EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 11,1997
W ilkinsons selected as 1997 M orrow County Conservation Farm of the Year
weeds, reduces fire hazard, and
prevents gates from being left
open. Dick even provides some
specific camping areas along
Willow Creek. No fees are
charged.
Weed control is also a major
long-term management strategy
for Dick. One of the biggest
problem weeds is knapweed.
About 15 years ago diffuse
knapweed infested nearly 10,000
acres of his range land. This
infestation effectively wiped out
20 percent o f the range, and
another 20 percent was partially
infested. Dick estimates that the
knapweed invasion reduced
carrying capacity by about 300
head. A renovation program was
implemented
with
the
cooperation of ODFW. Over the
needed. If needed, seedlings
will be planted to replenish the
timber stand.
The 1200 acres of crop land that
are owned by the Wilkinsons
consist of 900 acres of CRP
(Conservation Reserve Program),
and the balance has been planted
to grass. CRP is the conservation
practice that was felt to be best
for the dryland wheat ground.
CRP also provides some
additional wildlife benefits.
Prior to CRP in 1977, Dick
installed approximately 15 miles
of diversion ditches on the crop
land to help reduce soil loss.
All the above conservation
strategies combined with a focus
on wildlife have created the
1997
Morrow
County
Conservation Farm of the Year.
ground is fertilized each spring.
The grass is then hayed at the
appropriate time and baled into
1400+ pound bales to be fed to
the cattle the following winter.
Once the grass is baled, the
bottoms are available for grazing.
The grass hay is stored along
with purchased hay in six hay
sheds that hold most of the 2000
tons of hay that will be fed
during the winter. The sheds are
estimated to reduce waste by 10
percent.
The ranch has a lot of timber
which is leased to Kinzua
Corporation.Dick says he prefers
selective logging to thin the
timber.
After logging,
the
logged area is assessed to
determine if tree planting is
lone Site Council conducts meeting
Dick and Virginia Wilkinson
The Morrow County Wheat
Growers have selected Dick and
Virginia Wilkinson's farm as the
1997 Conservation Farm of the
year.
Dick and Virginia will have
their field day some time in
September. The final date will
be published when it is
scheduled.
The Wilkinsons were selected
by a committee consisting of
representatives from Morrow
Soil and Water Conservation
District, the Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Farm
Services Agency, Extension,
Morrow County Wheat League
and the 1996 Conservation Farm.
Dick is the second generation
in his family to produce
livestock on their ranch. The
Wilkinson ranch, located south
of Heppner, was established
around 1920 by his parents,
Frank and Wavel Wilkinson.
This diversified operation is
performed on about 3 1,000 acres
of deeded crop and range land
(about 900 acres of that is in
CRP), and about 55,000 acres of
leased ground.
The primary
enterprise of the Wilkinson ranch
is cow-calf production, but the
operation also includes haying,
CRP, wildlife management, and
logging.
Dick, Virginia, and four hired
men form the team that keeps the
cow-calf operation running
smoothly. The four hired men
consist
of
one
full-time
mechanic, one full time fencer,
and two full time cowboys.
When work loads require more
help with the cattle, the mechanic
and fencer fill in. During the
feeding season all four men
spend most of their time feeding
the cattle. This operation covers
a little over six percent of the
total Morrow County acreage.
Over the years a number of
conservation strategies have been
implemented, and are currently
in place. Some of these are water
m a n a g e m e n t,
g ra z in g
management,
stream
bank
erosion control, and cropland
erosion control.
A major program was
undertaken in 1993. This was
the installation of a watering
system on an 8,000 acre place
located up Hinton Creek known
as the Justice place. The water
system, engineered by NRCS,
was a cost share project with the
Farm Service Agency (FSA) in
Heppner. The watering system
consists of
a well, which
supplies water to a 25,870 gallon
reservoir, and 17 strategically
located watering troughs, which
are gravity fed through about
five miles of water line from the
reservoir.
Some obvious
enviromnental gains include
dispersed grazing due to
increased access to water
throughout the range and riparian
protection by giving water access
away from the live streams.
Dicks' grazing plan is another
conservation technique.
His
grazing plan includes cross
fencing to better control grazing
levels. Dick says that over the
years of installing cross fencing,
he has increased capacity by one
third. Short duration grazing is
used to allow range to recover
quickly and prevents over
grazing which can be counter
productive to a cattle operation.
Mobile water tanks with fold
down troughs are placed to
disperse grazing throughout the
range ana hold cattle away from
riparian areas.
When the
integrated effects of dispersed
watering, cross fencing, and
short duration grazing are
evaluated, a very environmental
and wildlife conscious operation
is evident, said a news release.
Wildlife benefit greatly from
the management practices that
are
implemented
on
the
Wilkinson ranch. Some of the
beneficiaries are elk, mule deer,
wild turkeys, upland game birds,
and fish. Most recently, in the
fall of 1996, a fish screen was
installed in an irrigation canal on
the ranch.
The fish screen
prevents fish from entering the
canal, and discharges them down
a 40-foot discharge pipe back
into the creek. The fish screen
was a joint purchase between
Dick and the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
In 1994 Dick and Virginia were
awarded the "Landowner of the
Year" award by the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
"in recognition of outstanding
contributions to the fish and
wildlife resources of Oregon".
Controlled hunting is permitted
on the Wilkinson ranch, in
cooperation with the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW), and vehicle traffic is
restricted. Restricting vehicle
traffic helps prevent the spread of
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years the knaptweed problem has
been reduced, but still exists. An
annual offensive spraying of
infested areas as well as
defensive spraying of boarding
fence rows will be an ongoing
event for years to come.
Another problem weed that is
becoming more prevalent in
Morrow County is Medusahead
rye. Medusahead rye is a grass
that becomes unconsumable as it
matures. At this time there is no
selective means of control for
this problem, but Dick feels it is
a growing problem that will need
to be addressed more closely in
years to come.
As a supplemental enterprise of
the cow-calf enterprise, haying
o f grass bottoms on Willow
Creek is performed. The bottom
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The lone Site Council met May
14 at lone High School.
Principal Dick Allen reported
that the School Improvement
Plan has been sent to the district
office for final approval by the
school board. The council will
begin the action plan in the fall
of 1997.
Some interest has been shown
regarding the vacancies on the
council.
John Collin and
Arlynda Gates have submitted
their names for election, filling
the parent vacancies.
Betty
Reitmann and Steve Schaber will
run for re-election representing
the teachers and Charity
McElligott representing the
classified employees.
The fall Cardinal Club meeting
and potluck dinner is scheduled
for September 8. This will allow
the parent election to take place
before the first site council
meeting.
CB/IM teams
attend rodeo
The Columbia Basin women’s
team -T iffanie and Angela
Munkers and Katie McCoin-are
num ber one in Oregon team
standings and have been the en
tire season. They also won the
team standings at the Mollala
High School (MHS) Rodeo held
this past weekend.
Following are local competi
tors' MHS Rodeo results:
Girls All Around-first Lexi
Matteson, Intermountain Team
(IM);
Bareback riding-second Nate
Filbin, Columbia Basin Team
(CB);
,
C a lf roping-second Justin
M atteson, IM, third Emmett
Evans, IM, seventh Ben
Rodriguez, IM, eighth Vic Th
ompson, IM;
Saddle bronc-third Zane Gibbs,
IM, fourth Evans;
Steer w restling-seventh J.
Matteson;
Bull riding-third Ty Wilkins,
CB;
B arrel racing-second L.
M atteson,
third
T iffanie
Munkers, CB, seventh Amber
Evans, IM;
Pole bending-second L.
Matteson; third T. Munkers;
G oat tying-second Laina
Mathews, IM, third T. Munkers,
fourth L. Matteson, sixth Katie
McCoin, CB;
B reakaw ay-fourth
L.
Matteson, fifth Angela Munkers,
CB, 10th A. Evans;
G irls cutting-fourth A.
Munkers;
Boys cutting-second E. Evans,
sixth Brian Knowles, IM;
Team roping-first Rodriguez,
second J. Matteson, seventh, L.
and J. Matteson, ninth E. Evans.
W CCC Tourney
The Willow Creek Country
Club golfers will have a Jack and
Jill mini-toumament on Friday,
June 13 at 6 p.m.
Tournam ent will involve a
nine-hole modified couples type
of play with the format deter
m ined by the com m ittee in
charge.
Prizes will be awarded for low
score and special events. The
charge will be $3 per couple for
members and $10 per couple for
non-members.
Light snacks will be provided
by the committee in charge.
Hosts of the event are: Jim and
Cam Wishart, Ralph and Sally
Walker and Bob and Suzanne
Jepsen.
School counselor Barb Stefani-
Peterson sent a letter to the
council reporting activities for
drug and alcohol prevention. A
community group, Working
Toward a Drug Free Community,
has met and planned some
activities. They will provide
cake and ice cream at the junior
high academic and sports awards
night. Peterson is hoping to
establish an OSSOM Club
chapter at lone High School. Her
other goals include applying for
grant money from Oregon
Together, getting more parents
involved in prevention planning
meetings, and expanding the
HLY 2000 Program.
The final draft of the lone Site
Council bylaws was passed out
to members. Additional copies
will be available for new
members. A code of conduct
will be discussed next fall.
The staff requested the council
approve buying a set of video
tapes to aid in staff development.
The set of tapes from the
International
Center
for
Leadership in Education would
be financed through the Staff
Development Grant. The council
agreed by consensus to purchase
the tapes.
The council recommended that
Principal Dick Allen check to see
if funding is available for
educational
aide
Cathy
Halvorsen to attend a workshop
on Working with Children from
Dysfunctional Families.
Steve Schaber, Positive School
Action Committee advisor,
announced the students of the
month for April: Amelia Peck
and Adam McCabe were chosen
from the junior high and Nikki
McElligott and Mark McElligott
from the high school.
The
committee is planning a tree
planting ceremony in memory of
Beth Slottee for grades K-12 on
June 6 at 2 p.m.
The council recognized several
positive achievements of lone
students.
Honor Society
inductees were: Niki Sullivan,
Katie Tworek, Jessica Krebs,
Tori Odinet, Ryan Bennetto,
Chuck Nolan, Nova Rietmann
and Maci Childers.
Dale
Holland's advanced math class
surveyed the new addition to the
park for the city of lone.
Niki Sullivan won the Odd
Fellow's speech contest and will
travel to New York and
Washington D.C. in June. The
lone Middle School Great AUK
team placed extremely high, with
their best showing ever of 11th in
the state.
Thirty middle school students
participated in track this last
spring, with many school records
being met or broken. The high
school boys and girls placed first
at the district track meet.
The middle school choir,
under the direction of Ron
Neighom, performed in the
community play in Heppner,
entertained the Morrow County
School Board at the April
meeting and were invited back to
the Senior Center. Several lone
students performed in the
community play "Mother Goose
Madness".
The next meeting of the lone
Site Council will be Sept. 10.
Marriage licenses
The Morrow County Clerk’s
office at the courthouse in Hepp
ner reports issuing the following
marriage license during the past
week:
June 3: Brian Scott Harris, 38,
Imgon; and
Nicolette Anne Lewis, 39, Ir-
ngon.
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Celebrate Father’s Day
Sunday, June 15th a t
Beecher’s Restaurant, done
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Featuring A Limited Menu - Includes:
• Top Sirloin Steak • Chicken Strips
Rib Eye Steak • Fried Chicken • Fried Fish
• Chicken Fried Steak • Prime Rib
• Baked Potatoes - Mashed w/Gravy
• Potato Salad • Green Salad
• Fruit Salad • Dessert
• Complimentary Beer & Wine
Dinner Served (toon until 7.SO p.m.
Reservations Recommended
'Bwlm't Reatouwl & £wuuje
350 Hwy 74 • lone, OR
4 2 2 -7 0 3 8
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