Dealing with Waste & Wolf Population Problem

Dealing with Waste & Wolf Population Problem plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Trash is an increasing problem on a daily basis. Now a joint effort by two businesses may show some promise in the future of garbage. Jackie Lang is the Director of Sustainability for Waste Management who is partnering with Bend, Oregon's InEnTec to turn 25 tons a day of Portland-area trash into fuel. LANG: This is exciting technology. It's technology that essentially turns trash into clean fuel in about 30-seconds. Its technology that uses extremely high heat to change household waste into a gas that can then be converted into clean transportation fuels or renewable energy. For the Pacific Northwest this is promising green technology that's likely to generate green jobs in the years to come. Plans are to build the plasma gasification plant by the end of this year at the landfill near Arlington. Utah's mountains aren't secluded enough to prevent conflicts if wolves return in large numbers. There have been periodic wolf sightings in Utah for years but reports are getting more and more frequent which could be signaling a coming problem with wolf population increases. Other states in the west have been dealing with wolf issues and this may trigger additional legislation. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. For a lot of people the sight of hundreds of Canadian geese in a field or along roadside areas is a thing of beauty, but for farmers, park and golf course caretakers and occasionally private residences Canadian geese are something nightmares are made of. Especially in the Pacific Northwest the Canadian geese problem has reached mammoth proportions. These birds are noisy, dirty, and extremely destructive, not to mention vicious. Millions of dollars in damage is done each year to crops by these migrating geese who eat, crush and defecate on everything they come in contact with. To make matters worse these birds are becoming permanent squatters in areas they had only moved through on their way to greener pastures in years past. The fact that some of these geese are a "protected migratory species" even though they don't migrate any longer makes it a sensitive issue when it comes to reducing their numbers. One writer had an interesting solution; the "unprotected" geese could be rounded up and processed for food banks. Oregon could have a whole new marketing slogan, "Canadian goose, it's what's for supper". Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.