The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing an eight-year, $379 million master plan to upgrade three facilities in Ames. Teresa Sutton, spokeswoman with the National Animal Disease Center, said the National Animal Disease Center, 2300 Dayton Ave.; the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, 1800 Dayton Ave. and the Center of Veterinary Biologics, 510 S. 17th St.; were recently given $9 million from U.S. Congress to begin drawing a master plan for facility renovations.Three separate facilities used to conduct research now will be moved to one location while the separate locations will be torn down. The facilities include the National Animal Disease Center, a research branch where diseases related to animal producers are researched; the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, which develops vaccines and is a resource for veterinarians in diagnosis; and the Center for Veterinary Biologics, which licenses vaccines.Sutton said all the facilities are part of the United States Department of Agriculture but are currently separate buildings.”The new plan would bring us all together,” she said.The NADC, NVSL, and the CVB were all built in the late ’60s to early ’70s and are in need of repairs. According to the Web site, the NADC, NVSL and CVB remain scientifically strong with well-focused programs, but the facilities have reached the end of their design and structural lifespan.Sutton said changing technology has also posed problems for the facility. She said a lack of space is causing problems in trying to keep up with the changing standards to keep the NADC a world leader.Gary Steinke, director of governmental relations at Iowa State, has been actively involved in lobbying Congress to appropriate funds for the renovation of the facilities.”The facilities are very important to Iowa State because of the research opportunities they provide,” he said. “We collaborate very closely with them through the College of Veterinary Medicine.”Lobbiers have been providing information to Congress for the past few years, as well as talking with other large national groups interested in the facility. Steinke said lobbying is far from over if the university wants to reach their goal of $378 million.”This is a national concern, but because of the ties with the university, we are working closely to help get money appropriated from Congress,” he said. A summary of the master plan is on the NADC Web site,

www.nadc.ars.usda.gov/.