The State Land Board has presented the 2004 Stream Project Award to owners of Alta Cunha and Moss Creek ranches west of La Grande for restoration of the Longley Meadows.

 

Ranch owners Carla Cunha, Shauna Mosgrove and Kelly Stinnett „ along with numerous partners „ began planning the project in 1999. From 2002 to 2004 they restored habitat in the stream, on streambanks and in wetlands along seven miles of three creeks and the main stem of the Grande Ronde River.

 

Seven miles of fence were built to keep livestock away from the creeks and river, 40,000 shrubs and trees were planted, and nine off-channel water sources were developed for livestock.

 

The project improved habitat along a one-mile segment of the Grande Ronde River. Partners restored one mile of the Bear Creek channel to its historic configurations through Longley Meadow. The new, meandering channel doubled instream habitat and slowed water flow over gravelly streambeds. Crews also placed whole trees in one mile of Jordan Creek.

 

To preserve the investment in the project, the ranch owners enrolled 445 acres of land adjacent to the creeks and river in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and the Bonneville Power Administration's Fish Habitat Program. The agreements establish a 15-year streambank conservation easement.

 

Fourth-generation ranch owner Mosgrove said that she, her mother Carla, and ranch co-owner Kelly started the project "with the traditional cattle operation perspective „ help the stream, but keep the meadow for grazing." Project planners soon realized this wasn't possible. They toured similar projects.

 

"I had grown up seeing streambank areas looking like putting greens and thought that was normal," she said. "I soon learned that restoration can bring huge benefits to a stream."

 

Through numerous "stream summits" at the ranch with eight or nine project partners, the group found solutions that allowed stream restoration as well as grazing. Staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service helped develop water sources other than the creeks, and assisted with pasture rotation plans to offset the grazing lost when the meadow was fenced off.

 

"A major surprise came when we found out that existing springs wouldn't be an adequate water source for the livestock," Mosgrove said.

 

The solution? Two wells, one of which is powered by a solar pump "that is working wonderfully," she added.

 

Five years after the start of planning, Mosgrove said it is satisfying to know that "you can do good things for the resource while keeping a viable cattle operation."

 

Mosgrove said the highlight of the project occurred last spring when a Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist came to tell her that steelhead were building spawning nests in the restored creek bed.

 

Project partners included several local, state and federal agencies.

 

The cost of the project was $265,000 of which BPA's Fish Habitat Program contributed $145,000 for fencing and construction of the new channel. Other financial contributors included the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the ODFW, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which managed the project.

 

The Oregon Department of Transportation selected the Longley Meadow Project to offset loss of wetlands at the nearby Lower Perry Bridge. ODOT provided $12,000 to develop a small wetland and $5,400 for planting trees and shrubs along the Grande Ronde.

 

The State Land Board Awards were established in 2003 to promote and recognize responsible,sustainable stewardship of natural resources.

Larry Meyer Argus Observer

 

Adrian

 

Old and new technology highlighted the annual agriculture tour Tuesday as participants viewed a waterwheel that lifts water out of a drain ditch to be delivered to wetlands and watched the latest in technology and equipment for sprinkler irrigation.

 

The traditional tour is sponsored by the Malheur County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

 

Leaving from the USDA Service Center, Ontario, the first stop was at the Three P's Project, a wetland with waterwheel, at the eastern edge of the Big Bend area, east of Adrian.

 

One of two constructed wetlands in Malheur County, the Three P's Project's unique feature is the waterwheel, which removes runoff water from a ditch, which drains into the nearby Snake River, for removal of sediment and other pollutants before that water goes into the river.

 

Landowner and farmer Bill Prather said the wheel was not operating at full efficiency because water in the drain ditch was about foot or more below its normal flow and only about a half of the plastic pipe - used as scoops - were going down into the water. The water is piped to the wetlands.

 

Prather said there was very little engineering information available for the waterwheel, most of it related to producing electricity, running a pump or wheels used in landscaping. They could not find anything about wheels that lift water, he said.

 

"Rome built them, but getting information on them is almost impossible," he said.

 

His wheel was built from materials he had on hand, he said.

 

By using the wheel, Prather said he stays away from pumping costs.

 

The wetland project will help with water quality, Ed Gheen, a retired soil and water conservation district staff member said.

 

"We're trying to clean the water up, provide wildlife habitat," he said.

 

Pollutants include nitrates, phosphorus, E-coli and heavy metals. Wetlands remove more than 70 percent of the nitrates and more than 80 percent total suspended solids, which carry E-coli and phosphorus. Helping with the water purification, Gheen explained, are a variety of filtering plants, plus good bacteria that do about 80 percent of the purification activity. Commenting the costs of building a wetlands is expensive, Gheen said 5,000 plants were purchased for one part of the wetlands, at $1 per plant. It may cost $20,000 to $30,000 for one wetland project, in plants alone, he said.

 

Lance Phillips, Malheur County Soil and Water Conservation District manager, said the Fletcher Gulch Project at Barlow Farms, north of Mitchell Butte, was designed to use water more efficiently to reduce soil erosion and improve production. The project, which switched the farms from flood irrigation, to sprinklers, has reduced erosion to almost nothing. Jay Chamberlin, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District, said the projects link today's technology with a 70 year-old systems, referring to the Owyhee Project.

 

"We're changing our practices as growers change from flood (irrigation) to sprinklers," he said, referring to the district. "We've spent about $100,000 on canal automation," he said.

 

That equipment helps monitor and control the flow in the main canal, he explained.

 

With the sprinkler systems, growers use much less than their allotted four-acre-feet of water during a growing season, Chamberlin said.

Demand from Basin growers to lease a no-till grain drill from the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District has been so high that the district has purchased a second one.

 

"Interest has been increasing ... to the point that we couldn't get to everyone who wanted it," said Rick Woodley of the district. So far this spring, 23 growers have signed up to lease one of the drills.

 

Drought conditions, along with a request for water conservation by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and increasing fuel costs aided the district in its decision to purchase the second no-till drill this year.

 

The drills can directly seed multiple grain and grass varieties and apply fertilizer in one application into untilled ground, reducing the amount of fuel and water a grower needs to use. Conventional tilling costs $15 to $17 per acre, said Woodley. With each pass through a field for regular tilling, planting and fertilizing, a grower's production costs rise.

 

Water usage also decreases when the drill is used. Moisture in the soil is not lost to evaporation since the field isn't tilled before it is seeded. The first irrigation in a field is often delayed with no-till practices.

 

"Seed goes into moist ground," Woodley said. "When you can postpone or eliminate an irrigation, that's pretty significant."

 

No-till practices are catching on in the Basin and a few farmers have even purchased drills for their own farming operations.

 

Sam Henzel and his brother and partner Thurston Henzel have purchased a no-till drill for their operation, Henzel Brothers.

 

"We anticipate it will be a significant portion of our operation from now on," said Sam Henzel. "The concept of the no-till drill is one that we're going to embrace and expand in our farming operation."

 

Henzel Brothers is planning on conducting its own field tests with the equipment.

 

"We will experiment with different crop regimens," Henzel said. "Specifically if we're going to be able to flood a piece of property and go back and be able to utilize the no-till on it the next year."

 

The drill uses 25 discs that cut a 15-foot-wide swath of rows for seed and fertilizer. The discs on the drill can be adjusted to cut a row 1/4- to 3/4-inch deep for seed placement.

 

Increased yields have been seen on a significant number of irrigators' crops, said Woodley.

 

"We've had no decrease in yields," Woodley said. The decrease in operating costs are a benefit to the grower.

 

"If a grower can see his yield is the same or 10 to 15 percent lower because of reduced till practices - he's still gaining dollars per acre," Woodley said.

 

Other pluses that have been found with no-till practices are lower fertilizer application rates, healthier root stock and plants, decreased erosion and better tilth.

 

"In sandier soils tilth becomes critically important," Woodley said.

 

Two things that haven't changed with using the no-till drill are weeds and bugs. Control practices for weeds and insects still remain the same, Woodley said.

 

The ability to inter-seed an existing crop was a use for the no-till drill that Woodley hadn't looked for. The district has been able to use the drill on acreage with an older crop of alfalfa.

 

"The biggest thing that's been neat is inter-seeding," Woodley said. "A 5- or 6-year-old alfalfa crop can be inter-seeded with oats, triticale or forage crop.

 

"We hadn't anticipated that kind of application."

 

The district purchased its first no-till grain drill in 2002, with grants from seven agencies. It has since been used for 103 jobs in the Basin.

 

The newest drill was purchased this year with grants from a variety of sources.

 

"We're in a continued process of procuring funding," Woodley said.

 

The second machine is identical to the first to eliminate the need for growers to learn how to use two different pieces of equipment.

 

The decision in 2002 to provide a no-till drill to growers in the Klamath Basin, with its shorter growing season, wasn't hastily made.

 

"We spent probably two years researching before we made the decision to purchase," Woodley said. "You don't get two chances in this Basin.

 

"First year we didn't allow more than 20 percent of a field used for no-till."

 

And for the most part the no-till drill project has been a success story for the district. Out of the 103 jobs the drill has completed, only one of them was disappointing.

 

"As of now we've had one application that we were not satisfied with," Woodley said. "It doesn't work for everything."

 

The biggest obstacle the district faced, said Woodley, was in trying to no-till into heavy wheat stubble with thick and matted chaff rows following harvest, especially following a wet spring.

 

"The chaff row needs to be disbursed as you harvest," Woodley said, also adding that burning or baling the leftover straw helps get rid of extra debris.

 

The drills are stored at Floyd A. Boyd Co., a farm equipment business in Merrill that also delivers and maintains the drills.

 

"They've been a very willing partner in this," Woodley said. "They're an integral part of the operation."

 

The cost to lease the drill from the district is $9 per acre with a $150 minimum and a $65 delivery fee.

 

For more information about no-till and minimum tillage practices, contact Woodley at the district at 883-6932, ext. 117, or Larry Peach at ext. 106.