 This time on Partners, it's protecting the homeland. From Eden, the Extension Disaster Education Network distributing vital information in times of catastrophe. To Louisiana House offering storm and flood solutions for the Hurricane Ravage Gulf Coast. To Avian Influenza, where scientists are in a race for answers to this threatening disease. These land-grant universities are meeting the challenges of the 21st century in their pursuit to protect the homeland. Welcome to Partners. In the next half hour, we'll travel the nation and see breakthrough work in research, education and extension. That's what CSR EES is all about. Helping universities generate valuable knowledge for those who need it. And educating our next generation of Americans. And now, it's time for Partners. Since the dawn of the new millennium, the United States has experienced extraordinary events within its borders. Terrorist attacks have led to a vigilance unprecedented in modern times. Natural disasters, especially hurricanes, have significantly increased in number, leaving devastation in their wake. And new diseases threaten plants and animals across the continent. The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service of the USDA is doing its part in meeting the challenges of this new American landscape. We're awarding grants to universities and others for research, education and extension efforts throughout the country. These are uncertain times, and it's our goal to be proactive to have solutions in place before the unexpected occurs. In the next half hour, you'll hear from these problem solvers, from scientists in a quest to unlock the secrets of avian influenza to extension staff helping residents of the storm-torn Gulf Coast. And now, Partners Video Magazine presents Protecting the Homeland. It is August 29th, 2005. A Category 4 hurricane called Katrina is bearing down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with winds in excess of 120 miles per hour. It traveled north and northeast eventually and got approximately 50 to 60 of our 82 counties. At 7 a.m., Katrina hits. The power of the storm is beyond what many had ever expected. NOAA calls it the most destructive hurricane to ever hit the U.S. There were 179 tornadoes inside of Katrina when it hit land, and those created as much damage as anything else related to the storm. With Katrina, probably the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States, or of 250,000 homes uninhabitable. Those first 48 hours before and after the storm were fairly intense. While much of Louisiana dodges a direct hit, Katrina still does its damage. Hours after the storm passes, the levees of New Orleans begin to collapse. Much of the city is underwater for weeks. When you've got 600,000 people in need, resources are spread so thin that you've got to have a backup. You've got to have auxiliary health. And Eden provided that. Eden, the Extension Disaster Education Network, is an internet-based source of catastrophe information designed to address both man-made and natural disasters. Started in 1994 with CSREES funding, it now receives major support from land-grant universities. By the time Katrina hit, the network was well established and used by extension agents nationwide. Eden really provided a world of resources that had already been organized for handling a disaster. The biggest problem after the storm, though, was that those in need could not give the information from the internet. There was no electricity. There was no way to deliver those messages. We had to print. Mississippi State University jumped to action. Staff took Eden web-based information and put it into print. Thousands of pamphlets were distributed by the National Guard, especially along the storm-ravaged coast, and Eden information was delivered by MSU Extension experts through radio and TV. You realize from talking to them that the home is probably the only thing that they have left, that they've had a family tragedy beyond comprehension and that the information that we provide to them makes a real difference. Back in Louisiana, entire neighborhoods are ruined by floodwaters in New Orleans and surrounding communities. Eden information is distributed by the LSU AgCenter through delivery systems other than the web. When there's no electricity, no broadband service, and people are just looking for a place to sleep and, you know, temporary housing and whatever, you got to go back to print, and we did. We had to print probably $100,000 worth of materials in about three weeks. We had to. Who else can do that? An office in every parish, you know, known faculty that people trust and good information. The LSU AgCenter also bought full-page ads in major newspapers in the region. They delivered timely recovery information to Katrina victims. But the storm season is not over for the Gulf Coast. Nearly one month later, Hurricane Rita hits Texas and Western Louisiana. It has devastating effects for those living in the low coastal flatlands. When the storm surge came in, it basically ruined the pasture for the beef producers down here in this parish. And they were not able to find hay for their cattle. Hurricane Rita could not have happened at a worse time. Ranchers like Eric Broussard grow grass on these fields in the fall, feed that nourishes his cattle through the winter. Rita, the one that got us. We had a tidal surge come in from the Vermean Bay. We had about 12 to 18 inches of salt water come over the pastures on the hills. In the lowest spot, we probably had about 12 feet of water. This water stayed for about three to four days. It killed all the grass. A lot of us, we run on a budget. We know about what it's going to cost us to feed through the winter. And we prepare for that, and we have our hay. What this did to me was, now I have to start over, because I'm feeding about twice what I'm going to normally feed. This is their livelihood. This is what they do if they can't lose their cattle and keep going. So it really makes a difference between having an operation and not having one. Again, the Eden Network proved invaluable. Farmers, those who deal often with the wrath of nature, took immediate action. Within 48 hours, trucks from around the country were loaded with hay and on the road. The local extension office in Vermean Parish served as the distribution point. Some of the heroes in this thing is the LSU accent. Fellows that work at this office over here really coordinated and made sure that the feed was distributed fairly. And they worked 24-7. Feed and hay came in by the 18 wheelers. It was really amazing to us. I heard people from Oregon sent hay down, from Michigan people that don't even know us. And we'll never get a chance to thank these people. They sent this down to us. I heard a lady from Oregon bought a truckload of hay and sent it down to us. It really makes us feel good. Well, it was only through Eden that I knew that such a thing existed. And that really is what the network is about. It's one extension learning from another extension. Our country is different today than it was months ago. We don't live in fear. We live in preparation of how to deal with catastrophic circumstances. Eden has a very vital role in that and a very necessary one. Citizens have used Eden educational materials on disaster topics related to health, home, agriculture, natural resources and youth development. This is the Winus Point Shooting Club and Marsh Conservancy in Northern Ohio. Some things haven't changed here since the club began over 150 years ago. Hunters still travel by handcrafted wooden prams, custom-made for these waters, and they continue to hunt migratory ducks, the same species that have been returning to the marsh for decades. But at the end of the day, these hunters divert from tradition. They now, on occasion, voluntarily submit their ducks for inspection. We've worked collaboratively with wildlife biologists here in Ohio and our hunters have been very patient in accepting of us. David Slemmons is a professor of veterinary medicine at the Ohio State University. He has tracked avian influenza in wild birds for over 30 years. We need to get our hands on a fair number of birds fairly quickly to conserve time and resources. And the hunters in check stations will come in, bring their birds in. Now with the emergence of the Asian strain of high pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, we're starting to re-look at what viruses are in wild birds more systematically with a coordinated effort. H5N1 is the Taipei virus causing all the buzz in the news lately and with good reason. It has started to spread to domestic poultry flocks in countries around the world. This could have serious consequences for the U.S. economy. When a highly pathogenic virus hit the poultry industry here in 1983, it lost $60 million to eradicate and an estimated $350 million in increased consumer costs. Over 17 million birds died or were euthanized. But since then, some things had changed before the appearance of H5N1 in Asia. Early isolation and detection will let us isolate the area and eradicate the virus very efficiently. Still, if it gets into our poultry industry, that particular flock or that particular geographic area will be impacted because their market will be lost and they will have to destroy and eradicate the virus. If the virus became widespread in the U.S. poultry industry, it would be devastating to our economy. And there are other concerns. People have died from H5N1 in bird to human contact. But the real fear is that the virus could mutate where infection occurs from person to person. History has shown that this could be disastrous. Analysts showed the virus to be type A, but it was different from any of the previously known type A strains. This Johns Hopkins University film was released in response to the 1950s Asian flu pandemic. 75,000 Americans died from the disease. Earlier in the century, 700,000 lost their lives in the 1918 pandemic. In response to the potential danger of H5N1 and other influenza viruses, the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service awarded $5 million for the Avian Influenza Coordinated Agricultural Project, better known as the AI CAP Grant. It funds researchers and extension specialists in 25 states. This is the first time we have continent-wide coverage to look at this problem and figure out what's going on in the wild bird population. We don't understand how these viruses are maintained and these populations appear and reappear. And that's what this network will let us do and then try to identify those viruses that will have increased potentials from jumping from wild birds to domestic birds. I think CSRES was ahead of its time in terms of devising this needed network research structure. The scope of the program is wide and varied. Daniel Perez, the AI CAP Grant's director, shows the project's website that features educational outreach in an effort to help train others on avian influenza. It is in land grant universities that students and postdocs and young investigators are becoming prepared to study influenza, to fight influenza, to contain influenza. And it's thanks to this network that we are able to provide the structure that is needed to produce those human resources. Back in Ohio, Richard Slemon's is finishing his field sampling. He dons the purple gloves to avoid cross-contamination of the specimens. Sarah, the far one on the left is a hand-mallard. We basically take fecal samples from these birds once they come in, usually hunter killed, sometimes trapped and banded and released. 06590. Those samples are put into what we call a virus transport media. We put the specimen in there, we pull the swab out, break it off, and then we try to freeze that sample as soon as possible in ultra cold. And in that transport media, we have a high concentration of penicillin, and we have to myosin our antibiotics. Slemon's travels over 100 miles south to his labs at the Ohio State University, the Land Grant Institution in Columbus. Here, the tedious process to determine if any of the bird samples contain a highly pathogenic virus begins. In the laboratory, the samples are held at minus 80 degrees until we process them. They're taken out, they're thawed, they're stirred, extensively called vortexing. And then they're centrifuged to clear the debris out of the top. Then the research assistants will take that transport media and inoculate that into an embryo-needed chicken egg. And the virus, the type A influenza virus, replicates in the cell's lining, and the virus is released into the coriolantoic fluid. Then we check that for what we call hemoglobinating activity. In this process, if the blood cells clump together, it's an indication that this sample might be a virus. The rose-colored dots in the left column confirm this. Next step is we take a direct rapid diagnostic test and we determine if type A influenza virus is in that sample. The Purple Heart confirms that this one has type A. We then send those samples to the National Veterinary Service Diagnostic Lab at Ames, Iowa, which is a U.S. Department of Agriculture, AFIS organization. This lab subtyped the Columbus sample and determined it was not H5N1. It is this network of partnerships, however, that empowers the CSREES-funded project from various USDA agencies, including AFIS and the Agricultural Research Service, to refuge managers from land-brent universities to hunters. This diverse team is tackling the problem in a concerted effort. Our funding has been tremendous. It has given us the capability to do something that's been sorely needed for many, many years. And what has happened is it's given us the capability to pull our avian influenza research community together. So this is our network, and this lets us track viruses down each of the flyaways and understand where the virus is going. The earlier we detect it, the quicker we isolate those birds and deal with them appropriately, the less it will cost us in the United States. Avian influenza cap-grant leaders are broadening waterfowl surveillance by partnering internationally with colleagues in Canada, Central America, and South America. Beyond the front lines of avian influenza monitoring, CSREES is funding science that promises to protect domestic chickens from the disease. Ellen Collison of Texas A&M is developing a vaccine that will enhance immunity to a wide range of bird flu viruses. Cellular immunity, that's the immunity that depends on T cells. And the T cells normally are those regulatory cells. They're the cells that are regulating the immune system. We're working very hard, actually, to identify what we can on the chicken so that we can provide the information that's necessary to put together these vaccines that are really going to be not only effective but safe and safe is really important. Collison has joined with the project's other principal investigator, Blanca Lupiani, in their microbiobattles against H5N1 and other viruses. Their focus is on T cells with memory, ones that kill only influenza cells. Beneficial cells of the chicken are left alone. So this way the body has a mechanism to continually remove cells that are infected. The overall end point is that these cells are gone. So all you have left are healthy cells. Nobody has ever looked at this type of immunity in the chicken as far as influenza goes. It's different from the immunity of these other vaccines that induce what we call antibodies. And it may not totally eliminate the virus as the virus comes in, but it will eliminate cells that are infected with the virus. So it has that advantage. The cross-protective nature of this new vaccine could be a big advantage for producers. It has the potential to defend their flocks against the many strains of avian flu, including H5N1. And since the vaccine targets proteins that are less likely to change, it should stay effective even against ever-changing viruses. Next for Collison at her team is to find economic ways to deliver the vaccine to the flock. Inoculation is a costly process, so methods are being considered that would dovetail with existing poultry production practices. This work is the precursor. This is what we need to know before we can use this type of strategy to make those vaccines that we need. The ability to understand this type of immunity allows us to make vaccines that are really recombinant types of vaccines, so we don't have the whole virus in the vaccine. This is the new generation of vaccines. These vaccines are safe. They won't cause influenza. But in addition to being safe, they'll be long-lasting and they'll be very thorough. The Avian Influenza Coordinated Agricultural Project focuses on these four main objectives. Its full name is Louisiana House Home and Landscape Resource Center. It's an educational resource center and a clearinghouse of research-based information. And if you abbreviate Louisiana, that's capital L, little A, put them together, there's La House, and it gives a nice French flavor to our nickname. To be hurricane-resistant, hurricane hardware is used to get a... Claudette Reichel is the project director of Louisiana House and has guided its development from the beginning. This project was funded in a joint effort by CSR EES, HUD, and the EPA. It began in 2000 with the primary goal to showcase solutions for storm and flood-resistant construction. In the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane season, the timing could not have been better. It is estimated that 250,000 homes were destroyed by Katrina alone. In a sense that La House is at this stage right after these double-wammy disasters because it really is at a perfect stage to show the insights, to show what strengthens it. And there's been a lot of interest in coming to see it at this point. You see hurricane straps connecting the second story to the first story to tie them together wherever different materials meet. It is these kinds of building methods that make La House exemplary. Hurricane hardware is used to get a continuous load path of strength from anchor bolts connecting the bottom plate of walls to the foundation to metal straps fastening studs between the first and second floor. A secondary moisture barrier made of high-tech synthetics is used to prevent water from entering the home. Mold is the enemy after the storm, as witnessed by many New Orleans homeowners in the wake of Katrina. And La House has been raised to three feet above the base flood elevation as an added prevention against water entering the home. That alone provides homeowners the lowest flood insurance rate available. Another new way of thinking about residential construction is taking place at Tuskegee University in Alabama. This is the Healthy House, a low-cost alternative home that has piqued the interest of contractors along the battered Gulf Coast. We have a lot of contact from people coming and asking about, especially developers, to build communities based on the Healthy House concept. And these houses can also be constructed quickly and they don't have any stigma like a manufactured home. As you can see here, they are conventional houses and healthy indoor air quality is always a good attribute in any house. Healthy House was built by a grant from the Department of Energy to promote low-income housing for rural areas. CSREES contributed to the project, with its emphasis on healthier indoor air quality for homes. The funds were used to develop educational brochures on residential air quality based on Healthy House data collected by Heshmat Aiglan and his team at Tuskegee. As a result of the promotional materials, more people are learning about Healthy House. This is opportune as the rebuilding of the devastated Gulf Coast moves forward. Back in Baton Rouge, Claudette Reichel and Sandra Skellen are giving tours at the Louisiana House. And while post-storm problems have delayed completion, weekly open houses offer contractors and residents a chance to learn responsible storm and flood-resistant construction. Future plans call for cutaway panels, allowing visitors to see the storm-proof construction behind walls. And the LSU AgCenter is developing media presentations to further educate the public. CSREES funding really helped to spearhead this. It gave us the beginning of funding that we needed in the initiative to get the plants together to get rolling. We're gearing up for a house to be a major player in the educational outreach efforts to rebuilding stronger, safer and smarter homes that can protect us in the future. On the next edition of Partners, North Carolina State University scientists tackle a nasty fungus that threatens our country's food safety. Oklahoma State University researchers experiment with the very latest in precision agriculture. And here the amazing story how the United States avoided an agricultural catastrophe from a devastating plant disease. That's Partners, Feeding America, the next edition. For more information on protecting the homeland and other Partners episodes, log on to this website.