Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1982)
SIX-The Gawtte-Timfs. Heppner, Oregon. Thursday. February 25, Ag. land disappearing Agricultural land in the United Slates has decreased three million acres per year between 17 and 1!)"7. This land was converted to urban, built-up. rural transportation and water. In con junction with this conversion it has been estimated that for each acre lost directly to urban, built-up. and transportation uses at least one more acre is isolated by leap-frog development. In Oregon during the same period. 27.WM) acres per year of agricultural land were converted to urban, built-up. rural transportation and wa ter Total irrigated and nnnir rigated cropland in the U.S. is 11:1 million acres in 1977 down almost six percent from 17. These alarming statistics were reported by the National Agricultural Lands Study just rnmpleted. Project looks Ity (iKOKGK O. r.F.ORC.K The purpose of the project was !o demonstrate, evaluate and quantify the effectiveness of Best Management Practi ces (filterstrips. grassed wa terways or outlets, sediment basins, stripcropping. stubble mulching and terraces) adop ted in 1978 by Gilliam. Morrow. Sherman. Umatilla and Wasco county Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD). These demonstra tions and evaluations were designed to reduce landowner uncertainties concerning ben efits to be expected from Best Management Practices (BMP's installed on their land to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality. Three years of erosion and water quality demonstration and evaluation measurements and observations indicate that ter racing had the most positive effect on water quality, while dry residue in excess of t.non pounds per acre after seeding had the most effect on the initiation of erosion. When terraces and one other BMP were present there was a measurable reduction in the amount of erosion which showed up as less sediment in the terrace and less sediment in the runoff samples CONCLUSION SYNOPSIS I. Level and graded terraces with gradients less than 0.5 percent will reduce sediment volumes carried to streams and water empoundments. 2 To keep stream flow TURNER VAN MARTER R & BRYANT !!ggft : .v , J ,.555555 IMRUP AMCP 187MORTH MAIM STftUT Dox att fjoux LaVKHNE VuiSURTER. J With potential cropland be ing consumed, more and more marginal land is being con verted to cropland. Water and wind erosion losses are heavi est on these lands. Twenty five percent of all rill and sheet erosion occurs on only 15 percent of the cropped land: the marginally cropped lands. The other 75 percent occurs on land suitable for farming. "With such huge acreages it docs not mean that our land supply is endless, and if we continue to treat it as if it were, we will approach the outer limit of our productive capacity at such a rapid rate that we will find it difficult, if not impossible, to turn our society around and begin to treat our land with the care and stewardship it must have." as reported by Neil Sampson, executive vice at Management Practices sediment concentrations low where storage type level terraces are used will require a pipe outlet to increase volume of available stream flow while removing sediment from areas above Ihe terrace. 3. All sediment basins re duce the heavier silt and sands that enter streams or major water impoundments. A All conservation tillage that has I.ihmi ixnirids or more dry residue on or in Ihe lop inch of Ihe soil surface reduces erosion and the amount of available sediment for water pollution. 5. Not enough information could bo obtained on strip cropping to provide adequate information to determine if reduced erosion will occur by breaking up rill patterns and this would reduce sediment amounts in the water. The first year's data indicates it would fi. All lest Management Practices evaluated will re duce total volumes of runoff and sediment delivered to a stream or impoundment. 7 Onlv graded terraces, level terraces with outlets, sediment basins with outlets and grassed waterways will appreciably effect sediment concentrations in water deliv ered to it stream or pond 8 Metier evaluation meth ods should be developed to predict sediment delivery vol umes at farm or watershed boundary so BMP planning recommendations can be more effectively provided to landowners 9 Additional planning and Hf PWffN. OMOON (7IM iJniuxance. ntcAi HOWARD PHTA'-T 1982 fast president. National Associa tion of Conservation District, (NACDt. in his new book, "Farmland or Wasteland." The soil erosion process is a natural process. Manipulation of the soil by humans for fond production has accelerated this process. Soil erosion is occurring at such a rapid rate now in the United States that the soil loss cannot be natural ly regenerated. Phase one of the 1977 National Resource Inventor ies NRI esstimales show a national IM77 average loss from sheet and rill erosion in excess of four billion tons. If it were all concentrated in one area, four billion Inns of soil loss would mean the removal of all Ihe topsoil (six inches) from four million acres. With that kind of loss each ,vear, it would lake only 1(H) years to wash away every single acre installation assistance to aid landowners in the appraisal and evaluation of various cultural, tillage and manage ment practices when used in a conservation system will ac celerate implementation of BMP's and resource manage ment systems. Id. Carrying out Hpecial evaluation and demonstration projects in areas where the Best Management Practices are not being established or are being established very slowly will make landowners more aware of Ihe value of BMP's in their farming areas DIVERSION DITCHES LAND LEVELING pAUsDALE CONST, col ROAD CONSTRUCTION (drainage our tpectoEty) FREE ESTIMATES & RECOMMENDATIONS 2 D8s with Ripper 2 D6$ 2 Graders call Shop: 676-5083 of cropland in the U.S. At the same time as population is increasing, de mand for food is also increas ing in our own country as well os overseas. United States farmers send 80 percent, of each acre of production over seas. II has been estimated to keep up with food demand a II percent increase in pro duel ion per year will be needed. To keep up with the demand for fond, researchers have identified four new technologies, that if develop ed, would ro a long way toward answering the in lpfl Veterinarian Supplies YOUR GARDEN SUPPLY CENTER Green's f g I J Feed V41TP ) Store 1 'i '" STOCIC 1 1 PONDS ; SILT jj DAMS ; ; """" " fa v 11 Office: creased demand for food. They are: better photosynthe tic efficiency, development of nitrogen fixing grains, new bioregulnlors and twinning in beef cattle. Conservation of cropland takes a moral commitment. The person who nssumes the privileges of ownership also undertakes the responsibility for stewardship. Failure to carry nut that stewardship is not only a personal failure, but also a public one that threat ens the well-being of current , and future citizens. CUSTOM MADE CHAPS ROCKING I 2-621 carryall (scraper) 5 Dump Trucks 966 Front End Loader 676-5079
