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Event photos Montana
Research Facilities To ExpandBy Amy Spillman August 9, 2002One of the largest research facilities
in the world is breaking ground today to expand its main laboratory complex.
The Fort Keogh Livestock and Range
Research Laboratory, operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Agricultural Research Service, covers
55,000 acres of native rangeland, planted dryland, irrigated pasture and
irrigated cropland near Miles City, Mont. A USDA facility since 1924, Fort Keogh has more
than 40 permanent employees, as well as 25 working horses and a herd of about
1,500 cows. ARS, the USDA's primary scientific research agency, operates the facility in
cooperation with Montana State
University's
Agricultural
Experiment Station. Fort Keogh researchers focus on beef cattle genetics
and reproductive physiology, range animal nutrition and range ecology and
management. Over the years, they have pioneered methods for genetic evaluation
of beef cattle and established a purebred Hereford line that is a cornerstone
of the breed. They have also helped ranchers in the Northern Plains reduce soil
loss, enhance plant growth and increase production of domestic livestock and
wild animals. Fort Keogh's main lab is nearly 30 years old. In 2000, Congress awarded $5.3
million to USDA to replace its outdated and worn building components and
accommodate an expanding research and customer education program at the
facility. Tomorrow, ARS will dedicate another world-class research facility in
Montana, the Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory (NPARL) in Sidney. Scientists at
NPARL address problems of rangeland, dryland and irrigated agriculture in the
cool, semiarid region of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. The MonDak
region is traversed by the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers and remains one of
the last large areas in the country with the potential for expanded irrigation
development. Currently, NPARL researchers focus on the biological control of noxious
weeds, insect pests and fungal pathogens; the ecology and management of
grasshoppers; and the development of sustainable irrigated and dryland
agricultural production systems. They also coordinate the successful areawide
program to control leafy spurge, a noxious weed infesting 5 million acres in 36
U.S. States and Canadian provinces. Past research efforts have focused on wind
erosion control, saline seep reclamation and conservation tillage techniques. Established in 1965, NPARL began adding its new lab/office complex in May
2000. Plans for a biocontainment facility and greenhouses have also been
approved, but their construction has not yet been funded. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |