A North Idaho Agricultural Research Center Faces Closure

Doug Nadvornick
11/20/2009

Northwest colleges and universities have been tightening their belts in this tough economy. Some are dropping degree programs and refocusing their basic fields of study. But the University of Idaho is proposing cuts even in places that go to the core of its agricultural mission as a land–grant institution. Within the next few weeks, the university expects to announce whether it's closing three agricultural research facilities. Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports advocates believe it's a short sighted strategy that will hurt Idaho's economy.

Way up in the Idaho Panhandle, Danny Barney has been discovered — by huckleberry lovers, anyway. Barney is a horticulture professor and head of the University of Idaho's Sandpoint Research Center. Some consider him to be the world's foremost authority on huckleberries.

On a typical day, Barney says he fields phone calls from around the world.

Danny Barney: "Well, there was a gentleman from New Zealand who wants to grow huckleberries. And, of course, he wanted to know can we send him some. Well, no, we really can't do that for a number of different reasons."

Huckleberries are Idaho's state fruit. But they grow mostly in the wild. Barney says efforts to domesticate and commercialize them have gone nowhere. Now, he's developing plants that he says, within three to five years, could grow in your backyard.

Kathy Hutton from the Plants of the Wild nursery in Tekoa, Washington is ready to sell them.

Kathy Hutton: "I think they would be very, very popular. I've always said that whoever figures out how to make a huckleberry that can be domesticated is going to get rich."

SOUND: [Opening a lock and dropping a key.]

Danny Barney: "This is the cooler."

Barney has a huge fridge where he stores the seedlings that are ready to plant on the center's 88 acres.

Danny Barney: "We're really looking at the future of the huckleberry industry, hopefully, sitting right in here. It doesn't look like much right now, but come springtime, they'll all green up and look beautiful again."

But, come springtime, the Sandpoint Research Center may be no more, after nearly a century of work.

University of Idaho officials are deciding whether to close the facility, along with research centers in Parma and Tetonia.

Larry Branen is the associate vice president for the university's north Idaho operations. He says the institution is looking to save $19 million. He says it also wants to make the center more relevant to Sandpoint.

Larry Branen: "We're beginning to see this really as an exciting opportunity as to how we can better serve the people in the community, but it's going to require a different kind of partnership than we've had in the past."

That means the private sector may have to pick up part of the cost if the center is to remain open.

Karl Dye's trying to find that money. Dye is the director of the Economic Development Corporation in Sandpoint. A few years ago, he was part of an effort that looked into building a University of Idaho satellite campus on the research center grounds. The recession put that on hold. For now, Dye has a more modest goal: Raise enough money just to keep the center open.

Karl Dye: "In our world — in trying to create jobs and economic development — having an educational presence, a higher educational presence, is very key to our community."

Dye says Sandpoint leaders are now talking with the university about how much money they need to raise and how much time they have to raise it.

Meanwhile, other supporters of the center say its closing would hurt Idaho's lucrative nursery industry. Malcolm Dell runs the International Wild Huckleberry Association in Orofino, Idaho. He and his wife sell gourmet foods made from huckleberries.

Malcolm Dell: "The University of Idaho, with this move, is going to give up the state of Idaho's leadership in the development of the huckleberry resource. Blueberries, in the early 1900s, are about where huckleberries are right now. And because of the technology that we are familiar with now for growing things and marketing things, it won't take that long to make huckleberries the next blueberry."

SOUND: [Jingling of keys.]

Danny Barney: "This is my laboratory."

Danny Barney takes me into the lab where he grows his plants. He pauses for a moment when I ask him what will happen if the university closes this center.

Danny Barney: "I don't know. But without a laboratory, without greenhouse and other plant facilities, basically it goes away."

Now it's up to university leaders to decide if that's a price worth paying.

I'm Doug Nadvornick in Sandpoint, Idaho.

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