Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1974)
Published annually by the Morrow County Soil & Water Conservation District Does Morrow County meed am irrigation district? Landowners in Morrow County north of the baseline have been asking for quite a few years, do we need an irrigation district? What can it accomplish? Recent developments in Morrow County seem to make these questions more appro priate at this time. Let's attempt to answer the question-do we need an irri gation district in Morrow County? First, to form an irrigation district there must be interest on the part of landowners. The annual meeting of the Morrow Oregon Irrigation Guide By ELWIN A. BOSS, Area Engineer, Soil Conservation Service, Bend, Ore. Irrigation practices used in Oregon have been and are undergoing dramatic changes. Long established methods of application needing ample supplies of water and hand labor are being replaced with mechanical systems which apply water much more efficiently using less hand labor. New lands now being placed under irrigation are farther from water sources and this requires complex systems of pumps, motors, controls, buried supply lines, and modern equipment and methods to apply water to the land. A program to determine the intake rates of each major soil type was started in 1967. Intake rates for sprinkler and Meet the speakers. . . I TTf ITV QUENTIN BOWMAN Soil and Water Conservation District set for Feb. 5 at the Lexington Grange Hall is the place to be if you want to demonstrate an interest in an irrigation district. If there is interest and a district is formed, here are some of the things which could be accomplished by an irriga tion district: 1. Some preliminary plan ning and engineering feasi bility study could be done by the State Engineer's Office if it had a district to work with; 2. A group of landowners flooding methods of applica tion were secured in some areas. The physical properties of soils information from this study plus basic crop moisture requirements for peak use months in specific areas have been combined into the pub lication, "Oregon Irrigation Guide," by U.S.D.A., Soil Conservation Service. The compilation of the guide was started for those areas of the state where the intake rates and water holding capacities have been determined through field and laboratory tests. It is prepared for specific soil types or soil type groups for which all characteristics are similar or the same; for example, crops to be grown, soil depth, intake rates, water holding capacity, land slope and climate. The guide gives criteria and recommendations for use in making irrigation water management decisions. Tech IMRRELL LEARN organized into a district would have more of a voice in getting assistance from various a gencies or in contracting for private assistance; 3. A decision-making group such as the irrigation board of directors could make de cisions about what needs to be done or should be done to determine if there is a possibility of irrigating more of the land in North Morrow County; 4. There are a number of different types of districts which can be formed and landowners have rights and must reading nical people assisting irriga tion operators in making management decisions should be thoroughly familiar with all basic criteria. The Irrigation Design Recommendation portion of the guide will be completed by segments. Each segment covers a part of the state where crop moisture require ments as affected by climate are most similar. The areas now completed include Mor row and Umatilla counties and most other adjoining counties in Central Oregon. Not enough emphasis can be put on the need to provide an adequate irrigation system. The system must then be operated to apply the amount of water in accordance with the crop needs for the highest moisture use month. Also, the water must be applied at a rate and volume resulting in a minimum of losses due to surface runoff and deep drainage. It U this emphasis RUPERT KENNEDY privileges under each type to protect their individual rights; 5. An irrigation district can, if engineering studies show it to be feasible, promote and finance an irrigation project; 6. An irrigation district, if economically feasible, is one way the small land owner can obtain irrigation water; 7. The developments taking place now are irrigating the lower elevation lands and if some organized effort is not made soon it will continue to be more expensive to irrigate land further back from the that is found in the "Oregon Irrigation Guide" by way of design recommendations based on the field and labora tory test data. This publication is available 1 Morrow Soil & Water I Conservation District 1 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING & Tuesday, February 5, 1974 7:30 P.M. Lexington Grange Hall to to Program 1. Introduction of guests. j 2. Business meeting. I 3. Featured speakers: Rupert Kennedy, "History of Ir- rigation Development in North- l ern Morrow County. 1 Quentin Bowman, State Water Resources Board, "Timeliness of Irrigation I Districts." I & Darrell Learn, State Engineer's Office, "A 8 Comprehensive Irrigation De- velopment Plan for Northern Morrow County." Carl Huish, Bureau of Reclamation, South Side Project. 4. Discussion on formation of Irrigation District. '$ Refreshments will be served Columbia River; 8. An irrigation district can obtain quite a bit of assistance from state and federal a gencies to determine feasi bility before it commits any funds which would indebt the landowners under the district. This is probably the strongest reason for investigating the possibility of forming an irrigation district; and 9. It all boils down to this: if the landowners want irriga tion water, an irrigation district is the tool they need to get water. to any person who could use the information to adequately plan and design irrigation systems, especially sprinkler type. The local Soil Conser vation Service office has an available supply.
