Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1968)
HEPPWEK GAZETTE-TIMES. Thuredar. rbruarf 1. 1969 8 Power-IrrigaJion-Iiitlusiry Br KEN TURNER Knt until California onenlv told us they wanted the Col umbia Rlvpr did Morrow court' ty cases the value of this re source in regard to irrigation and industry. Rut rallfnrnlnns aren't the only competitors. The Grand Coulee-Columbia Basin protect of Washington, a success story lor two aecaacs, is increasing Its use of the river quite fast. Idaho U doubling its pumping from the Snake River every few years. Even our neighboring coun ties have bis plans to pump from the Columbia. Add to this the volume river needs of the existing hydro-electric Mams, commercial and sports fishing claims, water quality control, and navigation requirements and you find the mighty Col umbla shrinking to a stream. The idea that surplus water exists for diversion to the Southwest after the ultimate needs are met in the Northwest i i.. .i.t rilirnlniia hv manv au thorities. And at the same time it Is going to be tougn lor Mor row county to get a piece of the Die. too. Local people will need to What Difference Does Water Make? 17 to I The following study 6hould answer many questions about Irrigations vast potential, with less than 13 of Morrow high school graduates being able to find employment in the county this mav be the avenue for growth we need. A studv by the extension service of Washington State University completed recently compared 10,000 acres of irri gated cropland in the Colum bia Basin to 10.000 acres of neighboring dry land. It showed about 17 times as many people supported from the same area of cropland In the Irrigated regions as in the dryland wheat-summer fallow region. The charts reproduced here show several other comparisons. IRRIGATION. WVO XSTSW- S Herald). Conservation Problems Changing; Resource Planning Need Emphasized By DICK McELLIGOTT When soil conservation dis tricts were being formed more than thirty years ago vast ar eas were in danger from wind and water erosion. These problems still remain with us but to a much lesser degree. We have come to real ize that we must also consider our water supplies, not just as a local concern, but also as a regional and a national concern. Now, as we attempt to look into the future and consider the effect of population pressures upon our environment, we are to the point where we must at- tempt some guidelines for the use of all our resources. Year after year we see many thousands oi productive am cul tural lands being diverted from agricultural use. witn a sieauy growth of our national and world populations we must question the wisdom of a tax policy that encourages or forces this diversion from agricultural use. We see too many areas being turned into sprawling subdivis ions and too much land being cut up by highways. With the increas e d population there comes great pressure for the cre ation of parks and recreational areas, but perhaps the saddest waste of all is the spawning of eyesore regions around our towns and cities. These are the areas where high property taxes and desire for land leads to the fragmen tation of productive farms. Here we see unzoned and unplanned growth, shanties, wrecking yards, abandoned junk, etc. The need is for resource plan ning to attempt to determine best long term use for all our natural resources. This is, of course, too ambitious a program for our local SWCD's, but we certainly ought to work with our county court, the port commis sion, our planning boards and our neighboring districts and governmental agencies. I think that the work of the Columbia Blue Mountain Re source Conservation and Devel opment Project is a step in the right direction and worthy of the support of everyone in our area. THE FOLLOWING IONE SPONSORS URGE YOUR SUPPORT OF GOOD CONSERVATION PRACTICES: DOBYNS PEST CONTROL BRISTOW'S MARKET CHARLES O'CONNOR T Cr C STORAGE BANK of EASTERN OREGON RIETMANN'S HARDWARE EKSTROM FARM CHEMICALS STONE MACHINERY BI-COUNTY CHEMICAL Comparison ,. Indicator Project Area Area Ratio Per 10,009 Acre3 of Cropland Population 1,900 110 17 to 1 Business establishments 48.1 2.8 17 to 1 Workers 1 480 22 22 to 1 Wages $2.17 Mill. $.11 Mill. 20 to 1 Property tax base 2 $2.57 Mill. $.40 Mill. 6 to 1 Postal Receipts $16,700 $9G0 17 to 1 Federal Income Tax Payments $714,400 $41,300 17 to 1 1 Does not include farm operators 2 Data for 1962 work hard to bring outside in vestment for development of ir rigation and industry. Study thus far has shown that we need a marriage of a local power generator, some large electric consuming Industries with irri gation pumping sandwiched In Thon tn fullv de velop Irrigable lands of North Morrow county, a large nevia matlon project would probably be needed. This is the formula that developed such areas in the Southwest and the state to our North. cwn uu still have the un claimed water with its poten- tlal power ana industrial siu.-a we must stake our claim and n tntmlvorl This nresents an awesome challenge when you weigh the political reanues ana consider our sparce population competing with the big going establishments. An irrigation Impoundment on the Rhea Creek watershed la ennnsnrort hv the HeDPner SWCD. But it has only progres sed to tne point tnui an appli cation has been filed. No feas ibility survey or planning nas been done, though it is felt that Rhea Creek will provide a ...nrihv nrnlprt. Here again sharp competition for funds will require concerted effort by lo cal people. The following BOX SCORE shows this. BOX SCOPE ON PUBLIC LAW 566 The West Sunnyside Wa tershed Project, comprising 5,450 acres in Plymouth County, Iowa, has been ap proved for operations under P. L. 566, the Watershed Pro tection and Flood Prevention Act. Here is the current sta tus of all projects: Total applications to date -2.689 Authorized for planning 1.348 Approved for operations 827 Under construction 402 Construction completed 191 Projects completed 165 J ., r h. . . . on'f Let If Get a Gri Your Farm and Your Future . . . Erosion, the greedy grabber, snatches more than soil. This common threat to land reaches out to destroy farm productivity, and thereby gets a grip on your farming future. Both your personal prosperity and your communi ty's growth can depend on sound soil conservation practices. Tested tech niques to conserve, maintain and improve your soil make a big difference. Fight erosion now!
