Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1969)
KEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES. Tnundar. January SO. 1969 Quif BrirogfflSiOffl Long Awaited Soil Survey Started in North Morrow Br AL OSM1N A long awaited mil survey bv the ll'l)iiiT Scil I and Water CcmM-rvatlon District has Iwn Martini in the north end of the county. The survey I being con ducted bv the Soil Conservation Service. Two soil scientists full time, and one party leader pait time from The Dalies are work ing on tills detailed survey of hiuh Intensity now. With a financial assist of $1,000.00 from the county court, two more soil scientists will be In the county as soon as the weather permits. The court feels the benefits of this survey will far exceed the cost. With the addition of these two men, It will assure completion of the survey this year. Our soil sci entist operate on a schedule and without these two extra men. it could take several year to complete the project. This survey will play an Im portant part In the development of this land. With the comple tion of this detailed survey, a lund use map with the facts can be made. This will stop speculation as to the amount of class one land and amount of other classes of lund In the north end. Snow, Erosion Rain P Bring i roDiems By AL OSMIN Morrow county has experienc ed much in the past year. We had one of the driest springs and summers on record, yet our total rainfall for the year was above average. With the large amount of rainfall and snow we have re ceived this fall, comes the ever present problem of erosion. We have already had some bad ero sion in some parts of the coun ty. Once a pattern of erosion in a field has been started, it is very difficult to break up. It usually takes a combination of many soil conservation practic es to do the job. Structural measures needed would be di version ditches with sod water ways. These could be Imple mented with strip cropping and contour farming. Some soil man agement practices which could be added are stubble mulching, minimum or cloddy tillage, grasses and legumes In rotation, fertilizing, and subsoiling stub ble in the fall. Some may remember about four years ago at the annual meeting Verle Kaiser, Manage ment Acronomlst, SCS. spoke on the benefits of diversion ditch es. One very Interesting com ment made bv him was that diversion can reduce a 100 ero sion potential on a full length slope to 25 on half length. 11 on a third length, and 6 fc on one-fourth length. It Is quite significant that when you doub le slope length you increase ero sion by four times. Some of the benefits of diver sion ditches alone are: 1. Reduce erosion. 2. Conserve moisture. 3. Make a permanent guide line for contour farming. 4. Help in laying out strip cropping or a crop rotation. 5. Reduce machinery breakage caused by gullies. 6. Reduce power requirements because operations are on the contour. 7. Provide lasting protection. We here at the Heppner Work Unit like to encourage the use of other conservation practices anna with rfivprsinn ditches. We will be glad to visit with cooperators about tne insiaiia tion on any of these practices. IN WASHINGTON STATE Crop Figures Indicate Irrigation Potential Washington's dollar harvest illuminates our irrigation poten tial when we explore what their farmers achieved on the aver age according to the 1967 crop report by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The project com poses 499,565 acres, with 452,773 irrigated and 440,158 harvested. Value of crop sales was $75, 291,795 with $6,444,659 from sug ar programs, ACP, diversion, certificates and support, totaling an average of $180.52 per irri gated acre. The major crops, average dol lar harvest an acre were: from 5.4 Alfalfa hay, $121 tons 129,173 acres. Wheat, $104 from 74 bushels 105,054 acres. Sugar beets, $341 from 21.6 tons 33,740 acres. Late potatoes, $420 from 381.8 CWT 33,087 acres. Early potatoes, $405 from - i r i '.A 4- ' - - y -V - Sir : l jit TO'- VI Vf-; Port Brochure to Show Site Potential in Morrow . mirt Aurnrd-wlll w p Htir.HES flelt) of Heppner ana ------" , . rm, t Litchfield ninq coiuenraUonUU wtio receiwi a " ' , ' or..ident ana qeneral manaqer of Goodyear .rii. m this picture. George but. -- ' ""ZL h rsurth tha Umatilla FarmV explain, hi. land-us. program. The "0..'"" l" "t VhVfaVm. r..ort and Soil Conservation District were among i ' Hughes Hailed 'Outstanding Conservationist' W. E. (Ebb) Hughes, who lives j The Ebb Hughes ranch in me in two SWCDs. has done an out-1 Heppner SWCD consists of 16,599 ..nnHina tnh carrvlne conserva-: acres of wh.cn acres ... i K,h th Southern ! range. 758 acres are cropland, HUH JIMIII IH "VJlll ' . Umatilla SWCD and the Hepp ner SWCD. His accomplishments in Uma tilla county on a unit which consists of 5,456 acres wan mnn than 90 range and for est land are: development of 11 and 76 acres are Improved pas ture This plan was initiated when the District was organized In the 1940's. Completed practic es on this unit are 9 stock ponds, 800 feet of mainline irri gation, 100 acres of range seed- in, u enrinir neveioumeius, est land are: development of li of d7alnaRei 5 acres of land SDrings. 108 acres of irrigated leveijng and 481 acres of sub- nnrt tirv lana seeuinns, """" 337.6 CWT 15,451 acres. Pasture. S52 from 8.5 AUM- 23,188 acres. Alfalfa seed, $233 from 444 pounds 3,507 acres. Barley, $64 from 58 bushels 10,343 acres. Corn, $148 from 110 bushels 6,846 acres. Sorghum, $104 from 83 bush els 213 acres. Corn silage, $152 from 21.4 tons 9,970 acres. Dry beans, $159 from 20.6 CWT 8,142 acres. Peppermint, $459 from 92 pounds 7,481 acres. Asparagus, $401 from 533 ac res. Snap beans, $182 from 1.4 tons 6,000 acres. Carrots, $390 from 32.5 tons 318 acres. of deferred grazing and a very successful range seeding after a forest and range fire which covered a portion of the rancn. The quality of conservation work accomplished is commend able. Hughes does an outstand ing job in spring development which cuts his maintenance to a minimum. Seedbed prepara tion and care of new brass seed ing on dryland and irrigated pastures is also exceptionally good. The range and woodland con servation plan in the Southern Umatilla SWCD was initiated in August, 1963, and is completed except for water spreading prac tice in 3 pastures, development of 2 or 3 more springs, channel improvement work, and wood land thinning. In the fall of 1966, Hughes sponsored a wood land tour ot his rancn. i ne siaic SCS Woodland Conservationist gave Ebb and his neignDors some pointers on woodland thinning and future market prospects for different timber species. soiling. The quality of the worK here is again commenaaoiu. luu has further conservation plans ir,.iiiHinr- cross fencing of rangcland. pasture seeding, stream channel improvement, subsoiling and additional stock nonds. it c cioniflrant that Ebb is being honored this year, the 25th anniversary for our district inai k holiuiH nrironiTP He W8S 8 lie- iii.iu " , - unr.noF. cwrn Kiinervisor for Id vonm and received a certificate nf mprit In 1954 in the same district for outstanding accomp lishment in Soil and Water Con servation Br RUPERT KENNEDY Port CommlMioa Coordinator The Port of Morrow and the U. S. Soil and Water Conserva tion Service are cooperating cm Nuclear Power siting ana use of coolant wafers for Irri gation In Morrow county. The Port Commission Is pun- t i'rv nvtensive color brochure to advertise their 4.000- acre waterfront lnaustriui pur at Boardman and other county developments. There Is a ma jor interest among the commis sioners and people In the coun ty In the warm water Irrigation, a bv-oroduct of a Nuclear Pow er Plant. In June of 19G8 the Port ask ed the Soil and Water Service to cooperate in locating equut izing reservoirs and inventory- rr nnhiA innrw i nnicrentT were held In the SCT office of A. J. Webber in j'oruann wun 11 io,ii,,ii nu,. FYkholm Galen Bridge and Earl Jones of . i. I) A f ii-t nnH A decision lilt- UL'I U WI 1 IV , was made to proceed in the in terest of tne industrial nnu rication brochure. chunnnnnt meetings were held with the Heppner Soil and Water District people in the of fice of Ralph Richards, whose staff would perform the prelim inary study. The proposed cooperative pro ject was presented to the Columbia-Blue Mountain Resource Council and received their en dorsement and a decision was made to proceed. The Heppner staff and con servation engineers performed reconnaissance location of sev en reservoirs approximately ten miles south of the Columbia River at Boardman at elevations from six to nine hundred feet. The Columbia at Boardman is an elevation of 265 feet. Soil classifications are now being made and it is estimated that -iQAOAO omc aro vpru adantable to economic irrigation in North Morrow county. One l.OOO mega watt nuclear plant conceivably could Irrigate 65.000 acres. The Port of Morrow commis sioners. Dewey West, it., m Boardman. liar fwanson Oscar Peterson of lone. ui Krebs of Cecil anu inrry av of Lexington are very ap- nreclative of tne cooperaiioii celved from the various divis ions of the Soil ana water w vice. Earl Jones. Area 2 . conserva- tlonist from the Bend . on ice oi SCS. had the grapher oltice in run....", v pare a very extensive four-color --j ,w.ai unt for the bro- chure showing the proposed Nu clear Plant siting on the seven reservoirs ioib. ... the proposed Irrigable lands. The Port of Morrow Industrial and Irrigation brochure wl. come off the press early March of 19. and will be sent to 3,000 Industries, food proces sors, developers, finance agen cies, investors and government agencies across the nation. The Port Commission has for years watched its area power ,,,rriis heinff transmitted n great many miles to the so called load centers. It Is now thought that due to the short age of waterfront Industrial sites In the Northwest that the verv extensive sites In Morrow coun ty will be used and the power of the area used -for industries, food processors and irrigation. There are a great many bene fits from the projects. High pro duction of the now arid lands, the diversification of industrial activity from congested urban areas with pollution problems, llvability of our citizens in less populated areas, the multiple use of the reservoirs for recre ation, wildlife and llvability. The Commission thinks that Morrow county has more of what It takes and the develop ment capabilities are the best in Oregon. Sweet corn, $150 from 36.2 tons 12,537 acres. Watermelons, $381 from 9 tons 217 acres. Onions, $647 from 359.3 CWT 849 acres. Green peas, $121 from 1.6 tons 5,020 acres. Are you surprised by the 28 5 per cent of the Washington Bas in Project devoted to alfalfa hay production? What are other crop possibilities concord grapes, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, spearmint at commercial scales? Guard the Future of Your Farm, Community THE FOLLOWING IONE SPONSORS URGE YOUR SUPPORT OF GOOD CONSERVATION PRACTICES: PAUL PETTYJOHN CO. WHITE'S GRADING SERVICE CHARLES O'CONNOR, Ins. JIM'S CHEVRON STATION BANK of EASTERN OREGON RIETMANN'S HARDWARE IONE EKSTROM FARM CHEMICALS THEL'S CAFE BRISTOW'S MARKET ED'S TAVERN BI-COUNTY CHEMICAL CO. wis n i i jr Good soil conservation techniques work like a watchdog in the fields, guarding against erosion-the natural farm enemy. Stop soil depletion in the beginning before it robs the land of farm production . . . threatens your personal prosperity and your community's growth. Conserve, maintain, improve land today with soil conservation for a prosperous tomorrow.
