes to environmental health in many ways and is amplified when she inspires others to make sustainable decisions where they live. We're grateful for the passion she brings to the work she does, that energy is contagious and results in new composters and verimicomposters county-wide.