Wednesday, November 18, 1998
Community Briefs
Vine mealybug found in San Joaquin Valley
The vine mealybug, a pest that poses a serious new threat to the
California grape industry and efforts to reduce pesticide use, was
found for the first time this summer in the San Joaquin Valley,
according to Walter Bentley, University of California integrated
pest management entomologist.
The vine mealybug’s first confirmed find in the United States
came four years ago in Southern California’s Coachella Valley.
It was then identified in a tablegrape vineyard south of Arvin
in June 1998 and since then small populations have been detected at
two other nearby vineyards.
A native of the Black Sea area and an established pest of
grapes, date palms and figs in South Africa, Egypt, India and
Israel, the vine mealybug is a separate, and much more damaging,
species than the grape mealybug already found in the San Joaquin
Valley.
"If the vine mealybug spreads in California, it will be a very
serious problem," Bentley said. "And everybody expects it to
spread."
Since the pest prefers warmer, non-freezing areas, Bentley said
the renowned wine producing vineyards of Napa, Mendocino and Sonoma
counties, plus those in the mild Central Coast counties of San Luis
Obispo and Monterey are threatened by the possible spread of vine
mealybug.
"In those areas, the vine mealybugs would just take off,"
Bentley said. "And they are already having difficulty controlling
two other mealybugs."
Former ambassador speaks at UC Riverside
Jesús Silva-Herzog, one of Mexico’s most distinguished
political figures, will give a free public lecture on issues that
test the U.S.-Mexico relationship at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19, at the
University of California, Riverside.
The lecture, "Drugs, Development and Migration: Challenging the
U.S.-Mexico Relationship" will be held in the University Theatre on
campus. It is one of several public presentations by Silva-Herzog,
who is visiting UCR from Nov. 8 to Nov.. 21 as part of the
University of California Regents’ Lecturer Program.
In the presentation, Silva-Herzog is expected to discuss
realistic prospects for U.S. and Mexican cultural and economic
integration by focusing on those issues that traditionally have
driven the bilateral dialogue.
Silva-Herzog, an economist trained in Mexico and the United
States, is perhaps best known for his leading role in renegotiation
of Mexico’s international debt following the global collapse of the
oil market in the early 1980s.
He has served as Mexico’s finance minister, as ambassador to
Spain, secretary of tourism and, most recently, ambassador to the
United States. He was instrumental in working with the Clinton
Administration to hammer out an emergency assistance package, which
was repaid by Mexico before it was due.
UC Berkeley debuts natural gas buses
Officials at the University of California, Berkeley, announced
the debut of a passenger bus that is the first in the world to run
on a new technology that offers the power of a diesel engine
without the environmental and health hazards of diesel
emissions.
UC Berkeley officials joined with the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District and other air quality agencies on Tuesday to
announce this new technology, known as the High Pressure Direct
Injection system (HPDI).
The HPDI system is manufactured by the British Columbia-based
Westport Innovations Inc. It was recently placed in a UC Berkeley
passenger bus to convert the vehicle from diesel fuel to natural
gas.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.
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