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Western tent caterpillars back en masse this spring

The Western tent caterpillar’s (Malacosoma californicum pluviale) body is dark with spots of white, orange and blue. White and orange-yellow tufts of hair poke out from each segment.

Wiggling masses of white-orange-and-black caterpillars are emerging from their silken nests to munch on tender leaves – signaling a second spring when Western tent caterpillars might be out in big numbers.

“I have seen them out. They’re not as bad as last year. What I’m guessing is we’re getting a resurgence of a population that peaked last year,” said Chris Benedict, agriculture agent at the Washington State University Extension office in Whatcom County.

“Though they’ll be out, they’ll be less of an issue than last year,” he added.

The native caterpillars are considered a nuisance but largely harmless. They are the larvae form of brown, stubby-looking moths that will emerge from cocoons later in June or July to mate and lay eggs.

Population booms are cyclical.

The caterpillars hatch from eggs over-wintering on tree branches. Once they hatch, they start eating.

They prefer the foliage of most deciduous trees and shrubs such as alder, roses and fruit trees.

And while the hungry caterpillars put a visible dent in the surrounding greenery – which people find unsightly, along with the masses of worms – they usually don’t kill the healthy trees they feast on, according to gardening experts.

But small trees might not be able to recover from such defoliation.

The WSU Master Gardener program has been fielding questions from the public.

“We’ve been seeing folks bring in some young tent caterpillars wanting to know what they are and what to do about them,” said Beth Chisholm, master gardener and coordinator of the Community First Garden Project through WSU Extension.

She said people shouldn’t be “too alarmed.”

If people want to get the caterpillars off their fruit trees, Chisholm recommended they cut off the infested branch, put it in a bag, tie it up and put it in the garbage.

CATERPILLAR CONTROL

• Insecticides are discouraged. Unless trees are already weak, tent caterpillar damage isn’t permanent; trees will grow new leaves after the caterpillars have left. Poisons also can kill beneficial insects, including those that attack the caterpillars.

• Since 2012 was a big year for tent caterpillars, they could return in large numbers again this spring. This fall or winter, pick out and destroy the moth’s eggs, which appear in foamy, gray, half-inch cases around twigs and on tree trunks.

• Strip or prune out the tent-like nests found at the end of branches as soon as they appear. Remove the nest in the early morning or evening, when most of the caterpillars will be inside.

• Bring questions and caterpillar-infested plant samples to the WSU Extension’s Master Gardener diagnostic clinic during regular business hours at the extension office, 1000 N. Forest St. in Bellingham, or call 360-676-6736.

• Learn more by going online to whatcom.wsu.edu and typing “tent caterpillars” into the search window.

SOURCE: WSU Extension Reach Kie Relyea at kie.relyea@bellinghamherald.com or call 360-715-2234.

Weed warriors vanquishing Scotch broom on local prairie

Capable of throwing its seed as far as 20 feet with a single pop, Scotch broom is a tough invader.

By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Times staff reporter

Steve Ringman / The Seattle TimesBarry Bidwell walks through a patch of Scotch broom, which can grow between 6 and 12 feet tall, at the Glacial Heritage Preserve. Bidwell has battled broom for two decades. — Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times
Barry Bidwell walks through a patch of Scotch broom, which can grow between 6 and 12 feet tall, at the Glacial Heritage Preserve. Bidwell has battled broom for two decades.

Scotch broom, also called Scot’s broom, blossoms in full color at Thurston County’s Glacial Heritage Preserve. A member of the legume family, its seeds are produced in pods. The pods dry in the summer sun and open with a pop, shooting seeds as far as 20 feet.

Who would think this soft landscape, with its undulating blue waves of wildflowers, flitting butterflies and calls of meadowlark, could be the scene of such battle.

But war it was, to win back, acre by acre, more than 700 acres of native prairie at Thurston County’s Glacial Heritage Preserve south of Olympia, from an invasion of Scotch broom.

The sunny flowers of Scotch broom are just now coming into full bloom, painting roadsides, highway ramps, clear cuts and any other open ground yellow all over Puget Sound country and beyond. But its pretty face conceals a commando’s swagger.

Since it was brought here, probably as an ornamental during white settlement in the 1860s, Cytisus scoparius has turned into one piggy guest. A native of western Europe, Scotch broom, also called Scot’s broom, has so worn out its welcome it’s classified as a noxious weed and been quarantined by the state Department of Agriculture. That means it is not to be sold, and is discouraged from planting by anyone for any purpose. Yet it continues to devour more acres of native habitat every year.

No wonder:

A member of the legume family, its seeds are produced in pods, which, as they dry in the summer sun, literally go ballistic, splitting and twisting open with a pop, ejecting seeds as far as 20 feet.

As if that wasn’t enough, the plant can even enlist an army of soldiers to help it conquer ever more ground. Ants eagerly pick up its seeds, dispersing them far and wide as they take the seeds back to the nest to feed fatty deposits on the seed surface to their young. The ants then deposit the seeds in their waste pile — where the seeds vigorously sprout in a compost of ant poo.

Left alone, Scotch broom can grow in stands so dense it alters the very chemistry of the soil in which it grows, as it sets nitrogen in nodules on its roots, making the ground less suitable for the native plants it replaces.

That same ability to fix nitrogen in the soil also enables Scotch broom to thrive just about anywhere, even in the nutrient-poor soils of native grasslands and prairies, where it quickly grows 6 to 12 feet tall.

Its green stems enable it to photosynthesize even in winter, when rains stoke its lush growth, notes Sarah Reichard, director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. She and one of her students, Dean Dougherty, published an article in 2004 that noted a single plant could be covered with more than 800 seed pods, producing more than 9,650 viable seeds per year that can last decades — 50 years is not unheard of. And every time soil is disturbed where Scotch broom grows — say to pull it — more seed is churned up, to sprout a new generation.

Steve Ringman / The Seattle TimesBarry Bidwell, of Graham, pulls up Scotch broom after first loosening it with a Weed Wrench, a tool developed specifically for removing the noxious weed. Thanks to volunteers like Bidwell, where Scotch broom once reigned blue camas flowers now bloom in the Glacial Heritage Preserve. — Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times
Barry Bidwell, of Graham, pulls up Scotch broom after first loosening it with a Weed Wrench, a tool developed specifically for removing the noxious weed. Thanks to volunteers like Bidwell, where Scotch broom once reigned blue camas flowers now bloom in the Glacial Heritage Preserve.

But persistence has its rewards. At the Glacial Heritage reserve, volunteers cut, pulled, poisoned and burned back broom. They have sawed it down and attacked it with WeedWackers fitted with metal blades. Mowed it with brush hogs, pulled it out with chains tied on the bumper of their cars and poisoned it with herbicide.

Scotch broom may be the only weed with a tool created just for it: a Weed Wrench. A demolition demon standing chest high, it’s used to clamp onto the trunk of the most mammoth specimen of Scotch broom, and lever it out of the ground with a satisfying crunch.

When volunteer Michelle Blanchard, of Olympia, first started clearing Scotch broom at the reserve, it grew so tall that as she rode her horse into its thickets, she disappeared from view.

“It’s raining out, and it’s cold, and snowing, and we are looking around thinking, ‘This is crazy, there is still another 1,000 acres of Scotch broom,’ ” she said of the early days of the battle of the broom.

Two things helped turn the tide: fire, deployed repeatedly in controlled burns, and judicious doses of herbicide. Followed with diligent hand pulling, volunteers working first with The Nature Conservancy, and then the Center for Natural Lands Management, which stewards the property today, started making headway. With continued work ever since, the results today are dramatic.

As Blanchard walked the prairie this week, a meadowlark called across the open, rolling terrain. Checkerspot, a rare native butterfly, sipped nectar from blue pools of camas flowers. Golden paintbrush, one of the rarest native plants in Washington, glowed as if lit from within.

To Barry Bidwell, a volunteer slugging it out with broom at this site for nearly 20 years, seeing the native plants here swell into full bloom this week was a pleasure dearly felt. A former Boeing engineer, with the license plate ECOVOL (short for ecology volunteer), he first started working at the prairie to give shape and purpose to his retirement.

Over the years, Bidwell said, he has come to believe restoration work is good for more than just the land.

“It gives people the insight that something can actually be made better.”

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

Gardening with Cisco and Plant Swap at EvCC

Celebrate Earth Week at Everett Community College

Tuesday, April 23

Movie: “Who Killed the Electric Car?” 5-8 p.m. in Gray Wolf Hall, room 286. Watch the movie about the development of an electric car in America and stay for a post-film discussion with EvCC Resource Conservation Manager Molly Beeman.

Wednesday, April 24

Gardening with Ciscoe
Pacific Northwest gardening export (and TV and radio star) Ciscoe Morris speaks on organic gardening and answers your questions. 1:00pm to 2:00pm in the Gray Wolf Hall Courtyard. Free and open to the public.

Plant Swap
Get all the green you want for free at the annual EvCC plant swap! Students and employees can donate plants and seeds April 24th. Want to drop off your plants early in the AM? You can bring them to Maintenance (the building behind Glacier Hall) from 7am to 9am on April 24th. Want some new vegitation? Pick up plants and share what you’ve got between Parks Building and Graywolf Hall (in the Courtyard) From 9:30am-12:30pm or until they’re gone. (You don’t have to donate anything to take a plant home.) Free and open to the public.

Thursday, April 25

EvCC’s Earth Art Competition
Submit your sustainable work of art at the EvCC Earth Week “Earth Art” competition for bragging rights and valuable prize money. Click here for the 2013 Earth Art Entry Form. No project? Visit the Whitehorse Hall Critique space (Whitehorse Hall 2nd floor) between Monday, April 22nd and Thursday, April 25th to view the submissions. Vote for your favorite recycled material artwork by submitting a “people’s choice” vote and help a starving artist find fame and acclaim! EvCC Earth Art Competition projects will be displayed beginning Monday, April 22nd through Thursday, April 25th. Judging will commence from 10am-1pm, April 25th, 2013, Whitehorse Hall Critique Space. Event entry limited to current students, staff and faculty of Everett Community College. Event attendance is free and open to the public.

Click here to learn more about these events

Gardening Together as Families begins its second year

Article by Monica Brown

TULALIP, Wash.- The Hibulb Cultural Center’s Gardening Together as Families event was planned for Saturday April 13, 2013, rain or shine. Despite the cold and rainy weather, gardeners began arriving at ten am, dressed in rain gear and ready to garden. They made their way inside the Cultural Center where they enjoyed traditional prayers and songs prior to heading out to the garden and greenhouse.

Sweet peas vining on an old crab pot
Photo by Monica Brown

In the garden’s raised planter boxes they replanted the starts from the green house. Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli were all placed in the raised beds. Sugar snap peas were replanted in a raised bed and given an old crab pot to vine on. A spring mix variety of lettuce was replanted in a lettuce wall that looks like upside down stairs to maximize space and water. These cold weather plants are hardier to cold and some freezing temperatures. While the sweet peas and broccoli may produce all summer, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce will need to be reseeded after they are done producing.

Master Gardener Richelle Taylor inspects the Kale plants
Photo by Monica Brown

Early spring plants that are able to withstand the cooler temperatures were already thriving in the raised planter boxes. Master Gardener Michelle Taylor coerced me to try the fresh Kale that she tore from the stalk. Kale is surprisingly refreshing, sweet and tender; it is similar in taste to sweet peas. Michelle explained how Kale is an easy vegetable to grow in this area of Washington and is full of nutrients like Iron, fiber, calcium, Vitamins C, A and K. Kale is simple to cook with and prepare, it’s great in salad, soup, casserole, or in a smoothie.

Carol Kapua fascinates over the artichoke plant
Photo by Monica Brown

Gardener Carol Kapua was enthralled when she saw the large artichoke that it was “so very healthy” and explained how the artichoke will grow and mature on the inside of the bushy plant. Artichoke is not usually grown in this wet climate and is a bit of a finicky perennial but is able to be grown as a low maintenance annual. The artichoke plant will need to be “overwintered” a term which means the plant will need to be cooled to a low temperature of 30 degrees in order to flower.

Inside the greenhouse — A peek inside the greenhouse
Photo by Monica Brown

The next Gardening Together as Families event will be in May. All levels of experience are welcome and Gardeners do not need to bring any tools, although if you have your own garden gloves, knee pads etc. you are welcome to bring them. At the end of each Gardening Together as Families event a delicious and nutritious lunch is prepared by the Cultural Center staff.

For more information or you would like to attend future garden events please contact Veronica Leahy at (360) 716-5642 or email vleahy@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Lawn Renewal and Renovation Tips to Create a Perfect Lawn this Season

Gardening expert Melinda Myers shares simple steps for invigorating lawns

The extreme heat and drought of 2012 was hard on lawns and gardens. “Many gardeners are facing a blank slate of bare soil, masses of dead patches that were once lawn or a bit of grass interspersed in a sea of weeds,” says gardening expert Melinda Myers.

Myers recommends following these steps to improve lawns this season.

Start this spring to renovate or improve your weather-worn lawn. Remember that water is critical to get newly seeded and sodded lawns to survive. So be prepared to help nature along with the recovery effort.

Evaluate the damage. Then use the check list below to find the best course of action to aid the ailing lawn.

If the lawn is more than 60 percent weeds or bare soil, it’s probably time to start over. Use this opportunity to create a great foundation for growing a healthy lawn. Kill off the existing vegetation, add several inches of organic matter such as compost or peat moss and a low nitrogen slow release fertilizer into the top 6 to 8 inches of soil, and rake smooth.

Select more drought tolerant grasses like rhizomatous (turf-type) tall fescues, buffalo grass, and Habiturf® native lawn mix. Make sure the grass is suited to the climate and plant according to the label. Then sow the seeds, lightly rake and mulch or lay sod. Water often enough to keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout or the sod roots into the soil below. Then water thoroughly when the top few inches of soil are crumbly, but slightly moist to encourage deep roots.

Fertilize new, existing and stressed lawns with a low nitrogen slow release fertilizer like Milorganite. It won’t harm stressed lawns, young seedlings or newly laid sod. It will encourage slow steady growth. Southern lawns can be fertilized in April and again in early June. In the north fertilize around Memorial Day. And if 2013 turns into another hot dry summer, it won’t burn the lawn.

Mow high to encourage deeply rooted grass that is more drought tolerant and pest resistant. And mow often, removing only a third of the total height. Be sure to leave these short clippings on the lawn. They return moisture, nutrients, and organic matter to the soil.

Repair small dead and bare patches as needed. Use a lawn patch kit, grass seed and mulch. For small spots, loosen the soil surface, sprinkle grass seed and lightly rake. Or mix a handful of grass seed in a bucket of topsoil. Sprinkle the mix over the soil surface.

Do a bit more soil preparation when renovating larger dead areas in the lawn. Remove or kill any weeds that have filled in these areas. Till two inches of compost, peat moss or other organic matter into the top six inches of soil. Sow seed, rake and mulch or lay sod.

Overseed thin and sparse lawn. First, core aerate the lawn to improve soil conditions and increase seed-to-soil contact. Spread grass seed over the aerated lawn and water as needed. Or rent a slit seeder or hire a professional with this type of equipment. These machines slice through the soil and drop the grass seed in place, increasing the seed-to-soil contact which is needed for good germination.

Core aerate lawns that have more than one half an inch of thatch, those growing in compacted soils, or before overseeding. By removing plugs of soil you break through the thatch and create channels for water and fertilizer to reach the grass roots.

Spot treat weeds on lawns that need minimal repair. Wait at least until fall to treat new and overseeded lawns. Spot treating minimizes the use of chemicals and reduces the stress on already stressed lawns. As always read and follow label directions carefully.

Proper maintenance and a bit of cooperation from nature will help transform a lawn from an eyesore to an asset in the landscape.

Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening and The Lawn Guide – Midwest Series. She hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment segments, is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and has a column in Gardening How-to magazine. Myers has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist and was a horticulture instructor with tenure. Her web site is www.melindamyers.com

Tribe brings house from South Dakota to U.S. Capitol to highlight poor housing conditions on reservations

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The Trail of Hope for Indian Housing is carting a house 1500 miles from South Dakota and displaying it next to the U.S. Capitol Building to highlight the terrible housing conditions on Indian reservations.

The facades of an actual house from the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation will arrive by motorcade and be placed at Union Square (3rd Street NW) on Wednesday April 17, 2013. The site adjacent to the U.S. Capitol will be open to the public from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D – ND) and John Barrasso (R – WY) will both speak as will Kevin Gover , Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Several tribal officials will also be on hand.

The dilapidated structures are typical of the overcrowded and sub-standard housing conditions where Northern Plains Indians are forced to live. Many Indian reservations have the worst housing in the United States. Tens of thousands of Indians often have to live three families to a unit with as many as 18 people crowded into aging two-bedroom houses.

“Since Washington cannot come to the reservation, we will take the reservation to Washington,” said Paul Iron Cloud , Executive Director of the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority. “Washington and America will learn of the current conditions on many of our largest and most preeminent reservations.”

More information is available online at:
https://www.facebook.com/TrailofHopeforIndianHousing

Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project awarded $37,500 grant

NAFSI grant will aid Muckleshoot in their efforts to access more traditional foods

By Monica Brown Tulalip News writer

The Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project has been awarded a $37,500 grant from the First Nations Development Institute. The grant will help fund the project s explorations of the Muckleshoot Tribe’s food assets and increase access to local, healthy and traditional foods. Through explorations, participants will gain an understanding of Native foods and build food security throughout the community.

Project participants enjoy community engagement through workshops, harvesting and feasts. Hands-on workshops are designed to teach traditional food principles and how to approach preparing them in a more modern way. Project coordinator, Valerie Segrest states

“The Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project is community driven and aims to increase access and revitalize a traditional and local healthy food system.”

Tribal cooks and established community groups are coming together to develop a new policy about food which will focus on a more traditional and nourishing food program. The new policy development is facilitated by professional chefs who are invited to meet with tribal cooks and the community groups during cook retreats. The project participants are working to join tribal kitchens and create a menu program. By creating a reliable menu that can be used throughout tribal kitchens they will be able to assess the food quantities needed for when they are ready to produce their own food. The menu program will also inform the five-year food sovereignty/action plan that is currently being organized.

The project comes from a community based participatory research project which was conducted in partnership with Northwest Indian College and the Burke Museum in 2007. The project operates year round and is open to all community members.

The First Nations Development Institute’s Native American Food System Initiative (NAFSI) grant is intended to help tribes and Native communities build sustainable food systems such as community gardens, food banks, food pantries and/or other agricultural projects related to Native food-systems control. The 31 grants were made possible by the generous support of the AARP Foundation, The Christensen Fund, CHS Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Advocacy and Outreach, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Walmart Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

To read more about the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project please visit their website at

Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project

Spring gardening at Hibulb

Tribal member Malaki Hernandez tranplants

By Monica Brown

TULALIP, Wash. Attendees at the Tulalip Hibulb garden work party gathered together on Friday, March 22 to do some needed garden preparations. Gardeners and gardening volunteers worked together to prepare the garden for the growing season.

Pruning encourages fruit production, so Master Gardeners Frank Sargent and Rob and Richelle Taylor pruned fruit trees located in the orchard on the north side of the Hibulb Museum.

Community gardeners worked in the greenhouse, transplanting over 100 seedlings of cabbage and sowing new seeds. Seedlings are being started and kept warm in the heated greenhouse and soon the plant beds around the museum will be made ready for transplanting.

The community is invited to attend the garden work parties and the Gardening Together as Families events. Gardeners will help tend the beds throughout the season and enjoy the rewards at the end of season harvest. Gardeners will learn about the many aspects of gardening through hands-on experience, working side-by-side with master gardeners.

To learn more about the Hibulb Gardening events please contact Veronica Leahy at 360-716-5642 or vleahy@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Tribal member Malaki Hernandez transplanting a cabbage sprout.

Mytyl Hernandez and son Malaki with transplanted pansies. Photo by Richelle Taylor

Tribal member Marvin Jones and Master Gardener Veronica Leahy transplanting cabbage sprouts.

Five Easy Steps to a Low Maintenance Eco-friendly Landscape

Gardening expert Melinda Myers provides a plan to transform your landscape

Be Waterwise
Save money on the water bill, time spent watering and this precious resource, water. Start by growing drought tolerant plants suited to your growing environment. Once established they will only need watering during extended dry spells. Mulch with shredded leaves, evergreen needles, woodchips, or other organic matter to conserve moisture, reduce weeds, and improve the soil as they decompose.

Fertilize with a low nitrogen fertilizer, like Milorganite, that promotes slow steady growth instead of excessive greenery that requires more water. Plus, it won’t burn even during drought.
Put rainwater to work all season long by using rain barrels to capture rainwater off your roof or directly from the sky.

Recycle Yard Waste in the Landscape
Minimize the amount of yard waste produced, reuse what can be in other areas of the landscape and recycle the rest as compost. These are just a few strategies that will save time bagging, hauling, and disposing of yard debris. And better yet, implementing this strategy will save money and time spent buying and transporting soil amendments, since it will be created right in the backyard.

Start by leaving grass clippings on the lawn. The short clippings break down quickly, adding organic matter, nutrients and moisture to the soil. Grow trees suited to the growing conditions and available space. That means less pruning and fewer trimmings that will need to be managed.

Make Compost at Home
Recycle yard waste into compost. Put plant waste into a heap and let it rot. Yes, it really is that simple. The more effort put into the process, the quicker the results.

Do not add insect-infested or diseased plant material or perennial weeds like quack grass, annual weeds gone to seed, or invasive plants. Most compost piles are not hot enough to kill these pests. And do not add meat, dairy, or bones that can attract rodents.

Manage Pests in Harmony with Nature
A healthy plant is the best defense against insects and disease. Select the most pest-resistant plants suited to the growing conditions and provide proper care.

Check plants regularly throughout the growing season. It is easier to control a few insects than the hundreds that can develop in a week or two. And when problems arise, look for the most eco-friendly control. Start by removing small infestations by hand. Consider traps, barriers, and natural products if further control is needed. And as always be sure to read and follow label directions carefully.

Energy Wise Landscape Design
Use landscape plantings to keep homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Homes will have a more comfortable temperature throughout the seasons and energy costs will be reduced.

Plant trees on the east and west side of a house to shade windows in the summer and let the sun shine in and warm it up through the south-facing windows in winter.

Shade air conditioners, so they run more efficiently and be sure to collect and use any water they produce for container gardens.

Incorporate these changes into gardening routines and habits over time. Soon these and many more strategies that help save time and money while being kind to the environment will seem to occur automatically.
Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment segments which air on over 115 TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and writes the twice monthly “Gardeners’ Questions” newspaper column. Melinda also has a column in Gardening How-to magazine. Melinda hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio program for over 20 years as well as seven seasons of Great Lakes Gardener on PBS. She has written articles for Better Homes and Gardens and Fine Gardening and was a columnist and contributing editor for Backyard Living magazine. Melinda has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist and was a horticulture instructor with tenure. Her web site is www.melindamyers.com

Federal Government to temporarily cut Native American loan program

Lender 411

Last Updated: 3/8/2013

By Daniel Duffield

As a result of the failure of Congress to agree on legislation to avoid the automatic budget cuts, the U.S. is now facing the impact of the sequester in a variety of areas. Public services are now being maintained by the Commitment Authority until Congress can find a solution to the budget crisis that has loomed over the American economy.

However, one program has already reached its spending limit and must now be suspended indefinitely.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a written statement to the Mortgage Broker’s Association (MBA) to cease all originations for the Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program (Section 184) that provides mortgage loans for Native American citizens. For mortgages not already approved by the HUD, sources state that the chance of these loans closing is zero.

Section 184 refers to an 11-year old mortgage product created specifically for the financing of loans for American Indian and Alaska Native families, Alaska Village tribes, or tribally designated housing entities. Essentially, this loan program was established to offer an opportunity to realize the American Dream of homeownership for populations with few other mortgage options.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan warned for weeks that such housing programs would be adversely affected by the reduction of the budget caused by sequestration.

Donovan criticized the severity of these budget cuts which could potentially push a subclass of Americans into unnecessary homelessness.

Providing an explanation of these ideas to the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, Donovan expressed that a significant portion of the sequester’s impact will be seen as a result of budget cuts to the HUD’s Continuum of Care programs, through which families and individuals that had previously suffered homelessness were promptly re-housed and provided with additional assistance in the hopes of regaining self-sufficiency.

Donovan added that the sequestration’s automatic budget cuts would abolish some of the critical funding for the U.S. homeless shelter system maintained by the Emergency Solutions Grants.

Furthermore, Donovan stated that the sequestration would remove approximately 100,000 formerly homeless Americans, veterans included, from their present residences or their residences as obtained through program which offer emergency housing.

Original Article