A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Where agriculture
and sci-fi meet
n 1977, when the fi rst “Star
Wars” movie premiered, few
— if any — viewers thought
it would predict the future of
agriculture.
We should explain.
In the movie, Luke
Skywalker — “Our Hero”
— fi rst appeared as he was
working on his uncle’s
“moisture farm” on a desert
planet. This farm captured
its water directly from the
atmosphere, which was unique
enough, but only Luke and his
aunt and uncle ran the whole
operation. The rest of the
“workers” were autonomous
droids, or robots. As you will
recall, they did all of the work
on the farm, and Luke’s job was
to repair them. He was going to
town to get a spare part when
he encountered Sand People
and was rescued by Obi-Wan
Kenobi, the Jedi knight.
While the rest of the story
is well known, most people
dismissed the idea of an
automated farm as nothing
more than the product of a
fertile imagination and science
fi ction.
Fast forward 40 years, and
the vision of a farm where
robots and drones do much of
the work no longer seems so
far-fetched.
At a recent conference
in Pendleton, researchers,
inventors and farmers got
together to contemplate
the future of farming. The
ideas they have developed
make “Star Wars” seem old-
fashioned. In the not-too-distant
future, they see robotic workers
harvesting fruits and vegetables
and driverless tractors and
combines planting and
harvesting crops. Drones and
I
sensors will identify portions
of fi elds needing irrigation
or applications of fertilizer
or pesticide and call in other
drones to do the job.
Ranchers will use drones to
monitor the location and health
of their cattle on the range
and, when needed, to chase off
predators such as wolves or
coyotes.
Combine that with other
advances in agriculture,
from genetic editing of crops
to use less water, fertilizer
and pesticide to orchards,
vineyards and berry farms
that are designed for effi cient
mechanical harvesting, and you
have a hint of what the future
of agriculture holds.
These advances will not
happen solely because they
represent “progress.” They will
address problems that farmers
and ranchers face. Among those
problems are a shortage of labor,
the need for the more precise
use of resources and, most
importantly, the need to feed
7.5 billion people on the planet
today and more in the future.
The possibilities are endless.
They are limited only by the
imaginations of agriculture’s
best and brightest innovators.
“There’s a clear path
toward completely automated
farming,” Jake Joraanstad of
Myriad Mobile Solutions, a
Fargo, North Dakota, tech
company, told the Pendleton
gathering. “To solve the hunger
problem, we have to be going
there, that has to be the future.”
As technology develops in
every arena of agriculture, we
will see farmers and ranchers
adopt it as a way to grow the
food a hungry planet needs.
May the force be with us.
G UEST C OMMENT
Permittees did not partner on project
By Ken and Cici Brooks
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
We, as the private landowners
and permittees affected by the “fi sh
habitat restoration” work on the
East Fork of Beech Creek, disagree
with the propaganda article that was
published in the Aug. 9 Blue Moun-
tain Eagle. The article misrepresent-
ed our involvement in the second
paragraph. We didn’t partner on this
project! We openly expressed to the
forest supervisor, district ranger, the
range and aquatic staff that we were
not in favor of the large woody-
coarse woody debris projects until
we had proof that it actually bene-
fi ted steelhead recovery.
The double standards associated
with this project are appalling, and
certainly not mentioned in this ar-
ticle. The permitted cattle for this
critical habitat were not allowed to
graze it in 2017 because the Mal-
heur National Forest staff didn’t
do their job of completing consul-
tation with National Marine Fisher-
ies Service prior to May 15. They
knew that deadline for fi ve years
and couldn’t meet it; yet the same
consultation for this project was
completed ahead of schedule. This
certainly makes sense to the Forest
Service: to stop a benefi cial activity
(grazing), which provides an eco-
nomic benefi t to the local commu-
nity, and allow a destruction project
to be completed by an out-of-coun-
ty contractor.
The logging for this project
should offend everyone with an
ounce of common sense. Pushing
large trees over with an excavator
and dragging them by their tops in
an effort to de-limb them is equiva-
lent to plowing, and all done within
a stone’s throw of critical habitat.
Why didn’t they just dump dirt in
the creek with a dump truck? the
vegetation and fences would still
be standing instead of torn out by
excavators. There isn’t a logging
operation anywhere that could get
away with these practices.
The fi sh habitat in the East Fork
Beech Creek had improved greatly
with the improved grazing manage-
ment, and we have before-project
photos to document the shading,
gravel deposits, meanders and
braiding, woody debris, log jams
and beaver that were already pres-
ent. If it isn’t broken, throw money
at it. Taxpayer money was wasted
on destroying this habitat recovery
because the biologists believe re-
covery will be faster.
We are in favor of recovering
steelhead and in water storage in
the basin, but placing log jams in
areas where there is no potential
for fl oodplain storage is ludicrous
(see fi rst log jam on Magone Lake
Road upstream from junction with
Highway 395). Alder trees were
mowed down by track vehicles,
banks were exposed, stream sed-
iment delivery is far greater than
anything a massive herd of cows
could do and, incidentally, permit-
tees have exceeded grazing stan-
dards when there are more than 60
hoof prints on the greenline in 110
meters in a designated monitoring
area. Clogging small streams with
coarse woody material prevents
fi sh passage for fry that need to mi-
grate to rearing habitat upstream in
late season (see Malheur National
Forest 2016 Year End Grazing Re-
port, pg. 266: “It is acknowledged
that the limiting factor for MCR
Steelhead in the John Day Basin
is oversummer rearing habitat, not
spawning habitat availability or
success.”).
There were a lot of “mays” and
“ifs” in the article that guarantee
nothing regarding recovery. East
Fork Beech Creek is a fl ash system,
and this wood is going to move; the
question is where will it stop. The
taxpayers paid for putting it in the
creek and will probably pay for
cleaning up the real mess later.
Ken and Cici Brooks own the
CS (Sproul) Ranch just west of
Mt. Vernon, which has three For-
est Service grazing permits, the
Mt. Vernon, the John Day and the
Beech Creek On-Off permits, and
the Brooks Ranch in Fox Valley,
which has the Fox permit. They
have private land interspersed in
these permits. Ken is the third-gen-
eration permittee, and Cici is a
retired range conservationist from
the Natural Resources Conserva-
tion Service.
G UEST C OMMENT
High school activities bring
communities together
By Bob Gardner
and Peter Weber
W HERE TO W RITE
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
GRANT COUNTY
SALEM
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Re-
vised Statutes).
• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontar-
io (District: 60), Room H-475, State
Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., Salem OR
97301. Phone: 503-986-1460. Email:
rep.cliffbentz@state.or.us. Website:
www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/home.htm.
• State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R — (District
30) Room S-223, State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-986-1950. Email:
sen.tedferrioli@state.or.us. Email:
TFER2@aol.com. Phone: 541-490-6528.
Website: www.leg.state.or.us/ferrioli.
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol
or messages for legislators) — 800-332-
2313.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
Tailgates. Pep rallies. Friday
night lights. The new school year
is here! And that’s exciting news
for student-athletes and high school
sports fans alike.
Research shows that being a stu-
dent-athlete is about a lot more than
fun and games. It teaches important
life lessons, too. In fact, high school
athletes not only have higher grade
point averages and fewer school ab-
sences than non-athletes, they also
develop the kind of work habits and
self-discipline skills that help them
become more responsible and pro-
ductive community members.
Attending high school sporting
events teaches important life les-
sons, too.
Among them, it teaches that we
can live in different communities,
come from different backgrounds,
faiths and cultures, cheer for differ-
ent teams and still have a common
bond.
That’s why attending the activi-
ties hosted by your high school this
fall is so important. It’s not only an
opportunity to cheer for your home-
town team, it is also an opportunity
to celebrate our commonality. And
that’s something our country needs
right now.
The bond we share is mutually
supporting the teenagers in our re-
spective communities. We applaud
their persistence, tenacity, prepara-
tion and hard work, regardless of the
color of the uniform they wear. We
acknowledge that education-based,
high school sports are enhancing
their lives, and ours, in ways that
few other activities could. And we
agree that, regardless of what side
of the fi eld we sit on, attending a
high school sporting event is an up-
lifting, enriching, family-friendly
experience for all of us.
Many of the high schools in our
state lie at the heart of the commu-
nities they serve. They not only are
educating our next generation of
leaders, they also are a place where
we congregate, where people from
every corner of town and all walks
of life come together as one. And at
no time is this unity more evident
than during a high school athletic
event.
This is the beginning of a new
school year. Opportunities abound
in the classroom and outside it.
Let’s make the most of them by at-
tending as many athletic events at
the high school in our community
as possible.
Turn on the lights, and let the
games begin!
Bob Gardner is executive di-
rector of the National Federation
of State High School Associations,
and Peter Weber is the executive
director of the Oregon School Ac-
tivities Association.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch-
board: 202-456-1414.
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