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Conservationists Argue For Horses Ecological Significance, Economic Value To Rural Communities

By
Frank Buchman
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Animal Wellness Action and its partner organizations, the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Foundation, have urged the National Park Service (NPS) to reconsider its plans to remove free-roaming wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) in Medora, North Dakota.

“The National Park Service is being robotic and reflexive in wanting to depopulate horses from an area that has had large mammals on the landscape for tens of thousands of years,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.

“So many North Dakotans are rightfully appalled by this scheme, noting that the wild horses provide beneficial ecological services and are also a key draw for thousands of visitors who drive millions in economic activity to gateway communities in the rural reaches of the state.”

The Park Service announced its intentions to revise its livestock management plans and conducted an environmental assessment to evaluate the consequences of two potential courses of action regarding the wild horse population in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

One option involved the complete removal of the horses from the park. This would involve capturing the horses and redistributing some to tribal communities, with the remaining animals either auctioned off or transferred to other entities.

Alternatively, the NPS explored methods to employ fertility control programs using PZP, a method with “a proven track record of safety and effectiveness over the past 40 years,” that the Park Service said will allow the horses to live out their natural lives within the park, but not breed further.

A robust debate involving Federal officials, North Dakota public officials, citizens and national equine protection organizations has continued since the announcement in 2023.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in southwest North Dakota and alongside the future home of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Opponents of the Park Services’ two plans argue that wild horses play a crucial role in maintaining the park’s grassland ecology and contribute significantly to the economic development of gateway communities.

With fewer than 200 wild horses inhabiting the 70,000-acre park, proponents of preserving the horses continue to advocate against physical removal.

According to Ross MacPhee at Rewilding America Now, removing wild horses from TRNP could have adverse ecological consequences, as these animals are vital for maintaining grassland health.

MacPhee emphasized the importance of considering the long-term implications of such actions on the park’s ecosystem.

The debate has drawn significant public attention, with over 19,000 comments submitted during the scoping period on the September 2023 Livestock Plan Environmental Assessment, the majority of which favored continued protection of the horses within the national park.

While some stakeholders, including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, have urged the NPS to preserve the wild horse herd, the agency has yet to respond definitively to these requests.

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CUTLINE

A wild horse band runs freely through Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora, North Dakota.

Transitions In Moving Cattle

By
Frank Buchman
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0

Most cattlemen nowadays have large gooseneck livestock trailers they pull with a big powerful pickup.

Others even have semi tractors to pull single, double, and sometimes triple decker livestock trailers.

There are still a few cattlemen who have bumper hitch livestock trailers, but trucks with stock racks are almost nonexistent.

Quite contrasting to decades ago hauling cattle from one place to another. Early last century, cattle were driven from horseback or walking behind.

There were a few trucks with makeshift cattle hauling racks but not many. For long distance transportation, railroads had cattle cars which continued with limited use into the 1950s.

Mom insisted we have hogs to help pay the bills with horse ownership. That bred Hampshire gilt called Susie Q was hauled in the back of the grocery store delivery station wagon. Notably, Susie had twins and one succumbed.

For hauling horses to the fair, floorboard stock racks were built for a trailer pulled by the grocery delivery car.

Things looked up when a used pickup was purchased, and wooden stock racks were built to haul livestock.

Memorable time was purchase of a new two horse trailer pulled by a Ford Galaxy to participate in horse shows.

Hauling cattle in the pickup stock racks for several years, finally a new bumper pull stock trailer was acquired. It simplified the cattle business with easier moving from pasture to pasture and at market time.

A gooseneck four horse trailer with simple living quarters was bought to make attending horse shows more enjoyable for family.

As cattle operations expanded, the 16-foot stock trailer seemed inadequate as horse show enthusiasm declined. The living quarter horse trailer was replaced with an aluminum gooseneck livestock trailer still in use.

Two bumper pull stock trailers were also used for several years until they both wore out. When another gooseneck livestock trailer came up at auction, it was purchased to make cattle hauling easier.

It is still in use too although semi tractor livestock haulers are hired when moving large numbers of cattle.

Other family members have their own gooseneck livestock and horse trailers to help when the need arises.

A 12-foot bumper pull livestock trailer works well for hauling personal horses to shows and work.

Reminded of Second Corinthians 5:17: “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

+++ALLELUIA+++

XVIII–9–2-25-2024

KU News: School of Social Welfare event will focus on supporting older adults facing social isolation

By
Guest Columnist
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0

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Social work Grand Challenges event focuses on supporting older adults facing social isolation

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare’s Center for Community Engagement & Collaboration will host an interactive panel on supporting older adults through social isolation with intergenerational alliances. The public event, which will take place at noon Feb. 27 on Zoom, will include professionals from organizations including the Johnson County Area Agency on Aging and KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. After the panel presentation, participants will discuss how everyone can contribute to eradicating social isolation.

University Distinguished Professor Sarah Deer will highlight advocacy in lecture that examines tribal statutes on sexual violence

LAWRENCE — In her inaugural Distinguished Professor Lecture at the University of Kansas, acclaimed lawyer, advocate and scholar Sarah Deer will present “What If Survivors Wrote the Laws? An Exploration of Tribal Statutes on Sexual Violence.” The lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. March 4 in the Malott Room at the Kansas Union.

KU chemist Kristin Bowman-James wins award honoring decades of commitment to science statewide

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Kristin Bowman-James will receive the Joseph G. Danek Award at a ceremony Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C. The $5,000 prize recognizes her commitment to enhancing the research infrastructure in Kansas by forging collaborations across institutions and disciplines, which is a goal of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. Bowman-James served as the statewide project director for the Kansas NSF EPSCoR from 2005 to 2023.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Margaret Hair, School of Social Welfare, 785-864-9876, [email protected], @KUSocialWelfare

Social work Grand Challenges event focuses on supporting older adults facing social isolation

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare’s Center for Community Engagement & Collaboration (CCEC) will host an interactive panel on supporting older adults through social isolation with intergenerational alliances.

The event, which highlights alumni of the Sigler Family Aging Scholars Program, will take place Feb. 27 and include professionals whose careers are reshaping the future of aging. After the panel presentation, participants will discuss how everyone can contribute to eradicating social isolation.

The CCEC Grand Challenges for Social Work event – “Reshaping the Future of Aging with Intergenerational Alliances” – will take place on Zoom from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Sign up for the Zoom here.

Speakers include:

Lindsay Huddleston, eligibility specialist with Johnson County Area Agency on Aging.
Dan Goodman, executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care.
Kelly Loeb, community engagement manager at the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Kristin Nichols, a multidisciplinary practitioner working as a social worker at KU Outpatient Neurology.
Eric Sigler, who helped create the Sigler Family Aging Fellows and currently works as a grief specialist with KC Hospice.

“One of the Grand Challenges for Social Work is to eradicate social isolation, which has adverse effects on health and well-being. Older adults are among those most at risk of social isolation, yet aging services have workforce issues that constrain their reach,” said Melinda Lewis, director of the school’s Center for Community Engagement & Collaboration.

“The school’s Sigler Family Aging Scholars Program is designed to encourage social work practice in aging and bring more people into the rewarding work to meet this Grand Challenge,” Lewis said.

The Grand Challenges for Social Work is an initiative within the social work profession to champion social progress around a series of grand challenges that the profession works to affect.

Social workers who register for the event can receive one free continuing education credit.

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The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.

Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

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Contact: Elizabeth Barton, Office of Faculty Affairs, [email protected], @kufacaffairs

University Distinguished Professor Sarah Deer will highlight advocacy in lecture that examines tribal statutes on sexual violence

LAWRENCE — In her inaugural Distinguished Professor Lecture at the University of Kansas, acclaimed lawyer, advocate and scholar Sarah Deer will amplify sexual violence survivors’ voices and the relation to tribal statutes.

The lecture, titled, “What If Survivors Wrote the Laws? An Exploration of Tribal Statutes on Sexual Violence,” will take place at 5:30 p.m. March 4 in the Malott Room at the Kansas Union.

Individuals can register to attend the lecture, and a recording of the lecture will be posted afterward on the Office of Faculty Affairs website.

Deer focuses her scholarship on the intersection of federal Indian law and victims’ rights, relying on Indigenous feminist principles as a guiding framework. Her 2015 award-winning book, “The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America,” is a culmination of over 25 years of working with survivors, and it highlights the common thread of advocacy work throughout her scholarship.

Her lecture will share the results of her forthcoming publication based on a comprehensive review of tribal nations’ sexual assault statutes and illuminate potential frameworks for addressing sexual assault in tribal courts by employing Indigenous feminist legal theories about consent and sexual autonomy.

“My research shows that tribal criminal laws tend to be unaffected by rape law reform efforts in the 1990s,” Deer said. “Because Native people suffer the highest rates of sexual assault in the United States, my research is intended to support the reform of tribal statutes to ensure that tribal prosecutors have the tools needed to prosecute sexual assault.”

Deer is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. Her advocacy work to end violence against Native women has earned her national recognition, including awards from the American Bar Association and the Department of Justice. She has testified before Congress on four occasions and was appointed to chair a federal advisory committee on sexual violence in Indian country. Deer was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2014 and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019. She has co-written four textbooks on tribal law, and her work has been published in numerous law journals.

Deer holds a joint appointment at KU in the departments of Indigenous Studies and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, as well as a courtesy appointment with the School of Law. She earned both her bachelor’s degree and juris doctor from KU.

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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”

a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.

 

https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack

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Contact: Claudia Bode, Kansas NSF EPSCoR, [email protected]

KU chemist Kristin Bowman-James wins award honoring decades of commitment to science statewide

 

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Kristin Bowman-James has earned many honors during her nearly 50-year career. But her enduring commitment to Kansas has not been spotlighted until now.

On Feb. 26, Bowman-James will receive the Joseph G. Danek Award in Washington, D.C. The $5,000 prize recognizes her long-term commitment to enhancing the research infrastructure in Kansas by forging collaborations across institutions and disciplines, which is a goal of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR.

Danek, the award’s namesake, is considered the “father of EPSCoR” for his vision and role in developing the federal program, which is designed to address research funding disparity across the United States. It continues to thrive today with bipartisan support to build research capacity in traditionally underfunded regions of the country, including Kansas.

For 18 years, Bowman-James served as the statewide project director for the Kansas NSF EPSCoR, overseeing projects from 2005 to 2023. These efforts leveraged nearly $58 million National Science Foundation dollars to facilitate research and build research talent in Kansas, leading to researchers garnering more than $150 million in additional federal funding.

Bowman-James first became involved with EPSCoR initiatives in 1995 as part of a research grant involving chemists, chemical engineers and physicists from KU, Kansas State University and Wichita State University working on the design of novel materials. A few years later, as chair of the KU’s chemistry department, she received funds for three cluster hires across the chemistry/biology interface.

“I am surprised and thrilled to be receiving the Danek Award for doing something that I have greatly enjoyed for almost three decades,” Bowman-James said. “It has been an honor to work together with scientists and leaders across Kansas. It is because of their hard work and commitment that we realize the benefits of collaborative multidisciplinary research across our institutions.”

From nanostructures to microbiomes, lipidomics to bioinformatics, ecological genomics to forecasting — the list of projects conducted under Bowman-James’ leadership is long. All have one thing in common: an eye to tackling the state’s highest priorities, such as clean energy and sustainable agriculture.

“These efforts enabled a wide array of multi-university partnerships that have led to an impressive breadth of scientific discoveries and workforce development for the state,” said Belinda Sturm, KU interim vice chancellor for research, professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering and Bowman-James’ successor as the Kansas NSF EPSCoR director.

In fall 2023, Bowman-James stepped down as the EPSCoR leader at the conclusion of the six-year project called MAPS, or Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant & Soil Systems.

“MAPS was a fantastic group to work with,” said Walter Dodds, University Distinguished Professor of biology at Kansas State University and theme leader for the MAPS project. “The EPSCoR support for this project and others in the past has been much appreciated.”

Presented by the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition and Foundation Board, the Danek Award adds another honor to Bowman-James’ career, which includes serving as the first woman to chair the KU Department of Chemistry from 1995 to 2001. In 2021, she was awarded the American Chemical Society’s Award in Inorganic Chemistry for her contributions to inorganic chemistry, and she was also named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

 

Wheat Scoop: Got Good Genes? Researchers reverse engineer nature to improve wheat breeding lines

By
Guest Columnist
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0
Kansas Wheat

Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

For researchers at K-State’s Wheat Genetics Resource Center, it’s all about the genes. Using powerful new tools like gene editing, these scientists are taking a molecular look at how to reverse engineer nature’s “survival of the fittest” in the laboratory to improve disease resistance, increase yield and protein quality and even reduce gluten toxicity for individuals with celiac disease.

 

“Gene editing is essentially just another way of generating new genetic diversity in wheat or in any other crop,” said Eduard Akhunov, K-State distinguished professor of wheat genome diversity and evolution. “And genetic diversity is one of the foundations of crop improvement. Breeders are always trying to bring new genetic diversity in their breeding programs, and they achieve it using various approaches.”

 

Akhunov recently talked with Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat vice president of research and operations, for an episode of the “Wheat’s on Your Mind” podcast. The pair discussed the technologies now available to speed up the wheat breeding process and how scientists are leveraging ancient genes to improve modern-day wheat.

 

Modifying the Wheat Genome

 

Akhunov and Harries discussed the differences between the tools wheat researchers now have at their disposal, including transgenics, CRISPR and more. The commonality is that they start by looking at a plant at the genetic level.

 

“Breeders will generally look at things like specific physical traits when they’re crossing plants to create new varieties,” Harries said. “But you’re going even smaller. You’re looking at genes.”

 

With transgenics, researchers are introducing a gene that is not naturally present in in the plant. In the case of Bt corn, scientists introduced genes from a naturally occurring soil bacterium — Bacillus thuringiensis — into the corn genome to produce a protein that kills the larvae of the European corn borer.

 

For wheat, Akhunov and other researchers use a simpler, yet powerful tool to edit genomes — CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Introduced in 2012, this technology acts like molecular scissors that make incredibly precise changes to very specific places in the wheat genome. Doing so allows researchers to selectively modify very small parts of the genome to control expressed traits — like improved disease resistance.

 

“CRISPR editing is a precise way of modifying a specific part of the genome and leaving a small scar in the genome,” Akhunov said. “CRISPR editing provides a very diverse set of tools for modifying genome. You could remove genes; you could put in new pieces or you could precisely modify a gene to improve the trait. But in all these cases, you are not introducing something new. You are essentially using the existing genetic code, but you are just tweaking a little bit to improve traits that you are interested in.”

 

One example of this work is Akhunov’s work to knock out genes that negatively impact traits, like the ones that control size. When that specific regulator is knocked out, the loss of function improves the trait — in this case, increasing grain size by 10 to 20 percent. First identified in rice, this same gene found in wheat, called GW2, not only increases kernel size and plumpness but also improves protein content.

 

Identifying the exact function of a gene like GW2 is critical to the success of this work, especially since most genes in wheat have at least three copies in the genome — all of which have to be edited to have the highest effectiveness.

 

“Gene editing is focused on modifying individual genes and knowing the structure of the gene, where it is, and how many copies of the gene you have,” Akhunov said. “It’s actually quite important to have precise genetic information about individual wheat varieties.”

 

Just like GW2, this means researchers can access genetic information from other crops accumulated over decades of research. The comparison of this genomic data allows researchers to compare the genes between different crops. Instead of transplanting a gene from rice, sorghum or corn to achieve an outcome, it’s knowledge that is transferred from researcher to researcher. Scientists like Akhunov can then use genetic sequencing to identify if those same genes are present in the wheat genome. If the genes are present independently in both crops, then researchers can make the same tweaks to those genes to see if they produce the same effect in wheat.

 

“The comparison of the genomic data now available for all these crops allows us to compare across the species and identify identical genes among the crops,” Akhunov said. “I can use the information collected by my colleagues from other crop communities to transfer that into wheat and then try to modify the gene using CRISPR technology. And in many cases, it turned out that the genes that we modify have similar effects or affect the same trait that was characterized and studied in other crops.”

 

Researchers are using a similar sequence-and-test process to identify genes and traits from wild wheat relatives that could improve commercial wheat varieties. The Wheat Genetics Resource Center maintains a gene bank of more than 2,500 wheat accessions and 2,200 cytogenetic stocks — a collection of seeds from wild relatives of bread wheat along with historic and modern wheat breeding lines.

 

Before genetic sequencing and CRISPR technology, scientists would have to make crosses between wild relatives and modern wheat — made difficult because of a gene that prevents this exact process from happening in the wild. Successful crosses would then have not just one small piece transferred from one to the other, but large amounts of genetic material — all of which would have to be grown and tested for desirable outcomes in the laboratory or the field.

 

Genetic editing tools substantially decrease the difficulty and time required to make these crosses. Researchers can more quickly screen wild relatives for genes that affect disease resistance, quality, yield or adaptation to drought stress or heat stress. Then researchers can test whether those same genes are present in modern wheat lines or if they can be molecularly adjusted with CRISPR technology to achieve those same traits. While these lines are not yet available, promising results are just on the horizon.

 

“Applying gene editing technology for improving disease resistance is probably quite straightforward,” Akhunov said. “For example, there are genes that are called so-called susceptibility genes that make wheat more susceptible to disease. And by applying gene editing, it’s quite easy to remove these genes from the wheat genome, which will make plants resistant. And this is happening now, and there are a number of projects that are moving in that direction. So, for that specific trait, we’ll probably see results very soon.”

 

Equally as promising for consumers, researchers have successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to reduce the presence of two types of gluten-coding genes called gliadins that are known to be abundant in immunoreactive peptides — the amino acid building blocks that form proteins. In simpler terms, researchers are unlocking how to lessen the adverse effects of gluten for those with celiac or other autoimmune diseases. When these gluten-coding genes were edited, Akhunov and his team were able to reduce the immunotoxicity caused by gliadin genes in wheat by 47-fold, while not sacrificing bread-making quality.

 

“What it means for people with celiac disease in its severe form, of course, we would certainly not recommend using this flour and say that it is safe for celiac patients,” Akhunov said. “But it is an important step forward. We could substantially, dramatically decrease their immunotoxicity.”

 

Whether researchers are looking to improve agronomic traits, apply what colleagues have learned by working with other crops, test for similar traits in wild relatives or even reduce toxicity, there is no doubt that scientists like Akhunov are still unlocking the potential of what technology like CRISPR will provide to wheat farmers, millers, bakers and consumers.

 

“That’s a question that we’ll be answering for the next decade or so — what we could achieve and what we cannot,” Akhunov said. “But we should consider CRISPR-Cas9 as a very powerful tool in the hands of scientists. And then I believe in the future, we could apply quite complex gene editing strategies and then modify multiple genes at the same time and achieve something that we cannot imagine now.”

 

Listen to the full discussion with Akhunov or learn more about other research funded in part by Kansas wheat farmers through the state wheat checkoff by checking out other episodes of “Wheat’s on Your Mind” at kswheat.com/podcast.

 

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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

“No Man is an Island”

By
Guest Columnist
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0

“No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” This is the beginning of a poem from 1624. In it, the poet John Donne appreciates how humans are all connected. Indeed, humans are social beings, and social connection is a factor in our health.

We all know the importance of a healthy diet and exercise for our health. We are getting better at understanding the importance of mental health. One thing we do not discuss much, however, are the benefits of social connection.

Our relationships with family, friends, people at work and in the community have a major impact on our health and well-being. Those who are socially connected and have stable and supportive relationships can more easily make healthy choices and have better mental and physical health outcomes. Social connections can help us cope with stress, anxiety, depression, and hard times. Rates of most any disease are lower for those that feel a high sense of community. This includes lower rates of heart disease, strokes, dementia, depression, and anxiety. Social connection with others can improve sleep, decrease your risk of death, and reduce your risk of violence and suicide.

Similarly, marriage decreases your risk of disease. While you may not need to get married to have a life-long partner, the benefits of a long-term relationship are well established. Marriage has been found to help with lower rates of cancer, dementia, and increases your chances of surviving a heart attack.

Loneliness is becoming more rampant even as cities grow larger and transportation faster. We seem to have everything right on our phones to keep us company. Somehow, despite all these advances in technology, or perhaps because of them, people can feel ever more isolated and alone.

So how do we build community? How do we foster social connections? One way is to encourage face to face contact, to get people together. Schools, sporting events, churches, grocery stores, coffee shops, parks, concerts, festivals, and more all help to build community. Civic organizations and volunteering can help foster social connections and help us find meaning and purpose.

You can improve your social connections right now. You could call someone. You could consider going to a local basketball game, visiting someone alone in their home, or seek out a volunteer opportunity. When you increase your sense of social connection and community, you can improve your health. When you brighten up someone else’s day, you often brighten your own.

John Donne’s famous poem “No Man is an Island” ends with a warning: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Andrew Ellsworth, M.D. is part of The Prairie Doc® team of physicians and currently practices family medicine in Brookings, South Dakota. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org and on Facebook and instagram featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show celebrating its 22nd season of health information based on science, built on trust, streaming live on Facebook and SDPB most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.

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