Stan Kemp Conservation Farmer of Year
VOL.
114 _______ NO. 20
12 Pages Wednesday, May 10, 1995,_______ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Rain, runoff raise W illow Creek Lake
Stan Kemp, Lexington, has
been named Morrow County
Conservation Farmer of the
Year by USDA Consolidated
Farm Service Administration,
Natural Resource Conservation
Service, and the Morrow Coun
ty Wheat League, according to
Judy Rea, Morrow County
president.
Kemp has farmed 2,100
acres, most of which is leased
land. He has a summer fallow
minimum tillage rotation of
1,150 acres one year and 950
the next, with 125 acres in the
Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP) and 25 acres of grass out
side of CRP.
He started farming in June
1947, with less than world
shaking yields. In July 1947, he
cut a seven-bushel per acre
crop. His first variety of wheat
was Turkey red, chosen for its
drought resistance. He later
switched to Gaines, but now
says
"n o th in g
m atches
Stephens". He now maintains
a 40-bu shel average, but
harvested 60-bushel wheat two
years ago.
The biggest changes Kemp
has made in his farming prac
tice are the uses of trashy fallow
and ch an gin g from the
moldboard to the chisel plow.
Using Round-Up has cut out
two tillage operations, and fer
tilizing has provided more
stubble for surface residue as
well as producing a larger crop,
he says. The soil is a Ritzville
silt loam, and "h as its own per
sonality," Kemp noted. He
called wind his biggest problem
and says he "thinks wind ero
sion year around."
If the problem spots in the
fallow need more stubble, he
will spread some, and says,
"th e easiest way to stop a blow
is don't let it start. After a few
years of farming, you learn
special spots, and handle them
with care. I've always done my
own field work, so I know
where the problem spots are in
the field ." If he has the stub
ble, he will disc, but keeps as
much as possible while still
allowing his deep furrow drills
with 14-inch spacing to seed
-
Stan Kemp
through in the fall.
Kemp considers the "clod
factor" as important as trashy
fallow in good moisture and
wind erosion management. " I
try to time my plowing to the
soil moisture. You want to get
some clods, but not too many,
or you'll lose moisture. Speed
shatters the ground. If you
slow down, you'll have more
clods left. This is what I call a
personal touch."
Kemp will chisel plow in the
spring three weeks after apply
ing Round-Up. About 15 years
ago, he designed and built a
weeder bar attachment to use
on a second pass, and also
developed a gauge on the plow
that can be seen from the trac
tor. This allows him to raise the
equipment to a shallow depth
when going through a delicate
ashy spot. With the flat fields
vulnerable to wind erosion,
Kemp does not farm the west
slopes; they are left to natural
grass or have been put into
CRP.
Kemp's clean fields are seed
ed to Stephens w heat in
November, after the rains. He
always works from north to
south when he seeds, to
minimize wind erosion, and
manages rye problems by polic
ing road edges each year.
Normal rainfall on the farm
is 7-10 inches. Some natural dit
ches cutting into his fields have
been reshaped and grassed to
accommodate the runoff from
the hills above his cropland. A
large CRP and natural grass ca
nyon accommodate a guzzler,
trees and shrubs put in 20 years
ago by the state Game Comm-
mission and now maintained
by Kemp.
The conservation farm selec
tion committee summed up
Kemp's devotion to the land as
" a lifetime of stewardship” and
said his selection was a well-
deserved honor, said the news
release.
Kemp serves on the Blow
Control District and on the
Morrow County Grain Grow
ers board, and is a member of
the Elks. He formerly served on
the Morrow County Rodeo
Board and was a 4-H leader. He
enjoys golf and travel, and
follows the local basketball
team in winter months.
He has three adult children,
Sh erry Kem p, P en d leton ,
Steven Kemp, Patterson, WA,
and Gary Kemp, who lives in
Lexington with his wife Marcia
and their two daughters.
A farm tour and potluck
barbecue will be held on June
16 at 4 p.m. on the Kemp farm.
Community members are in
vited to attend. For additional
in form atio n , co n tact the
O regon W heat G row ers
League, 276-7330, or Judy Rea,
422-7445.
School district raises lunch prices
Willow Creek Lake getting full
Heavy snow runoff and rain
fall that swept through north
eastern Oregon late last week
have caused increased water
flows into Willow Creek Reser
voir. Water regulators from the
Portland District, U .S. Army
Corps of Engineers, increased
water releases from Willow
Creek dam Monday to main
tain safe flash flood control
storage levels.
Water releases of about 180
cubic feet per second (cfs) last
Friday caused some flooding of
access bridges along Willow
Creek. With runoff increasing
and more rain forecasted by
Tuesday, increased releases are
necessary, said a news release
from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. Many of those
bridges may again be inun
dated, they said.
Inflow s to the reservoi
reached a high of more than
400 cfs Saturday, May 6, and
were nearly that high on Sun
day. Those inflows decreased
to about 300 cfs Monday, but
inflow still exceeds outflow.
The Corps planned to hold the
release volume at about 300 cfs
M onday while m onitoring
weather patterns very closely to
reduce releases as soon as
possible. If more rain falls,
however, water releases of the
current level could continue,
said the news release.
Dick Cassidy, Corps hydro
logist, said rapid rises in the
reservoir level occurs because
Willow Creek has a "flashy
b asin ," and heavy rainfall
causes inflows to rise extreme
ly quickly. Cassidy said the
area has experienced rainfall of
108 percent above normal in
1995.
"With current inflows behind
the dam continuing to be
higher than the outflows, we
must operate cautiously, so we
are conservative in the way we
control the water lev els," Cas
sidy said. "W e prefer to be very
cautious rather than experience
potential uncontrollable floods
that could happen if we used
up all the flow control space.
We must keep an authorized
level of flood storage space that
is needed to protect down
stream areas from flash flood
in g ."
Since Tuesday, May 2, the
pool behind Willow Creek has
risen more than 6 feet above
normal, due to snow runoff
and rain in the region. Corps
water regulators increased
water releases at Willow Creek
Dam from 100 cfs on May 2, to
240 cfs May 3 to maintain safe
flood control storage levels.
Regulators allowed releases to
fluctuate between 150 cfs and
180 cfs from May 4-7.
Water outlet was reduced to
280 cfs Tuesday, May 9, in
order to flush away as more
w ater com es in to Willow
Creek.
The Corps has not been forc
ed to release sign ifican t
amounts of water to control
flooding on Willow Creek since
March 1993. That year, 250 cfs
were released for several days.
The Morrow County School
Board, at its regular meeting
Monday night May 8 voted to
raise school breakfast and
lunch prices 25 cents for the
1995-96 fiscal year.
Breakfast prices will be in
creased to 75 cents for students
and $1 for adults. Lunch will be
raised to $1.25 for elementary
school students; $1.50 for mid
dle and high school students;
and $2.25 for adults.
The increases were recom
mended to make the food ser
vice program self supporting,
said district business manager
Shirley Landauer.
Landauer said that the in
crease will bring the food ser
vice within a $25,000 shortfall.
Landauer said that the schools
are looking at putting special
items that the children enjoy,
such as cookies or gelatin
dessert, back in the menu and
that many cooks have gone
back to baking their own breads
and rolls and are making more
homemade items.
In other business, the board:
-accepted resignations from:
Ron Forrar, art teacher, effec
tive end of school year; Mark
Dowdy, head girls' basketball
coach at HHS; Pam Dowdy,
head girls' basketball coach,
Heppner Middle School; Kay
Proctor, south end bus driver,
effective May 15; Bill Baker,
assistant custodian, Heppner
Elementary School; (a petition
signed by 66 persons had
earlier been turned into the
school district asking for Mark
Dowdy's resignation as head
girls basketball coach)
-approved leaves of absence
from: Sarah Carlson, extension
of unpaid child care leave,
science teaching position,
HMS, through 1995-% school
year; Pam Minster, unpaid
leave for education purposes
through the 1995-96 school
year;
-approved employment of:
Michael Yates, probationary
contract for 1995-% to continue
to serve as counselor at Sam
Boardman and A.C. Houghton
elem entary sch ools; Ellen
Slover, special education assis
tant at SBE.
-learned from superintendent
Chuck Starr that an elevator at
the lone school could be pro
vided for $50,000 to $60,000, in
stead of the $100,000 original
ly believed.
-received a list of the extra
duty contracts for the 1994-95
school year and learned that
recommendations for extra du
ty will be at the June meeting.
-approved the purchase of a
former church school building
for classrooms for Boardman
and Irrigon sixth graders. Stan-
reported that modular class
rooms, originally discussed to
house the sixth graders, are dif
ficult to come by and expen
sive. The district's offer of
$75,000 for the 8,000 square
foot building was accepted,
substantially less that the
assessed value of around
$200,000. Starr said the money
for the purchase was already
appropriated. The sixth graders
and their teachers will go to the
buLding for the first half of the
day and then will be transpor
ted to Columbia Junior High for
lunch and then classes such as
music, computers and PE in the
afternoon, according to Prin
cipal Don Holes.
-discussed the proposed sale
of the Lexington baseball field,
which is owned by the district.
The district maintains the field,
which is "very seldom used” .
-heard reports on state school
funding, m aintenance and
repair and American with
Disabilities Act projects.
Controlled hunt deadline nears
The deadline to apply for big
game controlled hunts in next
Monday, May 15.
To apply, hunters must got to
a license vendor connected to
a "Point of Sale” machine. The
local POS agent in the Hepp
ner area is the Coast to Coast
store.
Store owner Cliff Green
urges those hunters who plan
on applying to hunts do so ear
ly to avoid a big rush next
Monday.
"There are a lot of people
who don't know about the
deadline," Green said.
<
Mo\her>$ Œ)ay
A Special Day
For Special People
Mappy CMother's *Day front ali of us
Morrow Comity Grain Growcrs
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396