Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 5, 1990 - THREE
You Don’t Own
It
Not long ago we cheered to see the
folks in Eastern Europe march in the
street to overthrow a communist
government. Those folks have been
deprived of free enterprise and the
private ownership of property for 40
years or more and they had had
enough.
There is something about the private
ownership of property that has brought
the United States to the leadership of
industrialized nations in just the past
200 years. If a person can own proper­
ty, he has the burning desire to work
hard, be frugal and save and exercise
a human trait of exercising dominion
over his property.
We cheered to see our fellow human beings overthrow the bonds of
slavery, socialism and communism and demand the right to own property.
But at the same time our fellow men are taking away our own owner­
ship of property. And we sit by and watch. Worse, we even join in the
effort. A few months ago, it was hard to find a person who liked spotted
owl any way other than boiled in Exxon oil.
Now, however, we find lots of folks who think multiple use of water
is a good idea.
Baloney. Water law in the West has long held that water in the streams,
rivers and lakes belongs to the public. Until, of course, someone comes
along and makes beneficial use of it. Then it belongs to him. The water
he uses and water he can use belongs to him. Private property. The very
thing the East European’s demanded and are getting.
The right to appropriate water, based on first come, first served, is a
property right just like any other property. But now we are giving that
property right away. Some of the very folks you’d expect to fight to
preserve it the most are giving it away.
Here's how multiple use destroys the property right in water. Lets say
your irrigation water runs down a stream with fish in it. It cascades over
a dam that generates electricity and behind the dam is a lake where people
water ski. Great multiple use, wouldn’t you say: fish runs, recreation,
power and irrigation.
Well, what happens in a drought? There isn’t enough water to do all
things for all people. Now what? Without a clear system of water rights,
some government bureaucrat will decide that the fish and recreation are
more important than the power or the irrigation. And the decision will
be based on some political power play other than reason or logic.
A first in time, first in right system makes the allocation easy. And the
allocation will be based on a set of real values. If the power need is greater
than the irrigation, the dam folks will step up and buy the irrigation rights.
If the fish are more important those folks will offer a higher price and
so on until the highest use is served, based on the economic values involv­
ed. That will happen only if the rule of law is: the right to use water is
a private property right, acquired by first appropriation or by purchase.
Those who want to overturn this long successful system of water alloca­
tion are no different than the thieves that want to steal the forests, residen­
tial property or ground water.
Warning: The Morrow County Water Resources Advisory Committee
is about to endorse multiple use, thereby giving up the idea that water is
private property. Our advice is to immediately sell any water rights, or
land to which they pertain. Otherwise it will be stolen from you.
BMCC computer
service to
assist researchers
Researchers from Umatilla and
Morrow counties will soon have a
new information gathering tool.
EPIC, a new service that provides
subject access to an international
data base of 10,000 libraries, will be
in use at Blue Mountain Communi­
ty College library by fall term.
Darcy Dauble, head of library and
audio visual services at BMCC,
several members of her staff and
librarians from Eastern Oregon State
College and the Umatilla County
Special Library Service District,
recently attended a workshop, held
at BMCC, describing the EPIC pro­
gram. Participants in the workshop
learned about the various uses of the
EPIC system as well as access
protocol.
EPIC is a service offered through
Online Computer Library Center,
Inc. BMCC has been linked to
OCLC online cataloging and in­
terlibrary loan services since 1983.
However, according to Dauble,
these uses have been behind the
scenes and the benefits not apparent
to patrons. Through EPIC ,
references and research can be great­
ly expanded.
EPIC users can access materials
through subject headings. The
database contains maps, archives,
dissertations, serials, recordings,
musical scores, audio visual
materials, manuscripts and books
from thousands of member libraries.
“ Theoretically the system is for
self-use with minimal supervision,”
noted Dauble. “ The system is uni­
que because of its size, accessibili­
ty, and ease of use.” Dauble expects
the system to be used by independent
scholars, and BMCC faculty and
staff.
Extension offers Advice on winter wheat varieties
Oregon State University Extension
agent Fred Lundin reports there are
a number of different varieties of
winter wheat. The most popular by
far is Stephens, with over 70 percent
of the wheat acreage of Oregon
planted to this variety. “ The advan­
tages of Stephens wheat are its
genetic potential to yield very high
in wet years, and its rusting
resistance, which has held up very
well for 13 years,” continues
Lundin.
Stephens is not very winter hardy,
haveing a rate of only four on a scale
of one to ten. The problem with this
was demonstrated two years ago
during the very cold winter. Many
thousands of acres of Stephens froze
out, requiring reseeding with a
spring wheat.
“ On the other hand,” says Lun­
din, “ it is just this lack of winter har­
diness which allows Stephens to
yield so high during normal years.
It does not go into true dormancy the
way most winter wheats do. It con­
tinues to grow throughout the
winter, as long as the temperature is
high enough for it to grow.” Other
wheat varieties go dormant and re­
main dormant throughout the winter
until the spring thaws.
Stephens will not outyield other
varieties when it is faced with cer­
tain diseases Cephalosponum stripe
is an example of a disease quite often
seen in Morrow County which can
significantly reduce the yield poten­
tial of Stephens. Growers with a
history of Cephalosponum may wish
to plant a variety such as Hill 81 or
Lewjain which have resistance to
this disease.
Strawbraker foot rot is another
disease which can give Stephens a
bad time. Madsen, a soft white
wheat from Washington State, or
Hyak, a club from the same source,
both have excellent foot rot
resistance. Planting a resistant varie­
ty is especially important since the
fungus which causes foot rot has
developed a resistance to the
fungicide used for control.
The best bet for growers deciding
what variety to plant is to plant
several different ones. "Stephens
still is our best yielder. and should
have a prominent place on the
farm,” adds Lundin. A more winter
hard variety, such as Daws, might
be in order for about 20 percent of
the acreage, in order to protect
against a complete freeze out during
the winter. Growers with a history
of a certain wheat disease, such as
Strawbreakers foot rot, should plant
varieties resistant to that disease.
A little cultural control not only
limits the grower’s liability, it may
result in more profits in the end. For
more information on winter wheat
varieties, call the OSU Extension of­
fice, 676-9642.
' NO BURNING ALLOWED '
O.R.S. 478.960 AND O.R.S. 476.380
STATES NO OUTSIDE BURNING
OF ANY KIND
Effective June 27, 1990
VIOLATORS WILL BE FINED!!
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Rose hired by SWCD
Andy Rose was recently hired by
Morrow, Wheeler and Gilliam
County Soil and Water Conservation
district s with a Planning Grant
from the Oregon Soil and Water
Conservation Commission to do a
coordinated resource management
plan on Rock Creek.
He recently completed two weeks
of hiking and inventory o f over 80
miles of Rock Creek. “ Four rat­
tlesnakes, several blisters and a few
lost pounds since leaving the John
Day River, I arrived at Lava Flats,
in the headwaters,’’ reports Rose.
His overall assessment found a
watershed that had degraded but has
great potential. The condition of the
stream corridor is a primary in­
dicator of the watershed health. “ I
found areas of eroded banks, pools
o f dead or near dead fish,
scourholes, bottomlands stripped of
vegetation, tree stumps, and a dry
creek bed,” continued Rose. What
could be a meandering stream with
stable banks has become a gouged
out trench.
Timber harvesting, grazing of
livestock and agriculture, each an
economic benefit from the watersh­
ed, have also contributed to its
deterioration. “ Fortunately positive
changes can be implemented, and
some cases already are,” says Rose.
Examples of changes in the uplands
include terracing, CRP, and max­
imizing residue.
Timber harvested as early as the
1940’s in the forest, especially along
the stream corridor, has adversly im­
pacted the runoff pattern. Trees pro­
vide shade which regulates
snowmelt. Their shade also cools
water in the creek, improving fish
habitat, and most importantly, the
root systems stabilize the stream
banks. Trees are a valuable compo­
nent to the Rock Creek corridor;
they should be carefully managed in
the stream bed and in any tributaries.
Rose adds, “ Even when trees
naturally fall into the creek this
might be an improvement. They act
to trap debris, drop out sediment and
slow down high water.”
Cattle grazing impacts the stream-
bank through the loss of vegetation
and in tearing up the side slopes.
Cattel are lazy, they will stay close
to the surface water, tear up limited
grasses in the canyon bottoms and
seldom venture high unless manag­
ed for that purpose. “ I have seen ex­
treme differences in range conditions
of Rock Creek, both areas suppor­
ting livestock,” says Rose. Over one
half the watershed (175,000 acres)
is classed rangeland. Development
of springs or stock ponds away from
the stream corridor, pasture rotation,
and maintaining a diversity of
grasses appear to be concerns of the
cattlemen.
Cropping patterns have changed
over the years on Rock Creek.
“ Ditch systems were an extensive
and primary form of irrigation at one
time. Washed out diversion gates,
the low cost of energy to operate
sprinklers, the amount of labor to
operate ditches and a less dependable
flow pattern all contributed to
elimination of open ditch systems,”
reports Andy Rose. “ Cropping up
to the edge of the creek bank, in
some cases actually realigning the
creek, have had an impact on the
stream corridor.”
The symptoms of a watersheds
health can be seen on a hydrograph.
A hydrograph is a record of
streamflows throughout the water
year (October through September).
The hydrograph can be calcuated for
one year or an average from several
years. “ Based on streamflow
records from a Cayuse Canyon
(1965-81), my calculations show
Rock Creek passes 70 percent of its
entire yield in a four month period,
January through April,” Rose con­
cludes. Rose plans on discussing
hydrographs from Rock Creek in the
future
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