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2 CapitalPress.com June 3, 2016 People & Places Protecting crops naturally Dani Lightle helps orchardists battle pests, diseases Western Innovator Capital Press Dani Lightle Age: 30 Residence: Orland, Calif. Education: Bachelor’s degree, biology, the College of Wooster, 2007; doctorate, entomology, Oregon State University, 2013 Family: Husband, Lars Estrem; daughter, Cora Tim Hearden/Capital Press Website: sacvalleyorchards. com Dani Lightle, a University of California Cooperative Extension orchard adviser in Orland, offers a pre- view of an online resource for growers that will go live this month. She is involved in research projects to help trees and plants naturally resist pests and disease. tree and plant diseases will be critical for agriculture in Cal- ifornia, which accounts for about half of all U.S.-grown nuts, fruits and vegetables. $3 billion question Each year, invasive insects and diseases cost the Golden State’s farmers about $3 bil- lion in control costs and crop and export losses, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “It’s a lot,” Lightle said. “It obviously varies year by year, but there are a lot of costs as- sociated with a pest, including the cost to control it.” Moreover, tighter regula- tions are being placed on the chemicals that growers use to treat for pests and disease, in- creasing the need for Lightle and other researchers to find natural alternatives. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering ban- ning the use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used on some 60 California crops, including tree nuts, oranges and grapes. Lightle became interested in a cooperative extension ca- reer while in graduate school, she said. pathogenic bacterium associ- ated with California olives. Sharing information Many of her research proj- ects are long-term. She and other researchers are several years into a germplasm breed- ing process they hope will lead to new walnut varieties that are resistant to nematodes and phytophthora. “It’s definitely not instant results,” she said. “Very few things are instant results.” Even short-term projects such as examining flight pat- terns of insects must be done over several years because conditions change each year, Lightle said. “Nothing is instant,” she said. However, most growers “have a handle on the fact that it takes time to get results,” she said. “I liked the interaction with growers,” she said. “I liked sharing information with them and making the language accessible to them.” After earning her Ph.D., she rode across the country by motorcycle and randomly applied for jobs. She ended up in Orland, in the heart of the Sacramento Valley’s almond, walnut, olive and prune coun- try. She started in February 2014. “I’m heading into my third California summer,” she said. In the last five years, Ligh- tle has authored or co-au- thored seven peer-reviewed scholarly articles on raspberry viruses brought on by aphids and other insects. Other non- peer-reviewed articles she’s written deal with such topics as navel orangeworm in wal- nuts, olive fly activity and a No quick fix Online tool She and other Sacramen- to Valley advisers are devel- oping an online resource for orchardists that will include Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — The Washington Apple Education Foundation will award more than $1 million in scholarships to tree fruit-relat- ed college bound students this spring. It’s a major milestone that the Wenatchee-based founda- tion’s board only saw as attain- able in the last year, said Jen- nifer Witherbee, foundation executive director. “We’re very excited. We were getting pretty certain in the last two weeks that we might reach it,” Witherbee said. “But what’s most import- ant is the individual students, their stories and that they are deserving.” About 75 percent of the money will go to Hispanics. That percentage has been in- creasing over the years, she said. Many are first-generation college students. Last year, the foundation awarded $850,000 to 225 stu- dents. Five years ago, the founda- tion gave just over $400,000 in scholarships, but the industry really stepped up its giving when the foundation changed its philosophy in student sup- port, Witherbee said. Instead of focusing on reaching the greatest num- ber of students with one-time scholarships, the foundation began supporting more with repeat scholarships as long as they did well in college, she said. The focus is on doing well and connecting to future careers, she said. About half the 200 students receiving scholarships this month will be repeat awards and half will be new. Recipient will be announced at the end of the month. Scholarships average about $3,500 per year with the low- est being $1,000 and the high- est being a full-ride, four-year scholarship averaging about $90,000, Witherbee said. The foundation manages more than 100 scholarship funds, each with its own crite- ria but sharing a primary pur- pose of assisting young people raised in families connected to or employed in the tree fruit industry in Okanogan, Chel- an, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties. “Many of these parents work in labor positions and the cost of college is more than they can bear alone,” said Gene Sharratt, executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Coun- cil. He assisted the foundation in organizing its scholarship program more than 20 years ago. Sharratt, Central Washing- ton University President James Guadino and foundation chair- woman Rachel Sullivan, CEO of Crane & Crane, a tree fruit company in Brewster, were to speak at the foundation’s annu- al meeting announcing the $1 pest updates, evapotranspi- ration reports for irrigation management and a calendar of upcoming workshops. Lightle said she enjoys meeting with growers and says she learns something new in every conversation. “I don’t think you’d do this job or last very long if you didn’t enjoy going out and talking with growers,” she said. “One of the really important aspects of this job in the early years is building those relationships and net- works so they know they can call on me if they need some- thing.” Lightle said such measures as breeding disease-resis- tant rootstocks have “always been a first line of defense” in farming for thousands of years.” “Research-wise, I’m re- ally hoping to pursue strat- egies that make a differ- ence in growers’ practices and production,” she said. “That’s really what takes a while.” million milestone at CWU in Ellensburg. “CWU began offering tui- tion waivers to foundation stu- dents two years ago as a way of demonstrating our support to the students they reach,” Guadino said. More than half the money comes from industry gifts in May and June and the rest from earnings from one-time endow- ments and annual fundraisers. The foundation was begun in 1994 as the charity of Wash- ington’s tree fruit industry with a mission of impacting lives through access to education. Beside the scholarships, the foundation gives $20,000 an- nually as grants to English as a second language programs for adults. Long missing frog, turtle species making return to Yosemite By SCOTT SMITH Associated Press FRESNO, Calif. — A type of frog made famous by Mark Twain will soon be hopping and swimming through California’s Yosemite National Park after a decades-long absence, officials said Wednesday. The California red-legged frog, named for its colorful legs and belly, vanished from the Calendar Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Sub- mit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301. Friday, June 3 park more than 40 years ago. It is the type of frog featured in Twain’s short story “The Cele- brated Jumping Frog of Calav- eras County.” Western pond turtles — missing from most of the park for 50 years — are also being reintroduced to Yosemite, both under a partnership with the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens, offi- cials announced. “This is a landmark event Citizen Fire Academy Meet and Greet, 5-8 p.m., OSU Extension Au- ditorium, 569 Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore. The Citizen Fire Acade- my statewide program is for pro-ac- tive forest landowners, concerned residents in fire-prone communities and the public. Learn how to cre- ate safe, more fire-resilient homes through online sessions, field trips and by working on a personalized wildfire preparedness plan. http:// extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/cfa Saturday, June 4 79th Annual Marion County Lamb & Wool Show, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Turner Elementary School, 7800 School St., Turner, Ore. The show also includes craft vendors, food vendors, wool/fiber classes, a local spinning club and a quilters’ group. New this year, the children’s classes will start the day. http://marioncoun- tylambandwoolshow.yolasite.com/ AOSA SCST Joint Annual Meet- ing, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Embassy Suites, Airport Way, Portland. http://www. seedtechnology.net/ for Yosemite National Park and a historic opportunity,” said the park’s superintendent, Don Neubacher. The zoo has begun nurturing frogs in a permanent breeding center. Officials say they already released 2,000 tad- poles in March. Over the next three years, thousands of tadpoles and adult frogs from the center will be transported 200 miles to be set free in the park’s lush meadows, alpine lakes and winding Mer- ced River. The frog disappeared from Yosemite in part because non-native, predatory bullfrogs first introduced to a reflection pond spread throughout the valley and, over time, gobbled them up, officials said. The insatiable bullfrogs have since been eradicated from the park, clearing the way for the red-legged frog’s return, said Capital Press Managers Mike O’Brien .............................Publisher Joe Beach ..................................... Editor Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Barbara Nipp ......... Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Entire contents copyright © 2016 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. Washington apple foundation tops $1 million in scholarships By DAN WHEAT Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester ..........................President Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Sid Freeman .................. Outside director Mike Omeg .................... Outside director Corporate officer John Perry Chief operating officer By TIM HEARDEN ORLAND, Calif. — As a youngster growing up in Ohio, Dani Lightle had little to do with agriculture. She was a science enthusi- ast at an early age — an in- terest her parents encouraged. They would buy her books on insects, and she’d go into the backyard and find each one, she said. “I was pretty far removed” from farming, Lightle said of her childhood in Copley, Ohio, a suburb of Akron. But now Lightle, 30, a University of California Co- operative Extension orchard crop adviser, is undertaking scientific research that could be crucial for much of Cali- fornia’s $54 billion agricul- ture industry. Having earned a doctor- ate in entomology from Ore- gon State University in 2013, Lightle is working on several projects to help plants and trees naturally ward off pests and disease, including de- veloping resistant rootstocks and studying the behavior of insects. “Coming out of under- grad, I was very interested in managing invasive species,” said Lightle, who honed her knowledge by working in a U.S. Department of Agri- culture laboratory in Oregon after earning her bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Wooster in Ohio in 2007. While taking a class at Wooster, “I was struck with how important it is to control invasives,” she said. Finding natural means of controlling invasive pests and Capital Press Rob Grasso, an aquatic ecolo- gist at Yosemite who spearhead- ed the project. “Now that they’ve been re- moved, we know the red-legged frog will do well,” he said. Red-legged frogs grow to 2 to 5 inches long. They are the largest native frogs in the West — known for commu- nicating in short, soft grunts — and listed as a federally threatened species. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048. To Reach Us Toll free ............................. 800-882-6789 Main line ........................... 503-364-4431 Fax ................................... 503-370-4383 Advertising Fax ................ 503-364-2692 News Staff N. 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Wednesday, June 8 Oregon Board of Agriculture Quarterly Meeting, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Keerins Hall North Room at the Grant County Fairgrounds, 411 NW Bridge St., John Day, Ore. OSU Strawberry Open House, 1-5 p.m., North Willamette Re- search & Extension Center, 15210 NE Miley Road, Aurora, Ore. http:// oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC/ Monday, June 13 Summer Water Law and Re- source Issues Seminar, Sun Valley Resort, Sun Valley, Idaho. (208) 344-6690, http://www.iwua.org Tuesday, June 14 Summer Water Law and Re- source Issues Seminar, Sun Val- ley Resort, Sun Valley, Idaho. (208) 344-6690, http://www.iwua. org Dairy ...................................... 9 Livestock ............................... 9 Markets ............................... 13 Opinion .................................. 6 Correction policy Accuracy is important to Capital Press staff and to our readers. 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