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State may trim Extension office Budget cuts could hit the clearinghouse for agricultural information By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune Gov. John Kitzhaber's proposed budget cuts at Oregon State University may eliminate jobs and services at this area's Extension Service office, a major pipeline of information for gardeners, farmers, 4-H students and the fruit and wine industries. It also serves the public with information on nutrition, health, aging, poverty, energy and watershed management. "These cuts are harsher than seem possible," said Sharon Johnson of the Extension's family and community development service. "Higher education has always seemed the savior in hard times, but we were just incredulous at the depth of these cuts." Selective cuts of $80.7 million made last week by Gov. John Kitzhaber included $27.2 million from the Oregon University System, of which $23.5 million was taken from OSU. The governor specifically cut 25 percent from the (statewide) $102 million biennial budget of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension Service and Forest Research Laboratory. The three agencies have Southern Oregon offices in Central Point. OSU Extension Dean Lyla Houglum of Corvallis said the cuts would eliminate or greatly reduce these programs: 4-H Youth Development. Teaches 63,000 young people, most of them in urban areas, animal husbandry, diversity, record-keeping, teamwork and goal-attainment. Master Gardener Program. Provides education on horticulture, environmental enhancement and pest management. About 2,780 volunteers give 132,000 hours a year at a value of nearly $3 million. The Watershed Stewardship Program. Trains 250 citizens a year for stream and salmon enhancement. Extension agriculture programs. Includes growing and marketing crops, conservation and environmental enhancement. Reaches 372,000 people a year for a $50 million benefit to the state's economy. Nutrition education. Annually reaches 192,000 people, including those who use food banks, working poor, teen parents, seniors, single-parent families and day-care providers. Health and aging programs. Provides 3,000 seniors annually with help for dementia, driving, depression, caregiving, stress, financial planning and healthy aging. Public education. Includes 800,000 tabloids in daily newspapers covering such issues as salmon recovery, poverty and sustainability. Also used by classrooms, workshops and agencies. Poverty simulation programs for human services workers. Renewable energy generation workshops. Klamath Basin water allocation assessment. After-school science program for fifth-graders. Industrial Assessment Center. Provides on-site visits for 370 firms. The governor is being challenged in court over whether he legally is allowed to make targeted cuts. Opponents say he must make equal across-the-board cuts. Unless the cuts are overturned in court, OSU will soon decide which Extension programs and personnel must go, said Phil VanBuskirk, a tree, fruit and wine scientist and acting branch director here. Meanwhile, Extension workers and area growers are organizing to fight the cuts. "We may not hear from the courts for some time, so we need to rally support to say we're a definite asset to the state and need to be maintained at a reasonable level," he said. An OSU issues group is already deciding on reductions of 5 to 10 percent expected if the governor is forced to make across-the-board cuts. If the 25 percent cuts become necessary, the move "will put at risk numerous projects and programs we carry on for the citizens of Oregon, that they depend on to provide options in daily decisions about economic and environmental sustainability and social well-being," said Houglum. Since the first year of the 2001-03 biennium is almost gone, the 25 percent cuts would have to be applied mostly in the second year, doubling their impact nearly to the level of 50 percent cuts, she said. Statewide, the Experiment Station would lose $14.3 million, the Extension Service $9.8 million and the Forest Research Lab $1.4 million. "If we have to make the 25 percent cuts over just one year - meaning 50 percent cuts - we'd have to reduce programs and personnel to the level that we'd never recover," said VanBuskirk. The governor plans to wait until after the May primary election settles a critical budget issue - whether to use $220 million in one-time money from the Education Endowment Fund - then he'll likely call the Legislature back in for another special session with hopes of passing a tax hike, said Bob Applegate, press secretary to the governor. "With a tax increase, we can afford to buy back some of these cuts," he said. Local Extension chairman Mike Howell is distributing packets instructing users and other citizens on how to appeal to legislators and the governor and write letters to the editor against the cuts. Laura Lotspeich, owner of Pheasant Hill Vineyard in Talent and president of the Oregon Winegrowers Association, said she will join in the letter-writing campaign. "I'm definitely writing them to say the viticulture and wine industry here is growing and bringing money into the state, and that to do niche taxation like this is not the most efficient way to boost the economy," she said. "With these cuts, it would be very difficult to continue the Master Gardener program," said Dave Rugg, its president here. "We provide 30,000 to 40,000 hours of volunteer outreach here every year and get use of the Extension for experiments, growing and classes. The cuts would break down our sense of communication and our functioning as a group." Under 25 percent cuts, the Extension Service likely would not be able to answer up to 100 calls a day it gets asking for advice, said Johnson, and the senior program would be significantly cut in quality. Because of its extensive outreach programs on the environment, VanBuskirk said, the cuts might materially impact Rogue Valley's air and water quality. "It's always been a tough revenue year, but now it's much worse," said Johnson. "We just want everyone to do their fair share, but don't single us out to take the brunt." John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.