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CapitalPress.com
Friday, July 9, 2021
People & Places
Father, son take on capturing
carbon one tree at a time
Established 1928
Capital Press Managers
Joe Beach ..................... Editor & Publisher
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Anne Long ................. Advertising Director
Carl Sampson .................. Managing Editor
LONGVIEW, Wash. —
Trees take carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere, and that
has inspired Norm Dick to
work with conservation dis-
tricts and rural landowners to
plant trees.
Spending his own money,
Dick, a 65-year-old retired
attorney, buys and gives
away fir trees. In two years,
he has organized the planting
of 18,107 trees in southwest
Washington.
He has ambitions to plant
many more. Aided by his son
Larson, Dick started the Car-
bon Capture Foundation. As
nonprofits go, it’s a seedling.
”We’re still trying to get
our feet on the ground and
figure out what we can do,”
he said. “We want to do more
than a feel-good thing.”
Father and son share con-
cerns about climate change
and acknowledge that to make
a difference they will have to
ramp up fundraising, organiz-
ing and hope other tree-plant-
ing groups around the world
will, too.
The U.S. Forest Service
estimates there are 1.4 trillion
trees in forests in the Lower
48, according to a study pub-
lished last fall. Forests cover
about one-third of the coun-
try and uptake the equivalent
of 14% of the carbon dioxide
emitted by the U.S. economy.
The study found millions of
acres were “poorly stocked.”
If those acres were filled in
with trees, forests could take
up about 20% of carbon emis-
sions. “There are opportuni-
ties on existing forestland to
increase the contribution of for-
Samantha McLaren ....Circulation Manager
Western
Innovator
Entire contents copyright © 2021
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
An independent newspaper
NORM DICK
Age: 65
Occupation: Founder of
Carbon Capture Founda-
tion; retired attorney
Education: Lewis and
Clark Law School, Port-
land
published every Friday.
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Norm Dick, left, with the help of his son, Larson, right, founded the Carbon Capture
Foundation to donate trees to landowners.
ests to climate change mitiga-
tion,” the study concluded.
The U.S. emitted 6.5 bil-
lion metric tons of carbon in
2019, according to the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency.
More than a decade ago, the
Congressional Research Ser-
vice looked at what it would
take to offset 1 billion metric
tons of carbon each year.
The report concluded that
it would mean planting trees
on up to about a quarter of the
land now used for crops, pas-
tures and rangeland.
Norm and Larson have
their eyes on vacant pastures
now growing weeds.
“Our real target is an
area where the land can be
improved and that would not
be planted if not for us help-
ing plant the trees,” Norm
said.
The inspiration for this
project came on a hunting
trip in the fall of 2019. Norm
and Larson were in the woods
and saw a sign marking a tree
farm planted by schoolchil-
dren decades ago.
Larson, 28, posted a photo
on social media. The reaction
was positive. People liked the
idea of planting trees to fight
climate change. “It inspired
us to think we can do some-
thing,” said Larson, a Univer-
sity of Washington graduate.
Norm leaped to the task.
He ordered 10,400 fir trees
from the state Department of
Natural Resources nursery
in Olympia, paying 38 to 68
cents a tree.
”When we bought them,
we didn’t know what we
would do with them,” he said.
“It was pretty rugged figur-
ing out where the 10,000 trees
were going to go.”
Some trees went to indi-
vidual landowners, including
a lot of teachers. Others were
distributed through conserva-
tion districts.
“We found good homes for
them, but it was a struggle,”
Norm said.
For the second year, Norm
contacted agricultural high
school teachers to see if their
schools would participate in
planting trees. The reaction
was good at first, Norm said,
but COVID-19 shut down
contacts.
“What looked like it would
be a deluge of interest, just
dried up,” he said.
Still, more trees went into
the ground. Norm donated
trees to plant along a creek
that runs through a ranch in
Cowlitz County. The proj-
ect was under the Volun-
teer Stewardship Program, a
state-approved way for agri-
culture to meet its obligations
to protect the land under the
Growth Management Act.
With the months for plant-
ing fir trees past, Norm and
Larson are making plans to
scale up.
“We know the planting
of trees needs to accelerate,”
Larson said. “The hope is all
groups combined will scale to
those numbers.”
Even at a small scale, it’s
been hard to find people to
plant trees, Norm said.
“We’re still a half-inch
deep in this to make it work,”
he said. “It wouldn’t seem so
hard to give stuff away.”
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To Place Classified Ads
New treatment could make honey bees immune to some pesticides
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
ITHACA, N.Y. — A new
technology could make some
bee species immune to many
pesticides, which currently
cause beekeepers to lose about
a third of hives annually.
Studies show in 98% of
hives nationwide, wax and
pollen are contaminated with
an average of six pesticides,
which can kill bees or reduce
bee health.
The solution: a micropar-
ticle sponge that, when fed
to honey bees in sugar water
or pollen patties, could give
them immunity to pesticides.
The discovery has stirred
widespread excitement, but
critics say the invention could
have unintended negative
consequences, especially for
wild bees.
James Webb, 27, a recent
biological and environmen-
tal engineering graduate from
Cornell University, came up
with the idea when he was
a student and co-authored a
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
A new micro-sponge protects bees from insecticides.
study about his findings in the
journal Nature Food.
“Quite simply, I hope this
means less hive losses and
more bees,” said Webb.
Originally from the United
Kingdom, Webb spoke with a
British accent.
The work began with an
idea. Webb said most of the
research he saw about bees
highlighted problems but
didn’t offer solutions. He
wanted change.
His first idea was to use
a specific enzyme to break
down harmful pesticides bees
consume. Webb brought his
idea to Minglin Ma, associate
professor of biomaterials at
Cornell, who would become
his adviser. Other researchers
joined the team.
The researchers developed
a tiny, pollen-sized micropar-
ticle filled with enzymes to
Grazing ‘crash course’
spotlights dryland ranching
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
HAUSER, Idaho — Dry-
land ranchers got a “crash
course” in managing grazing
lands to increase productivity
during a recent University of
Idaho Extension workshop.
Drought years tend to gen-
erate a lot of interest, said Kate
Painter, UI Extension educa-
tor, based in Bonners Ferry,
Idaho.
“Right now, people are
selling their cattle early, feed
prices are going up — they
just know it’s going to be a
really tough year,” she said.
The regenerative ranching
course is part of the movement
to rejuvenate soil health and
pasture organic matter, Painter
said.
The program focuses on
management-intensive graz-
ing, moving the livestock each
day to keep the land at its opti-
mum growth stage.
“If you allow grass to be
grazed past about 50% of
its natural height, the roots
start to become smaller and
smaller,” Painter said. “But if
you take half, leave half, then
the roots are never damaged.
The grass will grow much
better and it will be much
more resilient to whatever the
weather might be throwing at
us.”
For years in September,
a popular four-day grazing
academy has been offered for
irrigated pastures in Eastern
Idaho.
Painter wanted to offer the
program in Northern Idaho,
where much of the land is
rain-fed, not suitable for crops
but perfect for pasture.
“If you don’t manage
it well, especially with the
droughty weather we keep
experiencing more and more,
it’s not going to keep working
for us,” she said.
They developed a two-day
program, in a classroom in the
morning and out in the field
the rest of the day.
“It was kind of a crash
course compared to the four-
day one,” Painter said.
About 22 ranchers partici-
pated, she said. It took place on
the Lazy JM Ranch in Hauser,
Idaho, where the ranchers
could compare the “lush” pas-
tures, a “dramatic” difference
compared to the surrounding
countryside, Painter said.
“You could see it was going
to be probably triple the pro-
ductivity,” Painter said.
Painter said the techniques
will prove useful for younger
ranchers looking to get started
in the industry.
“It will help them be able
to expand their cattle herd,
make more money, what-
ever their goals are, and hope-
fully be able to invest in land,”
she said. “Be more profitable
and also really more resilient
operation.”
detoxify a group of pesticides
called
organophosphates,
accounting for about a third of
pesticides on the market.
The team mixed the micro-
particles with pollen patties or
sugar water, then fed them
to microcolonies of bumble
bees. Inside the bee’s diges-
tive system, the enzymes
broke down poison.
The trials were success-
ful. Of the bees exposed to
organophosphates, 100% of
those fed the antidote sur-
vived, while unprotected bees
died.
But Webb wanted to find
an easier method, one that
could work across all pes-
ticide classes. He founded
a company, Beemmunity,
and invented an improved
method.
Instead of filling micropar-
ticles with enzymes, he now
creates tiny micro-sponges
made from insect proteins
and special absorbent oils and
feeds them to bees in pollen
patties or sugar water. Once
in the digestive tract, the
sponges absorb poisons that
the bees eventually excrete
naturally.
This method can be used
across many pesticide classes.
This summer, Beemmu-
nity is working on a field
study with about 220 honey
bee hives run by beekeepers
across the Eastern Seaboard.
If successful, Webb plans to
launch commercial products
by February of 2022.
Ma, Webb’s adviser,
said in a statement the dis-
covery could “contribute to
the protection of managed
pollinators.”
But what about wild and
native pollinators?
Dave Hunter, owner of
Crown Bees, a Washington
company selling mason and
leafcutter bees, said he thinks
the discovery is “bad news”
because the products likely
can’t be fed to most of North
America’s 4,000 wild species.
Hunter said he fears the
discovery could inadvertently
“give life” to extended use of
organophosphates.
CALENDAR
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FRIDAY-SATURDAY JULY 9-10
100th Annual Idaho Ram Sale: Gooding County Fairgrounds,
Gooding, Idaho. Lamb viewing and a lamb barbecue dinner will start
at 6 p.m. July 9. The sale begins at 10:30 a.m. July 10. Website: www.
idahowoolgrowers.org
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FRIDAY-SUNDAY JULY 9-11
CapitalPress.com
Marion County Fair: 10 a.m. Oregon State Fair and Expo Center,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. We are planning on the best live fair pos-
sible.For more details go to our website: https://marioncountyfair.net/
MarketPlace.capitalpress.com
MONDAY, JULY 12
Applied Pathogen Environmental Monitoring (live online):
Foodborne illnesses and recalls can put a company out of business.
A pathogen environmental monitoring (PEM) program is one way of
mitigating that risk and ensuring a strong sanitation program. In this
course, participants will understand how to create a successful envi-
ronmental monitoring program. Participants will learn how to imple-
ment, manage, and continually improve the PEM program to mitigate
inherent food safety risks. The class repeats July 26. Cost: $495 Contact:
Bill Mullane, 208-426-2266, williammullane@techhelp.org Website:
https://bit.ly/3xt9FTM
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
JULY 15-17
Linn County Fair: 11 a.m. Linn County Fair & Expo Center, 3700
Knox Butte Road E, Albany, Ore. Giant elephant ears, fluffy colorful
clouds of cotton candy, live music nightly, carnival rides from mild to
wild and of course, cattle, pigs and chickens galore will fill the Linn
County Fair & Expo Center July 15-17 as the Linn County Fair returns
live. Website: https://linncountyfair.com/
SATURDAY, JULY 17
Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association Summer Farm
Tour: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. The farm tour will be held at Furrow Farm and
Windy Acres Tree Farm. For more information, visit our website at
https://bit.ly/3gAXIVy or contact Kari Puffer, 503-364-2942, pnwchrist-
mastree@gmail.com
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Index
Dairy .......................................................8
Livestock .................................................9
Opinion ...................................................6
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