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.