RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — University of California, Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox helped launch a statewide crowd-sourcing science project by counting pollinators Thursday, May 1 at the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens.
University of California Cooperative Extension is coordinating the crowd-sourced science project on May 8 to commemorate the organization’s 100th anniversary. Everyone in California is invited to participate. To take part, go to http://beascientist.ucanr.edu and record observations on three questions: How many pollinators do you see? How do you conserve water? Where is food grown in your community?
Wilcox encouraged people to take a few minutes on May 8 to contribute to the project.
“Agriculture, of course, is important to the state of California and it’s our roots here at UCR,” Wilcox said Thursday morning. “And pollination is central to all the agricultural products that we have in the state.”
Cooperative Extension scientists will use the data collected to understand what’s happening to food supplies, water resources, and pollinator populations in California and to tailor future outreach and education and possibly research efforts.
May 8, 2014, is the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson signing the Smith-Lever Act, which created Cooperative Extension, a nationwide system of community-based education, established as part of each state’s land grant university. The University of California is California’s land grant university.
