01/27/09 Keeping it Profitable, More Snow & No to Sevenmile

Keeping It Profitable & No to Sevenmile plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack vowed to do all he can to keep agriculture profitable in very tough economic times. Vilsack says he wants USDA to do everything it can to support the profitability of farmers and ranchers. VILSACK: We're going to work very quickly as best we can to implement the 2008 Farm Bill, to take steps to modernize the food safety system and to invest in programs I indicated earlier that will alleviate hunger  not just in America  but also hunger and suffering overseas and support long term agricultural development. Opposition was strong against plans to build wind turbines on Sevenmile Hill near The Dalles, so strong the plans have been canceled. The proposal would have placed 40 wind turbines, with blades that reached 390 feet high, along a seven-mile footprint on a ridge west of The Dalles. Residents in the area are happy with the cancellation. Winter is still not over for the NW. Another storm system moving through the area may drop freezing rain and light snow over portions of the region. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Not since the British rock invasion has a beetle made such an impact. The beetle I'm speaking of is the mountain pine beetle which has chewed its way through literally millions of trees in forests across America. Colorado alone is facing enormous devastation from this pest no bigger than the size of your fingertip. Sadly there is no stopping this beetle once she has started; scientists say all they can do is let nature run its course. The finger of blame however is not only pointed at the mountain pine beetle but at the fact that forest management practices put into effect over the last several years have left the forests highly susceptible to just such a catastrophe. Decades of logging restrictions and fire suppression left the forests jam packed with the beetle's favorite food, century old lodgepole pines. With the very best of intentions we have ended up hurting the very thing we were trying to protect. Now we will just have to let Mother Nature repair the damage, and she will; she's a resilient old girl. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.