More from Northwest News Network (N3)
Living In Gangland: Former Gang Member Makes New Life
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
CALDWELL, Idaho - Most new gang members join when they’re about 13 years old. They think the gang will give them prestige, a sense of belonging and protection. But it often ...
Living In Gangland: Some Women Don’t Choose Gang Life, But It Affects Them Nonetheless
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. -- Across the nation there are an estimated 750-thousand gang members. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Some of them are women, but ...
Living In Gangland: Outlook Community Activist Wants A Town Where People Aren’t Afraid
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
OUTLOOK, Wash. – Outlook, Washington is a tiny unincorporated township near Yakima. It’s mostly known for the massive dairies that flank it. But now, it’s become infamous as ...
Living In Gangland: Rural Gangs Claim Public Lands
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
Gang violence is mostly a big city problem. But in parts of the rural Northwest, police are grappling with gang rivalries, graffiti and even drive-by shootings. Just ask ...
Portrait artist on a mission to paint the fallen
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
Vietnam Vet has a new mission: to draw portraits of fallen soliders in the Iraq War, for free
Army Trains US Soldiers to Speak Arabic
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
The Army is starting to rely less on Iraqi-born translators to manage war relations.
Hummingbird Bander
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
audio postcard of man who bands hummingbirds
Quilting through Grief over Iraq War
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
NW quilt makers harnessed to comfort Iraq vets
History of the Tator Tot
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From: Northwest News Network (N3)
Tater Tots: From Cattle Feed to Retro Cache
Iraqi war translator struggles with new life in America
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Profile of an Iraqi who came to Seattle as a political refugee
Related Pieces
Piece Description
It's an issue all over the Northwest. Housing development is moving into farm country. That can make for uneasy neighbors, especially at certain times of year. This is one of them. Blueberry growers commonly use booming cannons to scare birds away from the ripening crop. Up near the Canadian border, some berry farmers are experimenting with alternatives to keep the peace with neighbors but still protect crops from hungry starlings. Correspondent Tom Banse reports on a case of cooperation trumping litigation.
Broadcast History
Ran on stations that belong to the Northwest News Network, which includes KUOW, KPLU, KPBX, NWPR, BSR, JPR, KLCC, KMUN and OPB
Transcript
Years ago, Jeff Littlejohn bought and renovated an old farmhouse so he could raise his family in the dairy land near Lynden, Washington. Littlejohn consults for non-profits by day. Over time, he?s seen the neighboring pasture replanted to raspberries and now blueberries. In fact, blueberry acreage in the county has doubled recently. The growth is explosive, quite literally.
Sound: [cannon explosion]
Littlejohn: ?You have a triple shooter that is shooting from Canada three hundred-four hundred feet away...[boom] Then you?ve got a triple shooter or two to the southeast here about a quarter-mile...?
Sound: [another cannon blast]
We?re not at war, though it sounds like it. Littlejohn is describing propane-powered gas cannons. Berry growers use the automated noisemakers to ward off scavengers around harvest time. Cannon fire can be heard from before dawn past dusk....
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Berry growers try alternatives to bird scare cannons
0804TB_Berries.wav 3:33 feature 8/4/08 Tom Banse/CD Agriculture
Lead:
It?s an issue all over the Northwest. Housing development is moving into farm country. That can make for uneasy neighbors, especially at certain times of year. This is one of them. Blueberry growers commonly use booming cannons to scare birds away from the ripening crop. Up near the Canadian border, some berry farmers are experimenting with alternatives to keep the peace with neighbors but still protect crops from hungry starlings. Northwest News Network Correspondent Tom Banse reports on a case of cooperation trumping litigation. (3:33... soq)
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