Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1978)
' W-' 'Hr'- ' f'.' H tf Tjf' -qp, -j. fA- f The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, March 23, 1978 THREE Morrow County Ag Advisory Committee initiate Dealing with the county's agricultural lands in the context of revising the Com prehensive Plan will be the general topic of discussion when the recently-formed Morrow County Agricultural Advisory Committee convenes next week. Next week's meeting, only the second for the new tmittee, will be held Wed nesday, March 29, at the Dodge City Inn, Boardman, beginning at 8 p.m. The 10-member committee has been formed to assist the Morrow County Court and the Morrow County Planning Commission in the develop ment of the agricultural element of the county's Com prehensive Plan and in the implementation of accom panying ordinances. Acting in an advisory capacity, the committee plans to work in conjunction with members of both the Citizen Involvement Advisory Board and the Mor row County Planning Commis sion. Recommendation made directly to these bodies by the committee will be forwarded to the County Court. Morrow County Planning Director Dave Moon, who worked on the selection of committee members and will attend the meetings, said the committee is still open to new membership and he encour ages all interested citizens to attend Wednesday's meeting. Moon identified several ob jectives that the new commit tee will work towards in the coming months. Among the Letter aiire elimination of flood plain by dam The Honorable D.O. Nelson Chairman, Board of County Commissioners Morrow County Courthouse Heppner, Oregon 97836 Dear Judge Nelson : This is to clarify the nature of the process Senator Hatfield intends to follow if local officials report to him that the people of Morrow County still desire to obtain flood protection by establishment of a federal dam and reservoir project above Heppner. As you know, Congress in 1965 authorized construction of the Willow Creek Project, a 155-foot-high dam controlling an 11,500 acre-foot reservoir. The authorization was contained in Section 204 of Public Law 89-298 (the Flood Control Act of 1965), which stated simply, "The project for flood protection on Willow Creek, Oregon, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in ' House Document numbered 233, Eighty-Ninth Congress, at an estimated cost of $6,680,000." The recommendations of the Chief at that time called for 1,300 acre-feet of exclusive flood control storage space in the reservoir, 300 acre-feet of storage for water quality control, 100 acre-feet for municipal and industrial water supply, and 7,900 acre-feet for the joint uses of flood control, irrigation, sport fishing and recreation. The remaining 1,900 acre-feet were intended for sedimentation and fish survival at minimum pool. At maximum pool the reservoir would have had a surface area of 224 acres, and at minimum pool 76 acres. During the advance engineering and design work following authorization, several developments forced the Corps of Engineers to revise the project. In a Special Report dated May 15, 1974, the Chief of Engineers requested that Congress revise the authorization to allow municipal water storage to be dropped as a project function (Heppner had withdrawn its request), to eliminate the channel improvement aspect downstream from the dam (emergency work by the Corps in recent years had acomplished what was needed), to defer irrigation until such time as it becomes economically feasible (potential irrigators had balked at the cost of the water for which they were being asked to sign contracts), to increase the exclusive flood control space in the reservoir (the size of the potential thunderstorm flood bad been re-estimated and found to be larger), to reduce the recreation aspect at the reservoir (recreation and fishing were expected to be adversly affected by the poor water quality that would develop from operating at minimum pool a greater percentage of the time), and to eliminate water quality control as a project funcion ( EPA had found that sewage treatment was sufficient to eliminate the need for additional dilution of waste discharges into the river). The Chief's recommended plan was for a dam and reservoir identical in size to that authorized in 1965, but with the functions altered as described above. As you recall, Senator Hatfield and Congressman Ullman introduced the required legislation, got it through the Senate and the House, and saw President Ford veto it at the very end of the 93rd Congress, in December 1974. The following year Senator Hatfield and Congressman Ullman Womens Hush Puppys & Casuals Dress Shoes mens Aspen Sport Shoes Hush Puppys Pedwin Casuals: 10f3 Childrens $ Red Goose & Youngset School Shoes lata Boys Dress Zippered Boots EH. WomenJLGIrls Vinyl Boots Se&ct Croups reintroduced the legislation and stated they would try to protect it from veto by getting it included in a larger bill covering many projects around the country. However, when they were informed that local assurances of cooperation and support would no longer be forthcoming, they dropped the matter; and the 1976 Water Resources Development Act passed the Congress and was signed into law without Willow Creek. Today, if local support is expressed by the County of Morrow and the City of Heppner, Senator Hatfield has said he will attempt to obtain an immediate appropriation to begin work on the Willow Creek Project at the point the Corps left off in 1974. In order to do this, he will seek an appropriation of funds for Willow Creek in this year's Public Works Appropriations Bill, and try to specify in this bill that these funds are to be expended in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in his 1974 Special Report. Of particular interest to you, in the consideration of the size of the flood plain in Heppner, is the description on page 8 of the Special Report, which says in part, "Under the proposed initial plan of development, a total of 9,500 acre-feet is provided for exclusive flood control use, providing protection against thunderstorm floods in excess of a 500-year recurrence interval. Under ultimate development, 6,000 acre-feet will be available exclu sively for flood control and, with varying amounts of the 3,500 acre-feet of irrigation storage, the project will pro vide a 360-year degree of protection." If the project initially controls the 500-year flood, and, when irrigation deliveries begin (expected in about 1990), it ultimately controls the 360-year flood, then the 100-year flood from Willow Creek and Balm Fork is completely contained by the reservoir and would not contribute to flows downstream. Willow Creek's and Balm Fork's contribution to the 100-year flood plain is therefore completely eliminated, and only contributions from uncontrolled side canyons, such as Hinton and Shobe, could provide any damage. It should be noted that with complete control of Willow Creek and Balm Fork by the dam, which can dry up the channel immediately below the dam, the affect of the addition of waters from the side canyons will also be lessened somewhat. I should hasten to point out there is no assurance that Senator Hatfield will succeed, but he will certainly do everything he can if you decide to ask him. And there does not appear to be any harm in trying. If he is not able to obtain construction of this project, I expect he will move to deauthorize it once and for all, so that it no longer will be a threat to the landowners who would be displaced by construction of the project. If there is any other information I can provide, don't hesitate to call again. Sincerely, Steven G. 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AND march 27 AT rietmakh's hardware loriE objectives are: developing goals relating to the preserva tion or development of agri cultural lands in Morrow County, identifying and cate gorizing various types of agricultural practices and agricultural lands within the county, assisting in develop ing standards to be used in administering the Compre hensive Plan, and reviewing and commenting on the crea tion of Urban Growth Bounda ries which define potential areas for transition from rural to urban land use. "In order to protect the agricultural element of the county's economic base, pro ductive farm lands should be protected from encroachment by non-agricultural uses," Moon said. "Farm land is best managed in large units and the best interest of the county is not served by dividing agricultural land into small parcels." Currently serving on the Agricultural Advisory Com mittee are: Harold Kerr, Heppner; Kurt Gantenbein, Boardman ; Don Brewer, Hermiston; Dick Wilkinson, Heppner, Dick McElligott, lone; Joe Tatone, Boardman; Joe Bartlett, Boardman, Gene Trumbull, Boardman; Dorris Graves, Heppner and Virginia Grieb, Lexington. CLASSIFIEDS WORK FOR YOU 676-9228 VAONkyAK PIANO Coming March 31 & April I To The WAGON WHEEL CAFE & LOUNGE DM Western Family Boneless Fully Cooked HAMS $169lB. J BonTi; MS $1 Smoked Shank Half U LB- Butt Half $1.19 Center Slice $1.39 Western Family Thick Sliced irvi iy2-Lb. ly pkg. Schilling Whole Cloves Nalley's French -1000 Isle i )) Blue Bell Potato Chips fif c r- r- Salad Dressings 4fc 8-or. Gold Medal v Flour vj f $'jjC3 U 10-lb. Bag 89e m m Darigold Butter $123 j Mb. Money's Seafood Sauce 12-Oz. Baker's Coconut (1 16-oz. 1. ft. Stalk Nancy's Mayonnaise 48-oi. Welches Grape Jelly 32-oz. Campfire Miniature Mcrshmsllows Pkgs For 10 16oz. Chiffon Dinner FJapkins 4fc Higgins Bros. Large Eggs 7SL ( AVOCOQOS ipi : Each Piiifi Grcpefruit Broccoli 8 LB. Bag Each 3fC PRICES EFFECTIVE MARCH 23, 24, & 25 GR0C. 676-9614 MEAT 676-9223 WE DELIVER OH TUESDAY & FRIDAY J ! KRCa- It-Slit
