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By DALEBONEK
General information on soils
of the county is periodically
needed by people of many
different professions and with
many varied interests. Last fall
the Morrow Soil & Water
Conservation District initiated
the action for fulfilling this
need. A publication was printed
which contains a general soil
map along with soil interpreta
tions for Morrow County.
The general soils map shows
the location and extent of soil
associations in Morrow County.
A soil association is a grouping
of soils which geographically
occurs in a repeating pattern. It
consists of one or more major
soils and at least one minor soil.
The soil association will be
named for one of the major
soils.
The map showing the soils
associations can be useful to
people who want a general idea
of the soils in the county; who
may want to compare one part
of the county with another; or
who may want to locate some
particular tract of land for a
certain kind of land use. The
Morrow County Planning
Commission can use the infor
mation for their work in land
use planning.
Users should remember that
this is a general soil map. The
general soil map is too broad for
specific planning of a small
farm or field, for designing
foundations or for building
roadways. These require more
detailed mapping and often an
onsite investigation.
Written information in the
publication include descriptions
of each of the soil mapping units
as well as interpretations for
their use. Also, included is a
map showing soil suitability for
irrigated crops.
The printing of the publica
tion was financed through
contributions from Morrow
County, Port of Morrow, Bank
of Eastern Oregon, First Na
tional Bank of Oregon, Colum
bia Basin Electric, Umatilla
Electric and Morrow County
Grain Growers.
Copies can be obtained at the
Morrow County Courthouse and
from the Port of Morrow office
in Boardman.
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WORK
20 PERCENT
COMPLETED IN COUNTY
Continued From Page t
The much talked about
Willow Creek dam would solve
the flood threat in Heppner
from Balm Fork and Willow
Creek. Coupled with the Willow
Creek dam should be a conser
vation land treatment program.
This program should include
diversions, small silt dams,
grass waterways, grass seed
ings and proper grazing use on
rangeland. Without this con
servation program, tons of silt
will be deposited in the reser
voir which will begin a trend of
reducing its attractiveness and
recreational value.
The Morrow Soil & Water
Conservation District has
always concentrated their
efforts on the air and water
pollution problems in the
county, including the Willow
Creek Watershed. Finally,
during 1972 the accomplishment
in conservation work really
began to increase.
The primary reason for the
sudden increase was because of
the 80 percent cost sharing and
the $2500.00 limit per farm
made available from the ASCS
office under the Rural En
vironmental Assistance Pro
gram (REAP). During 1972,
760,000 feet of diversions were
constructed, which is nearly one
third of the total of that
previously built within the
district. , ,
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seeding work on Shobe Canyon
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Yet, just as the work began to
gain momentum, the funds for
cost sharing on conservation
work under the REAP program
has been eliminated. Without
this cost sharing program the
farmer will not be able to do as
much, possibly cutting the
amount accomplished by ninety
percent.
An estimate has been made
by district officials that only
twenty percent of the cropland
in the district has been ade
quately protected from erosion.
This means a great deal is left
to be done and it will take the
continued support of everyone
to keep conservation work
progressing.
Shobo Canyon,
a Good
Example
Heppner sleeps more soundly
now, with the knowledge that 29
miles of diversion terraces and
26 silt retention dams along with
established grass stands cover
the cropland of the watershed
above town.
The entire project has been
widely heralded as a showcase
of cooperation within a com
munity and among Service
Agencies. Making it all work
required coordination from the
Heppner SWCD, the Columbia
Blue-Mt. R C & D, and City and
County officials carried heavy
work loads.
Farmer - Landowners in the
Shobe watershed showed com
mendable concern and cooper
ation by putting together a
special REAP assisted conser
vation plan. The actual conser
vation practices were complet
ed the same year, a remarkable
feat.
Heppner residents responded
by forming a Water Control
District which is now a legal
1 entity under State law. Hard
work and persistence must be
cited here as outstanding.
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FERTILIZER
AI'D
CIJOCALS
Tel. 422-7209
Ekstrom, Jr., Manager
Funds from the special ASCS
REAP project along with a lot
of engineering from SCS was
the nucleus of the success story.
A lot of leg work by the
extension service must be cited.
Extensive channel work up to
the confluence of Willow and
Shobe Creek within the city was
made possible by emergency
Flood Prevention funds of the
Army Corps of Engineers.
r'HA loan funds assisted the
City in replacing sewer and
water mains and a Grant from
the Bureau of Outdoor Recrea
tion assisted in rebuilding the
near destroyed swimming pool.
Local Men Honored
Dale Boner, District Conser
vationist; Dave McLeod, ASCS
director; and Harold Kerr,
County Agent, received the
Oregon Chapter's 1972 Out
standing Service Award for
their respective efforts that
made the project in Shobe
Canyon a reality. The Award is
made annually by the Soil
Conservation Society of
America.
Our thanks to
our advertisers
who made this
issue possible
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