Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1993)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 9, 1993 Forest Service sponsors bird contest Nelsons host crowd for state conservation tour Photo by J o y c e H u g h es Winners front row l-r: Sally Calvert, Dan Jepsen, Chelsea Bredemeier, Brianne Wishart. Back: Matt Setness, David Piper, Tylynn Smith, Brad Adams * The Heppner Ranger District recently presented a program in the schools on neotropical migratory birds and sponsored a contest for area school children in celebration of International Neotropical Migratory Bird Day on May 9. Neotropical migratory birds winter in southern Mexico, Cen tral America and South America and breed in the U.S. and Canada. The birds include the Vaux’s swift, the yellow warblers and the western tanagers Around 200 species of birds will live in the Umatilla National Forest this summer. More than half are con sidered migratory birds, although not all come from as far away as the tropics. Students at Heppner Elemen tary School were introduced to some of the colorful birds during an assembly on May 3. Whitney Weatherford, a wildlife specialist with the North Fork John Day Ranger District spoke about neotropical migratory birds, Lyn Tompkins, a raptor rehabilitator from Pendleton displayed several live raptors, a red-tailed hawk, an American kestrel and baby short eared owls. Sixty-four children in first through fourth grade participated by drawing and coloring pictures of neotropical migrants. Prizes included birdiug field guides and colorful posters of the neotropical migratory birds. Each participant received his choice of a U.S. Forest Service wildlife poster. The children’s pictures will be displayed at Murray Drugs. Winning first place in grades one and two were Sally Calvert, Daniel Jepsen and Chelsea Bredemeier. Second place win ners were David Piper, Tylynn fourth grade first place went to Matt Setness. Second place win ners were David Piper, Tylynn Smith and Bradley Adams. First place winners each received a bird book and second place win ners received posters. United Methodist to convene in Salem The Oregon-Idaho conference of the United Methodist Church will meet at the Willamette University in Salem from June 9-13. The annual conference is a time of church business, inspiration and fellowship. Each church is represented by its pastor and a lay member. Bishop William Dew will preside. Two hundred twenty-two chur ches from Oregon and southern Idaho comprise the conference. Voting members attending from Heppner will be the Rev. Bob Dowrey, Cara Osmin and the Rev. Grace Drake. Fire Extinguisher Service Day Wednesday - June 16 Starting at 9 a.m. at Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington, OR Bring in your fire extinguishers for recharging or recertification. Technician on duty for same day service of: Dry Chemical — C02 Halon & Water Pressure Grain Growers Phone 989-8221 1-800-452-7396 Phone 989-8221 Photo by Jo y c e H u g h es Doug Drake (I) with Chuck Nelson and Bruce Adrews A warm sunny day greeted a large crowd from several counties that gathered on June 2 at the Nelson Farm to honor the Chuck Nelson family as Oregon State Farm Conservation winners. A noon barbecue at the Nelsons' shop building was hosted by the Morrow County Wheat League. An afternoon farm tour via vehicles provided an overview of the farm’s winn ing conservation methods and the well-man¡cured tall green wheat that holds a promise of a bumper crop. As caretaker of the 3,200 acres that he farms. Nelson said he was that reduce the tillage operations to two instead of the conventional four passes. And there has been an expansion of terraces, so that none of the acreage was placed in the Conservation Reserve Pro gram as set aside farm ground. Speaker Bruce A ndrews, Oregon’s director of agriculture, said it had been a privilege to be a part of the selection committee that logged around 2,OCX) miles to look at all the farms that had been nominated. “ Farming is more than a business,” Andrews said, when you look at century farms that have been passed down through five generations. “ It’s a loving, caring, relationship with the land. And this farm is a good example of farmers who work to protect that rescource,” he said. Gleen Stonebrink, executive director of the State Agriculture and Soil Conservation Service, also noted that “ the Nelsons are symbolic of farmers across the nation that as caretakers of the land have practiced conservation before there was any com pliance.” And we have to keep telling the story that farmers aren’t ruining the land while pro viding abundant cheap food. Agriculture will always be the foundation of this country’s com merce and industry, he added. ySndstrom 's and Father's Day. One terrific tie-in. Fair and Rodeo court keeps busy The Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Court wrapped up a busy May taking top parade honors at the Arl ington Rodeo on May 1 and another first place May 29 and 30 at the Spray Rodeo. The girls remain busy pro moting the fair and rodeo and will soon be pre-selling Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo tickets. June 11-13 the girls will travel to central Oregon for the Sisters Rodeo. Plans underway for wagon train visit By Anne Morter Organizers are requesting that vendors wishing to sell their wares at the two-day stop of the official Sesquicentennial Wagon Train at Cecil to complete registration form by June 15. Forms are available from Nancy Brownfield at Wheatland In surance in lone. Interested parties may call her at 422-7410 or stop by the office. The Wagon Train will arrive at the Krebs Ranch in Cecil on August 18 in the afternoon. An old-fashioned box social lunch is tentatively planned for that day. The train will also stay the night of August 19, which will feature 4-H News__ Two-Trackers School is finally out and it’s time to start getting those horses out for the summer. Sunday, August 1 is the 4-H fair horse show. “ That’s less than two months away,” said a 4-H horse spokesperson. Saturday, June 19 will be a Morrow County pre-fair tune-up clinic at the fairgrounds at 10 a.m. The Two-Trackers will meet at the fairgrounds Sunday after noons at 3 p.m. from now until fair. The time may be changed depending on the group. /CHEVROLET ¡ m actually farming for five separate landlords including land that belongs in the family. Honors are not new for this family since the 1956 Morrow County Conserva tion farm title was bestowed on Nelson’s father, Norman Nelson and his uncle, Alfred Nelson, when they were in business together. After the farm operation was divided in 1974 Alfred Nelson’s son, Kenneth Nelson, received the conservation award in 1985. Nelson, his wife, Lisa, children Justin and Courtney and Nelson’s mother, Jean are active partners in this farm operation. During the past 10 years there has been an average yield of 50 bushels of wheat per acre. These current operators have been successful in the business since Chuck Nelson began farming with his father in 1974. “ It’s actually showing off the work of three generations,” Nelson said. Since his grand father came from Sweden in 1913 farming methods have shifted from horses to efficient machinery. And each generation has added more efficient methods with modern technology. Nelson said his father, Nor man, now deceased, was ahead of his time by building diversion dit ches and seeding grass waterways before there was any conservation compliance. The Nelson farm was one of the first to use nitrogen fertilizer to boost wheat yields and the use of moldboard plows was discontinued in 1918. Farm operations under Chuck Nelson’s management include stubble flailing after harvest to break down the residue and leave cover as protection against ero sion. Volunteer cheatgrass and weeds are treated with a herbicide in early spring. Chisel plows and a cultiweeder are used on the 100 to 150 foot wide sloping terraces. A modern practice includes fer tilization while using cultiweeders Over the years some things never change at a quality dealership HONESTY-INTEGRITY-RESPONSIBILITY-SERVICE Doing business for over 45 years in the same old fashioned way a lamb barbecue from 5-7 p.m. The event will be open to the public. Tickets will be sold in ad vance with locations to be an nounced later. Organizers hope to have a wide variety of food, crafts and other unique offerings with an Oregon Trail theme available for the two days. Sellers should expect to operate from noon until evening on Wednesday and from 10 a.m. until evening on Thursday. The wagon train will move on at 7 a.m. on Friday. It is expected that a larger number of people will be on hand while the train is stop ped at Cecil. A $15 registration fee will be charged to cover the necessary expenses of staging this stop. Vendors from lone, Heppner, Lexington and the surrounding area are encouraged to display their goods. Beautifully crafted tie tacks, money clips, rings and more. Contact us for one terrific ^/andstromV. Father's Day gift. Vandstrom's ORIGINAL BLACK HILLS GOLD CREATIONS 4 M em ber Jew elers of America. Inc. t Peterson’s _______ Heppner The Bank o f Eastern Oregon’s EVERGREEN LINE An unsecured line of credit to suit your borrowing needs "Low Interest Rate "Low Annual Fee "Free Checks "Credit limits $2,500 to $25,000 Ask at the Branch nearest you for details D A AN N K OF u 2 z< a stern (Drecjon > E . = - , r SERVICE SHERRELL CHEVROLET Hermiston, Oregon Phone 567-6487 Arlington • Heppner • lone ” Your Home Owned, Independent Bank MEMBER F.D.I.C. ”
