Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 20, 2014
Page 9
Warm Springs OSU Extension
Zucchinis: abundant crop worth the effort
by Yvonne Babb
OSU Gardening Coordinator
You know when your gar-
dening work is worth the ef-
fort when you harvest your
first zucchini.
I recently added plump
juicy raspberries from my
backyard vines into my zuc-
chini bread recipe with whole
grain flours and walnuts; the
bread was a week-long treat,
and flooded me with child-
hood memories.
Where I grew up, zucchini
plants seemed to erupt from
the fluffy, black Illinois soil.
In July and August it was the
plant that kept on giving. You
knew it was the season when
three people showed up at a
potluck with zucchini bread.
The local prank was to
leave a zucchini on your
neighbor’s doorstep, ring the
doorbell and run. That’s
when you used to pick them
close to 2 feet long and 3
inches diameter.
Zucchinis are a war m
weather crop. Here in Cen-
tral Oregon they take more
effort to grow, especially since
a frost can occur almost any
time of year.
Zucchinis are a member
of the squash family,
cucurbitaceae, (cue-ker-bi-
tay-cee-ay). And they do very
well once the summer season
gets started.
They need soil tempera-
tures of 70 – 95 degrees Fahr-
enheit to germinate. Harvest
pollination, which was dem-
onstrated by a large team of
researchers across a wide ar-
ray of crops around the
globe.
Additional research found
that in many cases squash
bees can provide up to 100
percent of the squash plant’s
pollination needs.
is in 60 to 80 days, depend-
ing upon your microclimate
and the number of cool eve-
nings we have.
Since it takes so much ef-
fort and space, I decided not
to grow zucchini, but rather
to grow tomatoes. To create
a warm environment for to-
matoes I built a small hoop
house with heavy plastic and
electrical conduit piping.
Then I added fresh ma-
nure as an active composting
layer beneath about 4 inches
of topsoil. Apparently, the
manure housed several zuc-
chini seeds which sprouted
once the soil warmed.
Not only did the hoop
house protect the young
plants from freezing in June,
but it protected them from
hail storms and extreme tem-
peratures in July and August.
As temperatures cool in the
fall, the hoop house will also
extend the season.
So it sounds like growing
zucchini isn’t too hard after
all. Is that all the effort nec-
essary to get those abundant
log-sized veggies?
It is not too hard if you
have the time to invest in a
hoop house. And yes, it is
worth the effort; however, it
is not just the environment
you need to produce the
“fruit.”
the pollen must be moved
from the male flower to the
female flower for fertilization
to occur.
While you are pressing the
snooze button or drinking
your morning java, squash
bees are already courting or
mating amongst the open
squash blossoms.
While gathering pollen and
nectar, they are moving the
pollen between the male and
female flowers, or cross pol-
linating.
This tradeoff is of mutual
benefit to the insects, which
mate and then carry on with
their life cycle.
The female bee will collect
pollen to feed the eggs she
will lay in a tunnel in the soil,
often beneath the squash
plants a foot or more down.
While the female is nest build-
ing, you might find the male
taking a midday siesta in the
spent blossom that twists its
way closed for business.
Cross pollination
Squash bees
To get the fruit, or what
we call the zucchini, cross
pollination is essential, since
I was so fascinated by
these squash bees I strolled
out to the garden between
5:30 and 7:30 a.m. in early
August, coffee in hand, to
check them out.
At first I saw nothing, but
then within five minutes I saw
a robust bee land on the male
flower. It crawled around,
became coated with pollen
and flew off.
Only three squash blos-
soms were open and recep-
tive, so it soon landed on the
only female flower, crawled
in and circled the brain-like
female pistil, wa-la! Maybe I
will have zucchini after all.
Pollinators in synch
By the time the exotic hon-
eybees arose mid-day, most
of my zucchini flowers may
have already been pollinated
for now they were tightly
closed. This is why native
bees can be more effective
pollinators, for the timing of
the native plant and the na-
tive pollinator is in synch.
The Nature Conservancy
analyzed the benefits of na-
tive pollinator to New Jersey
farms. The study found na-
tive bees are twice as effec-
tive as managed honeybees at
2 pollinator groups
There are only two groups
of native North American
squash bees, Peponapis and
Xenoglossa, which are highly
specialized in pollinating
squash flowers. They specifi-
cally seek out pollen and nec-
tar from melons, pumpkins,
squash, cucumbers and
gourds.
If the bees have quality
habitat, then the farmer or
gardener does not need to
supplement the native bees
with managed honeybees.
In the Nature Conser-
vancy Squash Fact Sheet, the
squash bees support the 9.6
million dollar New Jersey
squash industry; however, as
human populations increase
and habitat for bees’ declines,
farmers may need to com-
pensate by using and paying
for managed honey bees,
which are obviously not on
the same schedule as squash
plant as described above.
Creating habitat
To ensure squash bees
have adequate habitat in your
yard follow these simple
steps:
· Avoid deep tillage to pre-
vent damaging bees’ nests.
· Provide a source of wa-
ter by maintaining a shallow
canal or depressions in the
fields that hold water. These
can be created by sinking
planter trays or bird baths in
the soil and filling them half
way with sloping gravel to
ensure bees have safe access
to the water.
· Avoid overhead watering
during the early morning
hours to prevent washing pol-
len off the flowers.
· Choose a toxic free en-
vironment. Pesticides, insec-
ticides and fungicides can all
be harmful to soft bodied
bees that can accumulate tox-
ins in their bodies over time.
I have the hoop house. I
have the raised beds. I have
a source of fresh manure and
I have created healthy bee
habitat. I am sold! Watch
out, you just may get a zuc-
chini on your doorstep next
season, and I highly advise
you to make bread and join
the fun.
Take your coffee and cam-
era out to the pumpkin patch
for a short documentary at
dawn that you won’t regret.
Call me at OSU if you have
questions and come help me
in the garden. Call me for a
Tuesday tour.
Yvonne Babb, OSU garden-
ing coordinator, 541-480-
6997.
PUBLIC NOTICE - UMATILLA TRIBAL LAND BUY-BACK PROGRAM
UMATILLA LAND BUY-BACK PROGRAM AN-
NOUNCES WAVE 1 – 150 PRIORITY ALLOT-
MENTS FOR ACQUISITION.
The Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla In-
dian Reservation’s Board
of Trustees provided guid-
ance, through Resolution
12-074 and 13-047, in pri-
oritizing 400 allotments on
the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation for acquisition
through the Department
of Interior Land Buy Back
Program (DOI Program).
In developing the pri-
orities the following was
considered:
· Culturally sensitive al-
lotments including cem-
eteries and access to cem-
eteries
· Highly fractionated
allotments owned by non-
CTUIR members
· Highly fractionated
allotments with mixed own-
ership
· Allotments where
CTUIR’s ownership is
over 50%
· Allotments which
CTUIR’s departments or
programs designated as
priority (for example: for
physical access to CTUIR’s
fee property, for possible
further developments for
public utilities or public
use, etc.)
· Willing sellers
· 232 Mineral only al-
lotments
What is the Land
Buy-Back Program?
The Cobell Settlement
became effective on Nov.
24, 2012. As part of the
Cobell Settlement, the
DOI Land Buy-Back Pro-
gram received $1.5 billion
for purchasing undivided
trusts interest in trust al-
lotments owned by indi-
vidual Indians. The end result
is meant to reduce the level
of fractionation in trust allot-
ment land titles across Indian
Country. The DOI Program
will only purchase interests
from individual owners who
are willing to sell and return
those interests to the tribe
with jurisdiction over the al-
lotment. The DOI Program
has until Nov. 2022 to pur-
chase these interests.
How is the CTUIR in-
volved?
In May 2014, the CTUIR
and DOI signed a Coopera-
tive Agreement where the
Umatilla Tribal Land Buy
Back Program (Umatilla
LBBP) agreed to conduct
three of the four compo-
nents of the DOI Program
plan: Outreach, Land Char-
acteristics and Appraisals.
Out of 150 fractionated
reservations in the United
States, the Umatilla Indian
Reservation (UIR) is the 28 th
most fractionated reserva-
tion. The Umatilla LBBP goal
is help consolidate the UIR
trust land base for the ben-
eficial use of the CTUIR as
a sovereign nation.
How is the Department
of Interior Land-Buy Pro-
gram involved in the
CTUIR
Cooperative
Agreement?
The DOI Program will
mail the Offer Packet to land-
owners as the fourth compo-
nent of the Cooperative
Agreement with the CTUIR.
The offer packet will in-
clude: 1) Cover letter and
Instructions; 2) Deed (must
be notarized); 3) Purchasable
Interests Inventory; and 4)
Tract Maps. A postage-paid
envelope is also included.
Landowners must decide
fairly quickly on whether to
accept the DOI offer because
the offer is good for 45 days
after the date on the cover
letter. Landowners will be paid
the fair market value for the
tracts if they choose to sell,
plus an additional payment of
$75 for taking the time to
complete the offer package.
The DOI purchases the
undivided trust interests with
the Cobell Settlement funds
that were set aside to reduce
the level of fractionation on
Indian reservations. The in-
terests purchased from these
funds will be held in trust for
the CTUIR.
How is the Fair Market
Value of the land deter-
mined?
An appraisal by a licensed
appraiser will determine the
Fair Market Value that will
be offered for purchase of
all individual interests. An
appraisal is an act or process
of developing an opinion of
value by researching many
factors, including location,
local market values, condition
of the property and sales of
comparable properties lo-
cated near the subject prop-
erty.
On June 15, 2014, the
Umatilla LBBP completed
and submitted the first 150
appraisals to the Office of
Special Trustees Office of
Appraisal Services (OAS) for
review and completion.
The Umatilla LBBP antici-
pates the first round of offer
packages may be mailed in
September after the OAS
completes their review on the
150 allotment appraisals and
the BIA has calculated values
for the 232 mineral only al-
lotments.
Umatilla LBBP will com-
plete the appraisals of the
400 allotments in three
Waves. The appraisals will be
completed and submitted to
OAS following this timeline:
Wave Appraisal Dead-
line: June 30, 2014. Num-
ber of Allotments: 150.
Appraisals to OAS Report
Date: June 15, 2014.
Review completed and of-
fers packages mailed: TBD.
Wave Appraisal Dead-
line: Sept. 29, 2014. Num-
ber of allotments: 150.
Appraisals to OAS Report
Date: TBD.
Review completed and of-
fers packages mailed: TBD.
Wave Appraisal Dead-
line: Dec. 31, 2014. Num-
ber of allotments: 100.
Appraisals to OAS Report
Date: TBD.
Review completed and of-
fers packages mailed: TBD.
How can I be involved
in the Umatilla LBBP if I
am a fractionated owner of
one or more of the allot-
ments listed in this notice?
· Review your quarterly
Individual Indian Monies
(IIM) statement mailed to
you from the Office of Spe-
cial Trustee to see if you own
a fractionated interest in
Wave 1 allotments. The state-
ment will list your Real Prop-
erty Assets. If you need as-
sistance you may contact the
Umatilla LBBP Coordinator
at 541-429-7490.
· Consider whether you
want to sell your interests in
an allotment (willing seller).
· Update your contact in-
for mation by calling the
Umatilla LBBP Call Center
Listed below are the Wave 1 allotments which
have been appraised and submitted to the DOI LBBP
OAS. The list does not include the mineral only allot-
ments.
537 1135 C165
553 1140 C166
555 1152 C167
612 1264 C168
627 1269 C169
676 1275 C177
677-B 1287 C178
678-A 1318 C179
678-B 1339 C184
679 C3
C194
681 C15
C195
730 C25
C208
747 C41
C210
825 C42
C211
866 C44
C213
867 C45
C230-F
894 C51
C257
984 C58
C299
1015 C60
C304
1050 C68-B C307
1052 C69
C312
1055 C80
C315
1057-B C100 C330
1066 C105 C343
1070 C113-A C344
1121 C114-B C369
1122 C116 C371
1128 C133 C372
1129 C134-A C373
1131 C139B C396
toll-free at 1-855-359-7434
or the LBBP Coordinator 1-
541-429-7490.
· If you do not want to
sell your fractionated inter-
est in an allotment on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
you do not need to do any-
thing when you receive an
offer letter
· If you own fractionated
shares of allotments on other
reservations you may con-
tact the Office of Special
Trust Beneficiary Call Cen-
ter at 1-888-678-6836 for as-
sistance.
UM8 WW53
UM15-A WW56-D
UM15-C WW85
UM19 WW86
UM23 WW89
UM29 WW91
UM43 WW92-A
UM72 WW92B
UM81 WW96
UM98 WW124
UM115 WW128
UM122 WW131-A
UM124 WW147
UM126 WW148
UM131 WW151
UM141 WW162
UM143 WW168
UM156 WW168-A
UM161 WW168-B
UM172 WW173
UM202 WW178
UM206 WW455
UM207 WW456
WW21-B WW457
WW26BWW459
WW37 WW460-A
WW44CWW472
WW46 WW479
WW48 WW481
WW52 WW483
Wave 2 – 150 allot-
ments; and Wave 3 - 100
allotments, will be an-
nounced as they are final-
ized.
You may contact the
Umatilla Tribal Contact
Center at 1-855-359-
7434 or the Umatilla
Tribal LBBP Coordina-
tor:
Rosenda Shippen-
tower at 541-429-7490
with any questions or
comments.