08/02/05 Ecology fines ranchers; organic field day

Washington Ag August 2, 2005 The Department of Ecology says it has fined two landowners in southern Whitman County for water quality violations after a three-year effort to get them to comply voluntarily with livestock requirements. The owners of the Riley River Ranch and Eaton Ranch were each fined five-thousand dollars for water pollution Ecology says was caused by their cattle. The department says each declined financial assistance to help pay for projects, missed important deadlines and still allowed cattle into creeks that flow to the Snake River. Ecology says it has worked collaboratively with more than 100 cattle producers since 2001, resulting in actions taken to protect about 300 miles of streams in southeast Washington, but in these two cases it has had to resort to the more traditional enforcement of imposing fines. Washington State University's Organic Farm Project will be featured at a field day tomorrow, August 3rd. The half-day farm tour begins at 9 a.m. at the organic farm inside Tukey Horticultural Orchard located on Airport Road on the east side of the Pullman campus. The event is free and open to the public. WSU established the Organic Farm Project in 2004 primarily as an organic teaching farm. Each year, the three-acre farm plays host to an intensive 12-week course for college credit or continuing education credit. I'm Bob Hoff.