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CapitalPress.com
October 20, 2017
People & Places
Improving crops, waterfowl habitat
Marc Staunton
rotates between
growing crops and
seasonal wetlands
Western
Innovator
By TIM HEARDEN
Soil improves
The approach has result-
ed in higher yields and over-
all quality of the crops while
enhancing the habitat for mi-
gratory birds and other wild-
life, Staunton said. He and
others argue the project also
improves water quality as it
drains into the Klamath River.
“The basic principle is that
when you restore water ... it
instantly revitalizes the soil,”
Staunton, 32, told about 50
community members during a
recent tour of area farms.
He said the farmers have
been able to reduce nematode
and disease pressure without
using pesticides.
“Increasing your yield be-
cause the ground is healthy is
a good thing,” Staunton said,
adding that growers have also
seen an increased population
of waterfowl.
Staunton has had so much
success with the practice that
he’s initiated it on about 500
acres of private ground, ro-
tating in seasonal wetlands
under the guidance of the lo-
cal water district and the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation. Over-
all, the family farms about
7,000 acres in the Klamath
Basin, which straddles the Or-
egon-California state line.
“I think we somewhat
have a niche here because
of our ecosystem,” Staunton
said in an interview. “It’s not
diffi cult to return to that nat-
Calendar
Marc Staunton
Saturday-Sunday
Oct. 21-22
Home Orchard Society’s All
About Fruit Show. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Clackamas County Fairplex, 694
NE Fourth Ave., Canby, Ore.
Taste hundreds of varieties of
apples, pears, kiwi and grapes.
If you find a variety of fruit that
you’d like to grow, you can place
an order for a custom-grafted fruit
tree. Bring your unknown apples
for sleuthing by the Apple ID
team. Local experts will present
on a variety of fruit-growing topics
both days of the event. Admission
is $7 per person or $12 per fam-
ily (members pay $5 each or $10
for families). Website: http://www.
homeorchardsociety.org/events/
Wednesday, Oct. 25
Sustainable
Communi-
ty Stewards Volunteer Train-
ing. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum
Park, 600 128th St. SE, Ever-
ett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website:
http://extension.wsu.edu/sno-
homish/wp-content/uploads/
sites/7/2012/11/2017-SCS-Appli-
cation-form.doc
Wednesday-Saturday
Oct. 25-28
90th National FFA Convention
and Expo. Bankers Life Fieldhouse,
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis,
Ind. Website: https://www.ffa.org/
Capital Press Managers
Joe Beach ..................Editor & Publisher
Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director
Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor
Jessica Boone ........ Production Manager
Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager
Age: 32
Residence: Tulelake, Calif.
Occupation: Part-owner,
Staunton Farms
Family: Wife, Ami; children
Parker, 8, Graham, 5, Mar-
ley, 3, and Elliott, 1
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Fourth-generation farmer Marc Staunton stands near wetlands on the Tule Lake National Wildlife
Refuge in Northern California. He and others do rotational cropping on the refuge, which he says
replenishes the soil and provides a healthy habitat for migrating birds.
ural ecosystem. We put water
on a fi eld and all of the sud-
den we’re back to seeing the
native plants and species that
were here 100 years ago.”
Area in
detail
97
Upper
Klamath
Lake
140
Calif.
Founded in 1927
Staunton Farms was
founded in 1927 by Marc’s
great-grandfather, a World
War I veteran who home-
steaded the land and began
raising sheep. The family lat-
er began growing potatoes,
and now potatoes and onions
are the main focus, Staunton
said. The business is in its
13th year of growing organic
crops on some of its acreage,
he said.
Initiated in 1905, the
Klamath Reclamation Project
drained the historic lakes and
marshes of the Upper Klam-
ath Basin to create dry land
for farming. In the midst of
the project’s development,
the Lower Klamath and Tule
Lake wildlife refuges were set
aside by executive orders in
1908 and 1928, respectively,
according to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
1964 Kuchel Act
Farms can enter leases or
cooperatives with the feder-
al government to grow row
crops within the refuges as a
result of the 1964 Kuchel Act,
which allows them as long as
they’re conducive to proper
waterfowl management.
Amid growing pressure
from environmental groups
to convert the refuges back
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Capital Press
TULELAKE, Calif. —
Fourth-generation
farmer
Marc Staunton employs one
of the most innovative crop
rotations in the country.
On different segments of
a 3,500-acre plot within the
Tule Lake National Wildlife
Refuge, Staunton makes ro-
tations based on a four-year
cycle. He plants grains, then
potatoes and then returns to
grains, and in the fourth year
he fallows the fi eld and fl oods
it to create seasonal wetlands.
About 20 years ago, his
family’s Staunton Farms
helped spearhead a project
called Walking Wetlands, in
which growers with co-op
contracts or leases to farm
within the Klamath Basin Na-
tional Wildlife Refuges are
bringing wetlands back to an
area that was once a massive
lake.
Capital Press
Thursday, Oct. 26
UI Cover Crop Field Day. 1:30-5
p.m. USDA-NRCS Gooding offi ce,
820 Main St., Gooding, Idaho. In-
corporating cover crops into crop-
ping systems. Cost: Free
Thursday-Saturday
Oct. 26-28
Washington State Sheep
Producers Annual meeting and
convention. Hilltop Inn, 928 NW
Olsen St., Pullman, Wash. Among
the many events on the agenda
are presentations by the Wash-
ington State University Depart-
ment of Animal Sciences, the
University of Idaho Department
of Animal and Veterinary Sci-
ences and by Dr. Brian Joseph,
Washington State Veterinarian.
Website: www.wssp.org
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Sustainable Community Stew-
ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m.
McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE,
Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website:
http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4
Wednesday-Friday
Nov. 1-3
Weed Conference. Wenatchee
Convention Center, 121 N
Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee,
Wash. The conference will feature
more than 40 topics and speakers,
trade shows, state license and cer-
tifi ed crop adviser credits. Website:
info@weedconference.org
Thursday, Nov. 2
Four-Part Farm and Ranch
Succession Workshop 6-8:30 p.m.
Online or Clackamas Community
College Harmony Campus, 7738
SE Harmon Road, Milwaukie, Ore.
Learn from an attorney, an accoun-
tant, an appraiser, a banker, the di-
Kla
39
Calif.
97
Tulelake
Lower
Klamath
Lake
Tule
Lake
139
LAVA BEDS
NAT’L MON.
Tule Lake
National
Wildlife
Refuge
N
10 miles
Capital Press graphic
to natural habitat, farmers be-
gan to collaborate in seeking
ways to improve waterfowl
habitat while maintaining
food production, Staunton
said.
The result was the Walk-
ing Wetlands project, for
which growers now fl ood
about 1,100 acres in the
Tule Lake refuge and anoth-
er 1,100 acres in the Lower
Klamath National Wildlife
Refuge each year, he said.
“We started in 1998 block-
ing out farmland so it can be
rotated to seasonal wetlands,”
Staunton said. “It was a grass-
roots effort. We said, ‘Why
kick us off of there? Why
not work together to develop
that system that recognizes
your need of increasing wa-
terfowl habitat, of increasing
their food sources and healthy
marsh land, but then also still
being able to farm it?’ In turn
we’re using less pesticides
and less inputs and creating a
healthier net environment for
both sides.”
The
project
enabled
Staunton Farms to develop
a “more sustainable” way to
grow potatoes by increasing
the fertility of the soil through
natural nematode and disease
suppression, he said. The
standing water, decompos-
ing plants and bird droppings
all make the soil more fertile
when it’s put back into produc-
tion, Staunton and other proj-
ect participants said.
“It kind of worked out bet-
ter than we could have imag-
ined,” he said. “It developed
into something we use more
widely than just with organic
production. It can be used for
organic and conventional.”
Lawsuit fi led
Environmental
groups
aren’t sold on the concept,
however. WaterWatch, Ore-
gon Wild and the Audubon
Society of Portland fi led suit
earlier this year in U.S. Dis-
trict Court in Medford, Ore.,
to force the refuge managers
to phase out farming in their
15-year conservation plan so
more water could be reserved
for wildlife.
Current
management
practices in the refuges have
“reduced wetland habitat for
important bird migrations on
the Pacifi c Flyway, increased
disease, and increased the
distribution of noxious weeds
instead of plants suitable for
waterfowl,” the groups alleged
in the lawsuit.
Staunton counters that wet-
lands and farming together
provide a valuable food source
for birds while creating “a via-
ble source of food and fi ber for
the greater West Coast region.”
“I think it’s extremely im-
portant to have sustainable
food that is locally grown,” he
said. “I feel like farmers are
much more environmentalist
than they think themselves to
be or are given credit for be-
ing.”
As for how well fl ood-fal-
low irrigation works outside
the refuges, Staunton said it
depends on the landscape of
the area. He said the practice
has been embraced by other
farms that rely on a lease of
federal land as part of their op-
eration.
But doing so on private
ground can be more diffi cult,
he said.
“The infrastructure is not
as developed, so when you’re
fl ooding a fi eld, there’s a
fair amount of infrastructure
that needs to occur there,”
Staunton said. “Also, trying to
create a wetland around neigh-
bors poses a fair amount of
challenges.
“If a neighbor is getting
water shut off (because of
drought), we’re not going
to go fl ood our fi eld,” he
said.
Having naturally been a
lake bottom with vibrant soil
and a refuge for migratory wa-
terfowl, the refuge land was
ideal for the project, he said.
Short of recreating the mas-
sive lakes, the project is a good
alternative for waterfowl, he
argues.
“We can’t go backwards,”
he said. “What we can do is
improve on what we’ve been
given.”
GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE
www.oxarc.com
rector of Oregon State University’s
Austin Family Business Program
and farmers who’ve been through
the process. Receive free one-on-
one succession counseling ses-
sions between each event. Part one
of four parts. Cost: Free. Website:
http://bit.ly/2elYcPx
Monday-Tuesday
Nov. 6-7
Washington Dairy Conference
& Trade Show. Yakima Convention
Center, 10 N. Eighth St., Yakima,
Wash. Annual meeting activities, plus
time to catch up with fellow produc-
ers, sponsors and exhibitors. The
Dairy Women will host their scholar-
ship auction. Both the Dairy Federa-
tion and the Dairy Women will hold
annual membership meetings. The
Dairy Farmers of Washington will hold
their board meeting. Website: http://
wastatedairy.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 8
Sustainable Community Stew-
ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15
p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th
St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30
Website: http://extension.wsu.edu/
snohomish/wp-content/uploads/
sites/7/2012/11/2017-SCS-Applica-
tion-form.doc
Wednesday-Thursday
Nov. 8-9
United Dairymen of Idaho-Dairy
West Annual Meeting. Boise Center,
850 W. Front St., Boise, Idaho. This
year’s theme is “Pioneers by Nature”
and includes an expo, Milk Quality
Awards banquet, presentations and the
Dairy Hall of Fame banquet. Website:
http://idahodairy.com/annual-meeting/
Friday, Nov. 10
Central Oregon Ag Seminar.
10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pronghorn
20 Northwest Locations
Resort, 65600 Pronghorn Club
Drive, Bend, Ore. Join friends and
colleagues in Central Oregon at the
annual ag seminar in the Bend area
presented by Schwabe, Williamson
& Wyatt; Harvest Capital; and Geffen
Mesher. Topics Include Organizing
Your Agri-Business; Organizing Your
Finances and Financial Statements;
Water Rights: Knowing What You
Have and Making the Most of Them;
Organizing Your Affairs: Estate Plan-
ning for Farms and Ranches; and
Organizing for Tax Effects: Entity
Selection and Dissolution. Website:
RSVP at http://bit.ly/2y92rtc
Saturday-Sunday
Nov. 11-12
OFB Young Farmers & Ranchers
Leadership Conference. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Ore-
gon Farm Bureau offi ce, 1320 Capitol
St. NE, Salem. Keynote speakers will
be Kim Bremmer of Ag Inspirations,
a nationally recognized motivational
speaker who will discuss communica-
tion and advocacy in agriculture, and
Derek Pangelinan of Derek Rey Con-
sulting, the developer of “The 6 Per-
spectives of Leadership,” a model for
teaching leadership skills. Speakers
include Mary Anne Cooper, OFB Pub-
lic Policy Counsel; Jenny Dresler, OFB
Director of State Public Policy; Doug
Hoffman, Wilco president and CEO;
Joanne Humphrey of Aldrich CPAs
and Advisors; Sarah Brown of Oregon
Tilth; Andrea Krahmer of Northwest
Farm Credit Services; John Williams
of Oregon State University Extension,
Wallowa County; Jana Peterson of the
Oregon Department of Forestry; and
Stacy Davies, Country Natural Beef
and Roaring Springs Ranch. Cost:
$40 for Farm Bureau members age
16-35. Website: http://oregonfb.org/
yfrconference
1-800-765-9055
Tuesday-Wednesday
Nov. 14-15
Washington Farm Bureau Annual
Meeting. Yakima Convention Center,
10 N. Eighth St., Yakima, Wash. Web-
site: www.wsfb.com
Tuesday-Thursday
Nov. 14-16
Willamette Valley Ag Expo, Linn
County Fair & Expo Center, 3700
Knox Butte Road E, Albany, Ore. The
expo is over 250,000 square feet of
exhibitors, equipment, seminars,
classes, food and fun. The Ag expo
is put on each year by the Willamette
Valley Ag Association. The WVAA is
a nonprofi t and proceeds from the
Ag Expo go toward the association’s
college scholarships. Hours are 9
a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Wednesday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Thursday. Website: www.wvaexpo.
com
Thursday, Nov. 16
Four-Part Farm and Ranch Suc-
cession Workshop 6-8:30 p.m. Online
or Clackamas Community College
Harmony Campus, 7738 SE Harmon
Road, Milwaukie, Ore. Learn from an
attorney, an accountant, an appraiser,
a banker, the director of Oregon State
University’s Austin Family Business
Program and farmers who’ve been
through the process. Receive free
one-on-one succession counseling
sessions between each event. Part
two of four parts. Cost: Free. Website:
http://bit.ly/2elYcPx
Friday, Nov. 17
Denim and Diamonds Dinner
Auction. 5-9 p.m. Oregon Convention
Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd., Portland. This is the premier
fundraiser for Oregon Aglink. Web-
site: aglink.org
Entire contents copyright © 2017
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Index
California ................................ 9
Idaho .....................................11
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon .................................. 8
Washington ......................... 10
Correction
In a story on page 5 of last
week’s editions about pro-
moting the dairy industry, the
name of the Smoky Mountain
Pizzeria Grill was incorrect.
The Capital Press regrets the
error.
Correction policy
Accuracy is important to Capital
Press staff and to our readers.
If you see a misstatement,
omission or factual error in a
headline, story or photo caption,
please call the Capital Press
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