07/10/07 Bamboo Revolutionized

While someone who develops a new strain of wheat can end up with a university building named in their honor, others who work in venues of agriculture that are less production orientated often exist under society's success radar,like Jackie Heinricher a biologist from Anacortes Washington who is purportedly the first in the US to ever propagate bamboo in a test tube. She doesn't receive much notice in the Northwest, yet in the global nursery industry her work is considered an amazing accomplishmentdue becasue bamboo is becoming scarce and has proved nearly impossible to propagate from seed or shoot. So what is the big deal about bamboo? Plenty, given the plants versatility and eco-qualities. Many believe non-evasive bamboo could become a key renewable source of fabric, food, fuel and fiber by virtue of the fact it is an environmental wonder child spewing forth four times the amount of CO 2 that trees do and producing 35 percent more oxygen. Ms Hienrich's company Bo-Shoots now ships bamboo to large wholesalers and retail nursery throughout the nation.