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.
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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.
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