the film forum library tutorial contact

Farm Forum Speaker says Some NW Scientific Findings Invalid by Larry Ashby Capital Press - January 18, 2002

PASCO, Wash. -- Pat Larson, the science and natural resource adviser for the Oregon and Washington cattlemen's associations, told farmers here of several major holes in "science" used by environmentalists and feds to gain control of Northwest lands.

Larson spoke at the Mid Columbia Farm Forum and Ag Show in Pasco Jan. 9. She told some 200 farmers that environmentalists, among others, contend farming and ranching heat up and pollute stream waters, and that shade trees along streams are necessary to cool water for fish.

Larson says data she's collected does not bear that out. She said she and colleagues have carefully measured water temperature, nitrates and phosphates in streams over a wide geographical area. They've set up mini-labs in numerous places along given streams, taking hourly readings over many days from surface to sediment in each stream.

Concerning water temperature, Larson said she and colleagues have simply proven a well-established law of thermodynamics.

"Water temperature is set by that of the general land mass below the stream and the air mass above. Shade trees have nothing to do with it," Larson said.

Moreover, Larson says fish don't always die when water temperatures reaches 70 degrees.

"That's bogus. Environmentalists are misquoting research. Fish are not as delicate as the fish guys want us to believe."

Concerning stream waste pollution, Larson set out to determine whether pollution exists, where it's located, and its source.

In all major Oregon basins, her studies revealed "there was little or no nitrate or phosphate pollution."

Related Pages:
Klamath Chamber Official to C. Basin Growers: 'It Could Happen to You'