Field by Field Instructions for Entering UC Delivers Success Stories in ANR Site Builder System
(Revised July 2005)
Headline: A brief (no more than 10 words), vivid statement that captures attention and gives a sense of what the story is all about.
Example of a headline from Current UC Delivers Story:
Mitigation of Contaminants in Surface Runoff from Nurseries
Local Summary: Abstract of 100 words or less.
The Issue - "Who Cares and Why": Describe interesting and relevant background information about the specific issue, problem or situation that was addressed by this ANR program. Describe how the issue has affected the local environmental, social and economic community. Describe the stakeholders, who have been affected, and what the impact has been on them as a result of the issue. Issues transcend local environments, they often have to do with institutions, society and the world at large.
Example of an issue statement from current UC Delivers story:
In the late 1980s, contamination of San Diego Creek and Newport Bay in Orange County resulted in the development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for sediment, nutrients, pathogens, and several toxics. Since then, surface runoff from three nurseries operating in the San Diego Creek watershed has been regulated by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board by issuing Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) permits. The permits have been updated regularly to reflect changes in water quality and to coincide with TMDL allocations.
However, pollutant allocations have been expected to be reduced substantially in revised permits, thereby putting the nurseries at risk of consistently exceeding their daily load allocation.
What has ANR Done? Describe the inputs, i.e. what ANR invested in terms of staff, volunteers, time, money, materials, equipment, technology and partners. Outline the general approach or methodology - in straight forward, non-technical terms - that was created to address this issue. Identify the major components / steps / overall time frame that were part of this project. Identify and describe the demographics of clientele that were engaged and/or served by project. Describe how individual elements of the AES/CE research & extension continuum contributed to addressing the issue specifying roles of AES scientists, CE specialists and CE advisors.
Example of "what has been done statement" from current UC Delivers story:
UCCE Orange County Advisors John Kabashima and Darren Haver developed and implemented a series of mitigation practices at one of the three permitted nurseries. The goal was to evaluate several low-cost practices for reducing pollutant loads in surface runoff.
Extension Specialists Drs. Jay Gan and Laosheng Wu assisted the UCCE advisors and nursery personnel in measuring the effectiveness of the various mitigation efforts by analyzing pollutants, especially pesticides. The project also involved several agencies, including the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Calfornia Department of Food and Agriculture.
Surface runoff was treated with a series of mitigation practices, starting with the addition of polyacrylamides to flocculate soil particles, then settling these particles in sediment traps and a pond, and finally passing the runoff through a vegetative filter.
Payoff Headline: A brief, eye-catching, vivid statement of what the outputs, outcomes and/or impacts have been.
Example of payoff headline from current UC Delivers story:
Low-cost mitigation practices reduce surface run-off contaminants.
The Payoff: Must include impacts and may include outputs and outcomes.
Outputs: Describe what we did in terms of specific activities ANR conducted including educational and research formats (if applicable), such as courses, lectures, workshops, conferences, counseling, facilitation, assessments, product/technology development, media work, recruitment, training, consultations, institutes, certification processes, publications disseminated, etc. Also describe who we reached, i.e. participants, customers, citizens, students, clients, learners and their reactions.
Outcomes: Describe what the short term results are in terms of learning including increased or changed awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, opinions, aspirations, motivations. Also describe what the mid-term results are in terms of action including changed or new behavior, practice, decisions, policies, social action. Highlight the difference this program is making for the public good.
Impacts: Describe what the long-term, ultimate impact is in terms of comprehensive achievements of social, economic, environmental, civic, value-added change or improvements.
Example of payoff statement from current UC Delivers story:
The result was a significant decrease in pollutant loading. During two years, water samples taken upstream and downstream of the mitigation practices showed reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus loads of 58% and 54%, respectively. Suspended solids were reduced 97-99%, while pesticides used to control Red Imported Fire Ant (bifenthrin and permethrin) were consistently reduced by more than 90%. The vegetative filter alone showed a 44% decrease in bifenthrin.
Without these improvements in water quality, the nursery would potentially face serious fines and/or a cease and desist order. The pollutant reductions resulting from this project provided the nursery with a comfortable buffer.
Clientele Testimony: (Optional) Specific quotes from clientele (along with their names, brief title and location) attesting to how this ANR program made a difference in their lives.
Example of clientele testimony statement from current UC Delivers story:
"Our newly-formed California Straw Supply Cooperative wanted to develop a marketing plan for rice straw as cattle feed. The Cooperative Extension program allowed us to kick-start our marketing of rice straw that met the cattlemen's needs. We sold 10,000 tons of rice straw for cattle feed in our first year of operation."
Keith Shaw Manager of California Straw Supply Cooperative
"The Extension program has done an outstanding job of defining needs of the grower and cattle producers" Paul Buttner, Manager of Environmental Affairs for the California Rice Commission.
Time Period: Specify the dates of when these activities affected the public.
Unit Credit: Automatically inserted by ANR Site Builder system, this is the name of the ANR unit that is connected to the web site, e.g. Agronomy Department, San Joaquin County, Sea Grant Extension Program, Adolescence Workgroup, etc. A unit credit can be added or changed even though it is automatically inserted.
Contact Information: List name, title, address, phone number, e-mail address of individual(s) to contact for more information about this ANR program success story.
Topic Area: Indicate all that apply.
Funding Source: Indicate Federal and/or other funding sources.
Picture: (Required) Stick with JPEG (.jpg) - JPEG files are typically used for photographs. JPEG files are compressed, and when compressing you can control the 'quality' of the file.
Picture Caption: Brief, descriptive statement.
Notes for editors: Notes for editors.
Information adapted from University of Wisconsin Extension Program Impact web site
http://www1.uwex.edu/impacts/ December 2002.