Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1981)
Growers support field burning By KATHY MISKILL OlhEmnM On a sunny day northwest of Eugene, a seven-acre field of dry straw is doused with propane gas The burning begins, sending billows of dirty yellow smoke above the heads of concerned onlookers The field burning was part of the First Annual Smoke Fes tival, held Saturday in Al vadore, Oregon Field burning is the crucial first stage of a grass-seed crop cycle because the “shock of burning ’ stimulates next year's crop, according to Ruby Ringsdorf, who has been har vesting grass seed for 25 years Ringsdorf is a member of Lane County Women for Agriculture, a group that sponsored the field-burning event in cooperation with First stage critical to seed crop Drew Farms Inc., the Depart ment of Environmental Quali ty, the Oregon Seed Council and Oregon State University's crop science department The purpose of the festival was to show the complexity of the seed-crop cycle and to stress the economic impor tance of this crop to the Wil lamette Valley, says Dave Nel son of the Oregon Seed Council The valley supplies two thirds of the nation's grass seed and yields 350 to 400 million pounds annually, Nel son says Eighty percent of the grass seed is used for pasture ren ovation, he says The remain ing 20 percent is used for aesthetic grasses’’ such as lawns and golf courses However, OSU’s crop science researchers and DEQ's Research Advisory Committee are looking for al ternatives to field burning "A satisfactory alternative would have an advantage to all,” says Harold Youngberg, a professor of crop science One option still under evaluation is known as the "crew-cutting” method The “crew-cutting” device cuts through rows of grass seed, leaving the straw by-product behind Youngberg says straw utilization is an important part of any field-burning alterna tive The straw can be used for livestock ration, as well as decorative wall-paneling man ufactured by an Albany firm Because the DEO has com plete authority over field burn ing, it is the "most closely regulated process” of seed harvesting, Nelson says. A grass-seed grower must first register the number of acres intended for burning with the DEQ However, weather conditions are the ul timate factor in determining the actual number of acres to be burned DEQ requires any crop grower who burns fields to monitor a VHF radio channel that provides information on authorized burning times and wind speed and direction. Unfavorable weather condi tions this year have put grass seed growers behind schedule for burning "In past years I've had more (acres) burned," says Jim Drew, owner of Drew Farms "It’s been a strange year all around ” BUY 1 GET 2 FREE (of <’qual value) on shirts; skirts, blouses ami pants. Lazar's Bazar 164 tV. Broadway 687-0139, 687-9766 University charges remedial writing fee Remedial writing courses — Writing 040 Writing 049 and Writing 199 — will cost students $93 on top of tuition, beginning this fall The courses, which were eliminated from the English department curriculum and made part of the Continuation Center, still will be coordinated by the English department, says English prof Thelma Green field Greenfield who this spring was acting head of the English department, initiated the move to put remedial writing courses on a self-support basis after she was confronted with the prob lem of how to pay for 288 lower-level writing sections when the budget contained funding for only 196 Writing professors ' were completely in accord" about charging extra for remedial courses and moving them to the Continuation Center, Greenfield says, partly because the remedial courses use about one-sixth of the department's resources "It is a rather good thing for us to be out of the business of remedial courses,” she says Greenfield says she does re gret that the decision had to be made tor financial instead of academic reasons, but she says removing remedial courses from the English department was "in the wind anyway " To avoid the new charge, students must qualify for Writing 121 Writing 120 — Preparatory Composition — has been changed to Writing 049 and is one of the courses subiect to the fee However, Greenfield says students can get into Writing 121 any way they want to" — including retaking the Test of Standard Written English that determines writing placement or testing out of Writing 120 The new charge — $31 per credit hour — does not seem to be discouraging freshmen from enrolling in the lower-level courses, she says Early regis tration figures show enrollment is "going pretty well " The fee probably will come as more of a surprise to returning students who have not already completed their writing require ment "We hate to ask students to face the prospect of paying more for their education,” she says 1111111111 JLUL PHOTO SPECIAL! i i i i r t g m i t it 5x7 Color Enlargement 1 Certificate returned with every roll of color print film sent in for developing & printing LIMITED TIME OFFER UO BOOKSTORE 13th 6c Kincaid Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 Sat 10:00-2:00 Textbooks 686-3520 • General Books 686-3510 • Supplies 686-4331 at the JEANERY! 25,000 pairs of fashion and designer jeans discounted weekly throughout the entire month of AUGUST! 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