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8 CapitalPress.com February 23, 2018 Oregon farmers say retiring research station director will be sorely missed By SEAN ELLIS Associate Press File The Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River near Cascade Locks, Ore. Its lock is among several on the Columbia and Snake rivers that will be closed to river traffic for repairs and maintenance starting March 3. Locks on Columbia, Snake rivers to close for repairs, maintenance Capital Press The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct rou- tine annual inspections, pre- ventive maintenance and re- pairs at all navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers during March. The Walla Walla District dams with navigation locks include McNary Dam near Umatilla, Ore.; Ice Harbor Dam near Burbank, Wash.; Lower Monumental Dam near Kahlotus, Wash.; Little Goose Dam near Starbuck, Wash.; and Lower Granite Dam near Pomeroy, Wash. The Portland District operates The Dalles, Bon- neville and John Day dams and navigation locks on the Columbia River. All locks in the inland navigation system will close to recreational and commer- cial river traffic at 6 a.m. March 3. Lower Monumental, Ice Harbor, McNary and Bon- neville locks are scheduled to reopen at 11:59 p.m. Sun- day, March 18. Lower Granite, Little Goose, John Day and The Dalles are scheduled to re- turn to service at 11:59 p.m. on March 25. The additional days at those dams are nec- essary to perform non-rou- tine work that will require more time to complete than the typical two-week rou- tine maintenance outage. The non-routine work includes gate structural re- pairs, navigation lock con- crete repair and equipment repair or replacement. In the Walla Walla Dis- trict, work may require the temporary suspension of vehicle crossings at Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams on the lower Snake River in Washington to accom- modate activities during the lock maintenance outage. The public will be notified about closures, if possible, in advance, but the crossing is still subject to closure at any time. Travelers should call 1-888-DAM-INFO (1-888- 326-4636) well in advance of arrival for the current dam-crossing information. Capital Press ONTARIO, Ore. — A search commit- tee is being formed to find a replacement for the retiring director of Oregon State University’s Malheur County agricultur- al experiment station. Area farmers say it won’t be easy to replace Clint Shock, who has held the po- sition since 1984 and helped the agricul- tural industry address some of its tough- est issues over the decades. “Clint, in my opinion, has done more for the agricultural community in Mal- heur County and adjoining areas than anybody has ever done in the past,” said Jerry Erstrom, a farmer and member of the local weed and watershed council boards. “I won’t say he can’t be replaced but it’s going to be tough. We’re going to really miss him.” During his time as director of the re- search station, Shock has led research on onions, potatoes, sugar beets, alfalfa and poplars as well as water quality, erosion control, plant nutrition and the use of soil water sensors. He helped pioneer the use of drip ir- rigation and developed improved meth- ods to irrigate onions, conducted re- search that resolved local concerns about groundwater contamination from nitrates and herbicides, and developed methods to reduce the potato dark-end disease. He also developed alternative crops for Treasure Valley farmers, which in- cluded new production methods for na- tive wildflowers used in re-vegetation projects. “Clint has been the cement of the industry at the experiment station for a long time,” said Malheur County Onion Growers President Paul Skeen. “Losing Clint is going to be a big deal.” Skeen said one of Shock’s biggest Sean Ellis/Capital Press Clint Shock, left, who is retiring as director of Oregon State University’s agricultural ex- periment station in Malheur County, speaks with a farmer Feb. 6 during a retirement open house hosted by the Idaho and Oregon onion growers associations. accomplishments was research that ad- dressed the agricultural water provisions in the Food and Drug Administration’s new produce safety rule. The research showed that the bulb onions grown in the area are not at risk of being contaminated by irrigation water containing even large amounts of bacteria. That research led to FDA revamp- ing the produce rule’s agricultural water standards in a way that benefits all pro- duce growers in the nation affected by the rule, Skeen said. Shock was honored by the region’s farming industry last week during the Idaho and Oregon onion associations’ annual joint meeting. Shock told Capital Press that during his research career, he learned that rath- er than staying only within his area of expertise, it was more important to work on whatever issues the community need- ed to be addressed, even though that of- ten meant getting far out of his comfort zone. “Rather than stay within my training or what I’ve been prepared to do, I’ve tried to do what the community needed to do in agricultural science,” he said. “Every real problem with growers seems to be complex and laps off into different fields, so every one is an adventure.” Shock also said he learned that any solution that has an economic benefit to it will get picked up by industry. “That means that if you have some problem that you need to solve, if you can find some way that will provide an economic benefit to someone, then it will get adopted,” he said. Courtesy USDA A new University of Idaho Extension course, March 16 in Sandpoint and March 17 in Hayden, helps new landowners learn how to manage small, rural acreage. New UI Extension course will help landowners manage small, rural acreage Orientation course includes info on growing crops By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press 8-1/100 University of Idaho Exten- sion will offer a one-day pro- gram to help owners of small rural acreages manage their land. “Ten Acres and a Dream” will be March 16 in Sandpoint and March 17 in Hayden. Topics to be covered in- clude living on the land; homesteading infrastructure; growing fruits, vegetables and other crops on small acreages; working with coun- ty government; raising large and small livestock and man- aging pastures on small acre- ages; and Idaho panhandle forestry fundamentals. Three UI volunteers will also share their rural Idaho living expe- riences. The new program was the idea of the Master Forest Stewards, according to UI Extension. The stewards were inter- acting with many landowners new to a rural setting, said Chris Schnepf, extension ed- ucator for forestry with UI Extension in Coeur d’Alene. “Even simple things like, ‘How do you make contact with your neighbors?’” he said. “Sometimes you live in a rural area and someone pulls up in a pickup, some landowners are a little sus- picious ... or when you get out of the car and there’s nobody there, kind of shout something out. Basically the idea is making your presence known, not just surprising somebody in their backyard. People move out to rural set- tings for a variety of reasons. One of them often is priva- cy.” Program enrollment is limited to 75 participants per session. Pre-registration is encouraged, no later than March 9. A $15 registration fee includes resource materi- als and refreshments. “My gut instinct is we’re probably going to go to max capacity and end up repeat- ing it down the road in differ- ent locations,” Schnepf said. Boundary, Bonner, Koo- tenai and Benewah counties collectively have more than 1.5 million acres of private lands, 47.5 percent of all lands in those counties, ac- cording to UI Extension. Schnepf said the program will emphasize how to do right by the land, managing weeds and creeks, and ad- dressing a wide variety of different visions for land- owners. “Giving them a little bit of traction for making those things a reality,” he said. For registration questions on the Sandpoint session, contact the University of Ida- ho Extension office in Bonner County at (208) 263-8511. For registration questions on the Hayden session, contact the University of Idaho Ex- tension in Kootenai County at (208) 446-1680. Registra- tion forms can also be down- loaded at www.uidaho.edu/ extension/forestry/calendar The program is co-spon- sored by UI Extension and the Idaho Department of Lands.