The study had three main goals: (1) to assess the vulnerability of groundwater-dependent agriculture to climate variability, (2) to identify historical and current processes of adaptation to the vagaries of climate in the region— these refer to both system wide adaptations and individual farmer’s adaptations, and, (3) to assess the use of and needs for seasonal climate forecast information in agricultural decision making. The report is targeted at institutional stakeholders (i.e., agricultural extension personnel), physical scientists (particularly climatologists), and policymakers (at the level of NOAA and other federal agencies). Specific recommendations are made to these groups in order to improve the delivery of seasonal forecasts, set research priorities, and inform public policy.

The Arizona Youth Tobacco Survey is a series of biannual school-based tobacco-focused surveys first implemented in the spring of 2000. The survey is designed to help monitor trends in tobacco use among public school students in grades 6 through 12 and to compare changes in rates over time. The survey also collects data on topics including: tobacco use; tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and beliefs; access to tobacco products; exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; initiation and cessation; influence of family, friends and the media; and social, school and community interventions.

Adult tobacco use represents an important and ongoing morbidity, mortality and health care cost problem. The Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Tobacco Education and Prevention Program has been working since 1996 to reduce tobacco use in Arizona. This report presents data from the Adult Tobacco Survey on adult tobacco use prevalence rates, cessation behaviors, and Arizonan’s beliefs and attitudes about smoking hazards and tobacco policies. It also provides trends over time on Arizonans tobacco use and other related behaviors, using comparable data from surveys conducted previously in 1996, 1999, and 2002.