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June 12, 2015 CapitalPress.com 9 Washington Golladay to co-chair Ecology committee By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Washington State University researchers Diter von Wettstein and Sachin Rustgi provide an update on their project to develop wheat for patients with celiac disease July 11, 2013, during the Spillman Field Day in Pullman, Wash. Von Wettstein and Rustgi recently received additional funding for their project. Warden, Wash., farmer and rancher Aaron Golladay is the new co-chair of the Washing- ton Department of Ecology’s agriculture and water quality advisory committee. Golladay raises hay and corn and runs 100 head of cattle on about 4,000 acres and is first vice president of the Washing- ton Farm Bureau. He replac- es Twisp, Wash., rancher Vic Stokes as co-chair alongside Ecology director Maia Bellon. “My main goal is to keep working with Ecology to help them work with ag in a more friendly way,” Golladay said. “I understand they have a job, but their tactics are not always the best for the ag communi- ty.” But the department has im- proved in the 16 months since its inception. Golladay credit- ed Stokes and Bellon for their work so far. Ecology will soon send 30 letters to producers in south- east Washington following watershed assessments, Goll- aday said. “Of those, 10 of them are going to be thank yous for doing a great job,” Golladay said. “Of the remaining 20, some of them are going to be ‘Hey, we know you’re work- ing with conservation districts or (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) to fix your problems, keep going’ and some are going to be, ‘Hey, you need to get in con- tact with somebody, you’ve got a problem and you need to start working on it.’” That’s quite a different ap- proach from when the depart- ment sent letters informing landowners that they had seen signs of problems, Golladay said. Those letters didn’t iden- tify the problem and the agri- culture industry criticized the department for vagueness and coming across as threatening. “It was a bad process,” Golladay said. “It’s still going to take some tweaking, but I believe it’s gotten better.” The advisory committee will turn its attention to dry- land wheat and tree fruit pro- ducers worried about the im- pact of federal laws, he said. The committee also plans to examine Ecology’s complaint process. “It pits neighbor against neighbor at times,” Golladay said. “It’s very anonymous. They’re treating people guilty until proven innocent, and that doesn’t fly in ag.” The committee advised Ecology on ways to improve interactions with farmers, Golladay said. “The director still can do as she sees fit, but the beauty of the committee is there’s a lot of straight talkers in there, and they’ll tell it like it is,” he said. “She knows what she’s getting into when she makes her decisions.” The committee next meets in September. Gluten-free wheat in sight, researchers say Ecology: Handle cows around water with care Capital Press Within a decade wheat farmers may be able to grow gluten-free wheat that’s safe for celiac disease patients to eat, researchers say. The Life Sciences Dis- covery Fund recently gave a $152,000 grant to Wash- ington State University pro- fessor Diter von Wettstein, who is working to develop new varieties of wheat to produce grain that patients with celiac disease could safely eat. The fund orig- inally provided von Wett- stein with a $1.09 million grant in 2009. The second grant will help continue the project, said Mark Hertle, senior program officer. Von Wettstein and his team have eliminated 75 percent of the gluten pro- teins from wheat grains that cause various immunologi- cal and allergic reactions in susceptible individuals, said collaborator Sachin Rustgi, assistant research professor at WSU. The goal is to re- move all major immunore- active gluten proteins. The wheat would be con- sidered genetically modi- fied, Rustgi said. “This unique design of silencing two regulatory genes will provide double surety that all immunoreac- tive gluten proteins will be eliminated from grains,” he said. Preliminary tests suggest no change in baking proper- ties, Rustgi said. The new grant helps the researchers move forward with eliminating all major pathogenic gluten proteins from wheat grains, and re- taining ones that are vital. High-molecular weight glutenins were shown to be largely non-inflammatory for sensitive patients, but would maintain the tech- nical properties of wheat while keeping it safe for gluten-sensitive and intoler- ant individuals, Rustgi said. The research fund doesn’t typically get in- volved with agricultural re- search, Hertle said, but von Wettstein’s project fits its mission to provide a health and economic impact. “There’s a pretty signifi- cant potential economic im- pact,” he said. “This would be a higher-value grain than normal grain.” Removing those genes that cause problems for pa- tients with celiac disease provides a side benefit by increasing the health value of the resulting wheat, Her- tle said. “It would make healthier wheat for anybody to eat,” he said. The supplemental fund- ing will help von Wettstein produce the desired plant, Hertle said. The board is ironing out the final details of the grant agreement, he said. The researchers will next test the wheats on mice and human T-cells taken from bioposy samples of celiac patients, Rustgi said. They will test the wheat’s end-use quality and the agronomic performance in baking and field trials. Rustgi expects the de- sired wheats within the next two years, but field testing and regulatory approval would take five to seven years. The celiac-safe wheat would likely be available to growers within seven to nine years, he said. Hertle praised von Wett- stein’s long history and ex- pertise with biotechnology. “They’ve tackled an in- credibly difficult task,” he said. Livestock producers criticize new guidelines By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA, Wash. — The “best way” for ranchers to ensure they won’t run afoul of water pollution laws is to keep their cows away from streams, according to new guidelines from the Washing- ton Department of Ecology. The seven-page document, expected to be posted on the agency’s website Monday, outlines what alarms on-the- ground ecology inspectors. The guidelines don’t signal a change in enforcement prac- tices, but they clarify what the agency expects from ranch- ers, said Kelly Susewind, spe- cial assistant to DOE Director Maia Bellon. The mere presence of live- stock along a stream doesn’t automatically violate the law, but cows must be kept from polluting the water, according to the document. “We’re not telling people to keep their cows out of the stream, we’re telling people to keep their pollution out. The best way to do that is to keep their cows out of the area,” Susewind said. DOE started working last year on the guidelines, the first of their kind, after intense conflicts with ranchers over potential pollution sources. The document received a negative reaction from two ranchers who have seen the Don Jenkins/Capital Press Cows graze in southwest Washington. The Washington Department of Ecology has finalized a guid- ance document to help producers know how to keep cows from polluting water. guidelines. The guidelines are unre- alistic, intrusive and poten- tially counterproductive by suggesting fences effectively manage cattle, said Stevens County rancher Scott Nielsen, who serves on a DOE adviso- ry committee that reviewed drafts as the guidelines took shape. Nielsen said fences may lead to riparian damage as cows push through them and congregate or become trapped along streams. An earlier draft stated that barring cows from ap- proaching streams was the “only way” — instead of the best way — to ensure com- pliance. “They tried taking the bite out of it, but at the end of the day, they’re telling us to ex- clude our cows from creeks,” Nielsen said. Nielsen agreed the guide- lines will help ranchers under- stand what DOE considers ac- ceptable and unacceptable. But the document shows the agen- cy is too focused on fencing off streams, he said. “I don’t know how else you would ex- clude livestock.” Susewind agreed excluding cows from streams “almost certainly includes a fence.” But ranchers don’t have to put up fences if they manage their cows around waterways to minimize pollution, he said. “It takes more work.” An environmentalist on the advisory committee said he preferred the earlier draft. “Our view is that the only way to safeguard water is to use exclusionary fencing,” said Bruce Wishart of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. “We wish it were stronger, but the message is still deliv- ered,” he said. “I don’t see how anything can be excluded from the stream without fencing.” Stevens County rancher Ted Wishon, who along with Nielsen represents the Cattle Producers of Washington on DOE’s advisory committee, said ranchers would be in a “great struggle” to be profit- able and productive if forced to put up miles of fences. He called the issue even more important than the return of wolves to northeast Wash- ington. At stake is whether ranchers will be able to op- erate as they have for gener- ations, he said. “If we lose this one, we don’t get it back,” he said. BUYING 6” and UP Alder, Maple, Cottonwood Saw Logs, Standing Timber www.cascadehardwood.com ROP-23-4-1/#24 By MATTHEW WEAVER WSU president takes leave to battle cancer Washington State Univer- sity President Elson Floyd is taking a leave of absence to get treatment for cancer. According to a WSU press release, the university’s board of regents approved Floyd’s request for family medical leave June 5 effective imme- diately. “These have been incredi- bly challenging times for me, and it is with great regret I ask to take a leave of absence to address this personal battle with cancer,” Floyd stated. “While I do so, I ask you to appoint Dr. Dan Bernardo to assume day-to-day duties of the presidency.” Bernardo is the provost and executive vice president of the university. He previous- ly was dean of the College of Agricultural, Human and Nat- ural Resource Sciences. Floyd took office as presi- dent in 2007. Over the years, he has often re-affirmed the university’s commitment to agricultural research. “There is no place on earth like WSU, and I cannot wait to return to the office and all the great work we are doing once my health allows,” he stated in the press release. VIEW ALL CLASSIFIED ADS ABSOLUTELY FREE! 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