Conservationists Hold Line Against Valley Erosion
Th Etcrtecnan, Salm, Ofyoo, Thursday, ptfl II,
Winter Losses
Termed Slight
To Moderate
FRIGID AIRE
COOKING CLINIG
$j$&Mua
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PRESENTS
MARTHA JANE COIE
t 1.1.
(Editor's note: Herb Boddv of t
V.H. Soil Conservation tervire In
Portland writ runfr1
on what i happening to the soil of
the Willamette vallrv.)
The affect of one of the Willam
mette .Valley's worst winter runoff
periods, brought "slight to moder
ate soil losses to sloping agricul
tural lands in Marion county, the
Portland regional headquarters of
the U.S. Soil Conservation Service
reported this week.
The U.S. Soil Conservation Ser
vice's survey team estimated that
more than a million tons op top
soil was washed from the uplands
of the valley so far this year. Ma
rion county's soil losses were set
at 111,000 tons eroded off some
17,300 acres, of fall seeded grain
and fallowed fields.
Soil conservationists described
erosion in the Waldo Hills, north
of Stayton, and in the steepy slop
ing farming areas south of Salem,
"severe," where losses of as much
as 30 tons per acre occurred. But,
they explained, large acreages of
grass grown for seed in the Waldo
Hills provided substantial protec
tion against soil losses on most
farms.
Fact Not All Bad
Erosion facts, uncovered by the
survey team, were not all bad.
There were many "bright spots"
where "conservation practices" had
held the line against erosive forces.
A good example was the Vernon
Jette farm, near Shaw, where con
tour strip cropping, coupled with
a long time rotation of sod crops
and short-lived grain, hay and seed
crops, gave protection to sloping
lands.
Sloping agricultural lands of the
Willamette valley lost more than
a million tons of fertile topsoil,
while individual farm erosion los
ses ranged from one to 100 tons
per acre, during one of the worst
winter runoff periods on record.
The huge soil erosion damage
figure which topped the million
ton mark affected approximately
97,000 acres. It occurred mainly on
fallow fields, fall - seeded grain
lands, hillside row crop farms and
on some upland orchard acreage
in watershed areas throughout the
valley, the survey conducted by
the Portland headquarters of the
U. S. Soil Conservation Service
shows.
Need Clearly Shown
Not generally tabbed as an "ero
sion danger area" by Portland and
valley residents, the gullies, rills,
and scoured farmlands, now visible
on many farms in Multnomah,
Clackamas, Washington. Yamhill.
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Eroded strawberry field, cultivated up-and-down slope, eight miles southeast of Silverton In Marlon
county. Soil conservation service erosion surveyors set the soil loss at 25 tons per acre on the field.
O1
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OLD ART A hand-blown cathode ray tube Is placed la
the oven during processing for a television set, at Bcthpage, N. .
ed the amount of soil lost per acre
on a cross-section of farms.
Cover Crops Valuable
In many upland areas they found
erosion-free farms, adjoining sev
erly damaged row crop and fall
seeded grainlands. Good cover
crops were firmly holding soil on
some of the steepest watershed
lands. Other soil conservation prac
tices, which were observed: to be
effectively controlling erosion.
were mulching leaving a trashy
cover of straw and crop residues
on the surface Contour terraces;
grassed waterways to drain runoff;
and strip-cropping.
In the southern portion of the
Willamette valley erosion and oth
er problems of the land are?-being
carefully worked Out with soil con
servation service technicians and
through the farmer-voted Santiam,
and Linn - Lane soil conservation
districts. j
Not much more than a year old,
these farmer-managed districts are
beginning to lay a ground-work of
time-tested soil conservation prac
tices as the first step toward safe
and full use of the lands. Com
plete soil and water conservation
practices, including erosion control
measures, are integral parts: of the
long-range objective of such dis
tricts. !
"Snowance" Pointed Out
That soil conservation is insur
ance against erosion is illustrated
in the contour terraces, designed
by soil conservation service tech
nicians as a demonstration project
near Rex, in Yamhill county. 10
years ago. On orchard lands witn ;
greater than 40 per cent slope !
these terraces carried away runoff j
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Labish Center
Group Elects
LABISH CENTER The Com
munity club Friday night elected
Max Bibby as president for the
coming year. Other new officers
are vice president, Arlo Pugh, and j
secretary, Mrs. Fred McClaughry.
The committee to take charge of
the last day of school no-host din
ner is Mrs. Don Metheny, Mrs. Er
nest Werner and Mrs. Ruben
Boehm.
The Sunday school Easter pro
gram will be combined with the
regular Sunday school services
Sunday, with a worship service
following at 11 a.m. The choir will
present a service in the evening.
Harvey Aker returned Sunday
from Silverton hospital, where he
had been receiving treatment for
a week.
$4,000 Damage
Settlement Made
In Death of Twins
The mother of twin girls killed
in a train-auto accident at Gervais
last July accepted a $4,000 claim
settlement, according to records
filed in Marion county probabte
court Wednesday. I
Joan and Joyce Rentz. eight-year
old daughters of Mrs. MarieRentz ;
of Gervais were killed instantly on i
the night of July 28 when the car
in which they were riding was
struck by a Southern Piicitic pas
senger train in Gervais.
Robert V. Pilcher, 40, Gervais
route 1. driver of the car, also was
killed. There were no witnesses to
the crash but state police sid that
Pilcher apparently drove into the
path of the train. i
The Southern Pacific paid $750 i
on each child and the estate of
Pilcher, $1,250 eac h.
IN
EASTER ENTERTAINING
Location
Mezzanine
Floor
Place
115
South
Com'l.
A
MARTHA JANE COIE
Date:!
Tliursi
April 11
Timej
2 1J. M.
Martha Jane Coie. Home advisor, will offer many suggestions
jn Easter Entertaining. She invites you to bring a friend and
learn the many advantages of modern electric cooking In the
FRIG1DAIRE model Kitchen. t
Refreshments Will Be Served
viimnette imiT i iijiiiic ipptuicr s iomc rsiiisuu
SALEM OREGON CITY I
Elliott Flaxman. soil conservationist, and William Hill, state soil
scientist, of the erosion survey team, measure soil losses on a fall
seeded wheat field a mile north of Shaw In Marion county.
Marion, Benton and Polk counties ! safely and prevented gullying of
clearly illustrate the need for im
mediate erosion-combating meas
ures, service officials point out.
Ronnie Elmes, district conserva
tionist stationed at Eugene, who
wilth Bill Hill, state soil scientist
of Corvallis, and Elliott Flaxman
of the regional staff, made the in
ventory of soil erosion damage,
said the high soil tonnage mark
brought into sharper focus the need
for wider use of conservation farm
ing practices.
"We have long known that soil
losses from winter run-off were
mounting in the Willamette valley
watershed," Elmes explained. "But,
not in many years have erosion
landmarks stood out so prominent
ly. The hundred of erosion marks,
which can now be viewed in hill
side areas and lands sloping back
from the valley floor, have made
fanners and conservationists, alike,
more conscious of the problem."
Weather Piles Up Perils
Beginning in December when
rainfall averaged 3 inches above
normal throughout the valley, a
combination of weather factors,
including high winds, melting
snows and thaws teamed up to
produce a strong erosion force.
Soaking of farmlands by the heavy
rains of February 9, 10, 17 and 18,
and melting of partly frozen soils,
caused most of the erosion and
flood damage during the winter.
In parts of Benton and Clackamas
counties, a blanket of snow protect
ed fields from run-off during Feb
ruary's heavy rains.
Most erosion landmarks visible
today on Willamette hill lands are
of the rill type, oi small gullies,
though in at least a few instances
fields were rutted to depth of
six feet.
Soil conservationists reported
that not more than 20 per cent, of
eroded soil was deposited in wa
tershed areas, the bulk of lost soil
having been carried out to sea by
tributary streams.
Erosion surveyors were able to
reach most of the highland farm
ing communities rimming the val
ley. Equipped with tape and soil
auger, thy measured the depth and
width of erosion rills, and calculat-
13017!
Btndix
At
JUDSOH'S
See Page 5
downhill fields. Where sou pro
tection was lacking, the erosion
forces that washed a million tons
of soil from upland farms played
no favorites. It gullied clean-tilled
row crop lands planted down slope.
Orchards with good grass cover
crops were practically unmarked.
But, nut orchards, without a pro
tective cover or those having poor
water disposal systems, lost heavy
tonnages of soil.
Other hard-hit areas were lands
seeded to small grain, and grass
or grain, too late for fall growth
to provide protection for soils dur
ing the severe vvinter. About 85
per cent of fall seeded JUi nd had
been tilled up and down-slopes.
Row Crop Land Suffers
Heaviest losers from the .winter
runoff were row crop growers,
who suffered the highest soil dam
age on a per acre basis. First in
terms of soil tonnage losses were
farmers growing small grains, and
fall-seeded grasses along the slopes
of the Willamette watershed. More
than 780,000 tons of soil were lost
on such lands.
Older stands of grass, well an
chored in soils, suffered only mi
nor erosion damage, while : wide
spread erosion of small grain fields
was observed in Washington; Polk,
Benton and Multnomah counties.
Summing up the damaging af
fects of erosion on the valley's up
land agriculture, Elmes said the
land damage survey revealed two
important land facts. ( 1) Crops
can be grown on sloping tanas
with the right combination of soil
conservation practices. (2) Some
eroding, steeply sloping grain lands
should be put in pasture to pro
vide a permanent cover for soils.
In short, there it a greater need
for using the valley's sloping lands
for the purpose for which they are
best suited. Soil conservationists
call this, "farming according to the
capability of the land."
Neighborhood Club
Entertained at Swegle
SWEGLE Mrs. Ray Bernardy
ntrtaind the Neighborhood club
at her home Friday afternoon. A J
dessert luncheon was served. Hon-
ored guest for a' birthday hand
kerchief shower was Mrs Henry
Preim.
Guests this week of Mr. and
Mrs. George Brown are her sister. :
Mrs. Charles Redding of; Port
land, and his mother, Mrs. Ella
Brown of Cutler City.
SOIL EROSION on CULTIVATED LANDS
WILLAMETTE VALLEY. OREGON
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