Program History
Beginnings
From its inception, in 1976 as the "Kellogg Program", the Public Service Research Program has facilitated and supported research and scholarly outreach on public policy issues of interest to the State of California and has acted as a catalyst for new partnerships, providing opportunities for UC Davis faculty, staff, and students to work collaboratively and across disciplines on critical public issues with members of the campus and outside communities, especially in California.
Fostering partnerships and outreach activities on California's issues has been a recurrent objective for PSRP with the focus shifting between social, environmental, and natural resource problems. Activities have ranged from developing and hosting seminar series, workshops, forums, and research briefings, to participating in planning activities and research studies, providing funding for co-sponsored events, representing the university in regional initiatives, and creating partnerships for regional sustainability. The work has ranged from rural sociology and agriculture, to climate change, to biodiversity and natural resource protection, to bioregions and watersheds, to environmental health and communities.
Promoting Research and Outreach Initiatives on Campus
Over the years, PSRP has been instrumental to the development of campus initiatives, programs and centers which focus on applied interdisciplinary problems and collaborations with public agencies. We helped found the following UC Davis centers and programs: National Institute for Global Environmental Change, Toxic Substances Teaching & Research Program, John Muir Institute of the Environment, Information Center for the Environment, Putah-Cache Bioregion Project, Sustainable Communities Consortium, and the Center for Biosystematics. We have had long-term participation in campus outreach councils and the Public Service Committee and were active in the creation of and initial support for the Office of University Outreach and International Programs. The Putah-Cache Bioregion Project is a distinctive example of our role in the development of an organized research project which crosses disciplines and learning communities and connects the campus with communities beyond the campus.
Partnerships and Initiatives with State Agencies
PSRP has hosted several government speaker series to facilitate collaboration between state agencies and UC Davis. Speakers have included Secretaries of the California Resources Agency and CAL-EPA, Directors of California Fish and Game, California Department of Water Resources, California Health Services and many others. PSRP has maintained close relationships with state and federal agencies through Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) and, for a period, was the administrative home for campus MOUs with the Resources Agency and CAL-EPA. In 1994, a MOU was signed by Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and then Resources Secretary Douglas Wheeler formalizing a broad partnership. The MOU was an outgrowth of a series of "Executive Briefings" on natural resources issues, organized by PSRP for Resources Agency professionals and campus faculty and administrators.
Activities of the MOU were directed by a joint steering committee of campus faculty and senior managers in Agency departments, and included a Natural Resources Fellowship Program and jointly-sponsored conferences and research briefings. The Fellowship Program, for Resources Agency professionals and members of the UC Davis academic community, permitted each Fellow to work collegially with a host in the other organization for three to six months on a project addressing a significant natural resources issue in California. Campus hosts include faculty from every college and school except the Medical School. Hosts emphasized the value of the program - in offering fresh perspectives, fostering long-term working relationships, and in contracts and sources of funding.
Most of the 25 Fellows who participated since the program began in 1995 were from State Agency departments, including the Department of Water Resources, Department of Fish and Game, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, California Energy Commission, and California Coastal Conservancy. Projects covered diverse issues, including: studies of social behavior designed to improve incentives for energy conservation, research on the law and policy of in-stream protection of aquatic species, fish screen design for water intake elements of state water projects, and modeling habitat and transportation planning variables to improve land-use planning in the Sierra foothills.
The Natural Resources Fellowship Program and research briefings on key environmental resource policy issues are examples of activities conducted through these agreements. Other activities with the California Resources Agency through contracts included initiatives designed to foster community capacity for more effective natural resources management and land-use planning in the Sierra Nevada. This work resulted in the multi-year project "Getting Data and Analysis into Local and Regional Decision Making", which led to new models of thinking about how universities could provide assistance to watershed and other community-based groups.
Regional Partnerships and Initiatives
A major focus of PSRP has been on the seven county Sacramento Region, with collaborative studies involving other cities, counties, and regions across western North America. In the mid 90's, PSRP co-founded, with members of the Community Development Graduate Group, the UCD Sustainable Communities Consortium, an interdisciplinary campus unit which conducted research and outreach on issues pertaining to urbanization and its impacts on the quality of human life, the environment, and agriculture. SCC members conducted sustainable development research, developed and disseminated outreach information, and worked together with California communities to develop sustainable development practices and processes. Youth needs for open space and education in urban villages was investigated, quality of life indices were identified, and linkages were developed with other campus programs. We have more recently examined regional issues with the 2005 forum, The Future of the Region and our interest in the California Central Valley, through the Environmental Leaders Program and support of faculty research and engagement in social and environmental justice issues.
Started in the late 1990's and continuing into the present, PSRP, in collaboration with the Putah-Cache Bioregion Project, has been active in collaborative planning and resource management in the Yolo, Solano, Lake, and Napa County areas for watershed conservation, management, and public outreach, e.g. through partnerships with the Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area Conservation Partnership, the Putah Creek Discovery Corridor Cooperative, and the Lower Putah Creek Coordinating Committee. These partnerships have lead to extensive and sustained work in the Putah and Cache Watersheds.
PSRP served as campus representative to regional agencies for the planning and implementation of public outreach and education, e.g. Yolo Basin Foundation's Pacific Flyway Center and, more recently, Solano County Park's Lake Solano Visitor Center. We participated in the design and implementation of regional environmental education programs through partnerships with regional and campus organizations. An example is the Return of Salmon environmental education program, sponsored by U.S. EPA, a university program that facilitated collaborations between environmental educators, teachers, and university students to improve environmental learning in the Putah Creek watershed.
PSRP has been active in promoting awareness, appreciation, and use of the UC Davis Natural Reserves by campus, public agency, and community members. In past years, PSRP developed and implemented educational programs at the reserves for regional school students. At Jepson Prairie Reserve between the UC Davis natural reserves and the UCD Educational Outreach Initiative for Sacramento high school students, and at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, a school outreach program with elementary schools in Woodland, Yolo County. This project led to the ongoing and highly successful WaterWays education program.