A last-minute weed management plan filed by an organic farm may be “workable” if the farm managers follow through, a Sherman County official said.

The operators of Azure Farms, a 2,000-acre organic farm on the outskirts of Moro, filed a weed management plan 24 hours before the Sherman County Court was scheduled to discuss the issue. The county had warned it would seek a quarantine on the farm if it didn’t get a handle on what it describes as “rampant” noxious weeds.

County officials, responding to complaints from neighboring farmers who don’t want their fields infested, said they will spray the weeds with herbicide and bill the farm for the work if necessary. The farm says it will lose valuable organic certification for three years if it uses the chemical herbicides conventional farmers use.

In an email, County Commissioner Tom McCoy said he discussed Azure Farms’ plan with county weed control Supervisor Rod Asher.

“He is researching some of the measures, but believes the plan may be workable if Azure is really willing to implement it. So far, their follow through has not been good,” McCoy wrote.

The Oregon Wheat Growers League urged a “prompt and rigorous review” of Azure’s proposal.

“From our members on the ground, it’s become clear that even a casual observation of Azure’s property makes it clear that their noxious weed problem is severe and has been worsening for many years,” league CEO Blake Rowe and growers Bryan Cranston and Chris Moore said in a prepared statement.”

“Neighboring farms, including those at some distance from Azure, are being impacted by the spread of noxious weed seeds from Azure’s property. The ability of surrounding wheat farms to continue to produce certified wheat seed and the reputation of the entire area for producing high quality wheat, with virtually no weed contamination, are at risk.”

The farm proposed methods that, depending on the weed, included heavy fertilization and then deep cultivation to get at roots, spot use of Boron, citrus pulp mulch, covering weeds with landscaping fabric, salt, mowing before seeds form and spraying with calcium, manganese and boron before cultivation. “This causes the new blooms to wilt and not seed out; doesn’t kill the entire plan, though, but controls the spread,” the farm suggested.

McCoy, the commissioner, said the county court has received more than 40,000 emails about the issue, “and the number is increasing rapidly.” On social media, critics have called the county’s stance outrageous and accused the county of trying to poison the organic farm on behalf of “Big Ag” or Monsanto, which has no apparent role in the matter. McCoy said the charges against county officials are inaccurate.

In a memo prepared for the county’s May 17 meeting, weed Supervisor Asher laid out the timeline of his interactions with the farm.

March 2: Asher sent the farm’s parent company, Ecclesia of Sinai at Dufur, a weed control ordinance violation notice. The letter listed 15 company properties covering 1,922 acres in the Moro area. It gave the farm 30 days to submit a plan to control Rush skeleton, classified by the county as a Class A noxious weed, and Canada thistle, Morning Glory and White Top, all Class B noxious weeds.

March 27: Ecclesia of Sinai responded that the county didn’t have jurisdiction over it and cited biblical justification for not spraying.

April 19: The County Court discussed the issue. By then, some of the properties had been mowed, “but this was seen as a poor method of control as the weeds will grow back and root systems will flourish and continue to spread, as they have done over the many years,” Asher wrote.

Local residents attending the meeting expressed “deep concern” over weeds and were skeptical that methods other than herbicide would control them.

May 1: Asher sent a second letter to the farm, suggesting various control methods.

May 2: The county’s Weed Advisory Board agreed to defer to the county court on further action.

May 5: Asher met with Nathan Stelzer, the Azure Farm manager, who said he was unaware weeds were such a big problem. Asher felt he’d made progress in the discussion.

May 11: Asher viewed Azure’s social media campaign and said it “clearly misstated the situation.”

“My thoughts of progress and working together in the future were dashed,” Asher wrote.

The campaign, which included videos of the farm’s principals urging viewers to express their outrage at the county’s stance, resulted in an estimated 40,000 emails to county officials from around the world

May 16: Azure Farms submits a weed management plan. It lists methods the farm will use to control Rush skeleton, Canada thistle, Bindweed and White Top.

May 17: The county court meets to discuss the issue. The meeting is moved from the courthouse to the high school gym, the only space large enough for the anticipated crowd.

The City of John Day has obtained a $50,000 grant to study the possibility of using wastewater for hyroponic crop production or pasture irrigation.

The award was one of eight grants totaling more than $400,000 approved for water project feasibility studies by the Oregon Water Resources Commission.

John Day currently stores treated wastewater in four ponds near the John Day River, but the system may not pass regulatory muster in the future due to potential adverse impacts on water quality.

For this reason, the city wants to examine re-using the wastewater, which amounts to 87.6 million gallons annually, in hydroponic greenhouses.

The other option would be to pipe the water to two 40-acre lagoons north of town, which would feed a 120-acre center pivot irrigation system.

The total cost of the study is expected to be $110,000, with matching funds provided by the city and another state grant program.

After the approval of the eight grants, the Oregon Water Resources Commission still has more than $600,000 available for future water project feasibility studies.

One of the proposals submitted to the commission — $93,935 to study removing sediment from the Applegate Reservoir in Southern Oregon to increase storage capacity — was rejected.

The Oregon Water Resources Department, which is overseen by the commission, recommended against funding the study because it only proposed removing sediment, which is a temporary solution.

The study would be stronger if it also looked at preventing future sediment buildup by reducing it from upstream sources, according to OWRD.

Following is a summary of the other water project feasibility grants approved by the commission:

• $30,000 to study the re-use of wastewater from Baker City for agricultural purposes.

• $60,000 to study expanding the City of Carlton’s water reservoir.

• $72,500 to study whether to rehabilitate or remove the City of Brookings dam and reservoir.

• $50,330 to study the possibility of paying landowners to forgo irrigation to increase stream flows in the Hood River Basin.

• $65,680 to study above-ground and below-ground water storage in the Upper Klamath Basin.

• $42,297 to study aquifer storage and recovery in the Milton-Freewater area.

• $40,505 to study natural water storage in a wet meadow in the John Day River Basin.

PENDLETON, Ore. — Dan Roeser rode Sanjo Gold calmly and confidently into the Pendleton Round-Up Pavilion Saturday, ready to show what the 7-year-old palomino gelding was capable of doing.

It was several hours before the Western Select Horse and Working Dog Sale would begin inside the Pendleton Convention Center — part of the annual Cattle Barons Weekend — and ranchers huddled inside the pavilion for a preview of the animals in action. Some scrawled notes in their programs as the horses ran alongside steers for a live roping demonstration.

Roeser, who runs Roeser Ranch in Marsing, Idaho, has been training horses for 40 years and taught a number of local cowboys the finer points of horsemanship. He regularly attends Cattle Barons Weekend, now in its 10th year, which helps raise scholarships for local students looking to pursue a career in agriculture.

Along with Sanjo Gold, Roeser also brought a second horse, Dealers Kid, to market at the sale. Whereas Sanjo Gold is a gentle ranch horse for riders of all abilities, Roeser said Dealers Kid is more fit for high-caliber ropers. It is Roeser’s job to show both animals at the best of their abilities in the arena and auction ring.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “You have to use a lot of consistency in your methods so the horses know what they can expect from you.”

Once the sale begins, trainers like Roeser take center stage in the convention center where buyers bid up to tens of thousands of dollars for horses to add to their operation. Selling horses is a big part of Roeser’s business, and he said Cattle Barons Weekend has proven to be a great venue.

“It’s a good market for the horses,” he said. “The people who run the sale do a really good job.”

Cattle Barons Weekend also featured a Western-theme trade show and Buckaroo BBQ Challenge, where teams competed for the best ribs and tri-tip beef. Proceeds go toward raising scholarships that event leaders say keep the Western tradition alive in northeast Oregon.

“That’s why we do what we do, to maintain it into the future,” said Andy VanderPlaat, Cattle Barons president.

Roeser’s return to Pendleton reunited him with at least two of his former pupils in Justin Bailey, of Pilot Rock, and Ryan Raymond, of Helix. Bailey worked eight years for Roeser on the ranch in Idaho, and described him as a highly regarded mentor.

Bailey now runs his own training business, Bailey Performance Horses, and showed three of his own animals during the Western Select auction.

“What we’re trying to show is a quality horse that can handle ranch-like situations,” Bailey said. “You’re trying to show their willingness and quiet mind.”

Bailey Performance Horses is located on the home ranch of Anderson Land & Livestock, operated by Terry and Debby Anderson who won this year’s Cattle Barons Legacy Award.

Raymond, a fifth-generation rancher who runs cows for Raymond & Son, worked three years for Roeser and continues to ride plenty of horses. Showing horses at sales like Cattle Barons Weekend takes honesty and integrity, Raymond said, with the trainer’s reputation on the line.

“These guys know what they can sell here,” he said. “You can’t bring a horse here you can’t lope around and rope on.”

Cattle Barons Weekend is just another fun event to bring more people into Pendleton, Raymond said, while promoting ranching businesses that are the lifeblood of small Eastern Oregon communities like Helix.

“If we don’t do more things to involve people in local agriculture, I would think those places will be gone,” he said.

LANGLOIS -- Interesting Langlois presents local fantasy author Kandi J. Wyatt at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 24, at the Langlois Public Library.

The issue of gorse has been on our minds for many years, as evidenced by the first picture I am sharing, which was taken during a mutual aid training course hosted by the Bandon Fire Department in May of 1965.…

LANGLOIS -- Southwestern Oregon Preppers will hold a meeting at noon on Saturday, May 20, at the Langlois Community Church, 94284 Main Street, Langlois.

JOSEPH, Ore. – For more than 40 years the Joseph Oregon’s Associated Ditch Company has struggled to find the money to fix its aging Wallowa Lake dam. This spring the private company announced it is exploring an old idea with new enthusiasm.

Exhausting several avenues over the years, including selling water to a downstream user, the ditch company’s board has found the support it needs to form an irrigation district, making funding such as low-interest Clean Water State Revolving Fund loans easier to access.

Following a rash of dam inspections in the wake of the 1976 Teton Dam failure in Idaho, the dam was deemed unsafe to store the ditch company’s entire water allotment. In order to bring the dam back to full storage capacity and protect water used by upper Wallowa Valley farmers valued at $36,079,000 per year, the dam needs to be rebuilt. Any reconstruction, Tom Butterfield, former Associated Ditch Company president said, must include fish passage. That dollar amount, he said, is still being studied.

Butterfield’s son Dan is now the ditch company’s president. He said forming a district had been considered in the past.

Jay McFetridge, a multi-generational Wallowa Lake water user, said when his grandfather was president of the ditch company in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and his father in the ‘90s the worry was over the equitability, or perceived lack there of, in how votes are tallied among water users under the rules of a district versus the one vote per acre agreement currently used.

“My dad said his biggest reason that it wouldn’t work, and they would not pursue at all, was because of the voting,” McFetridge said.

This time the suggestion came from Nate James of the Natural Resource Conservation Service when he was asked to help the board with its irrigation modernization plan.

Butterfield said, “About a year ago we met with Nate to look at financing for piping spur ditches, screening the ditches and possibly even putting in water measuring devices.”

James said he has worked with Wallowa Lake water users individually to upgrade their systems, but with the scope and scale of the ditch company’s modernization needs, including reconstruction of the dam, they needed extra funding sources not available to a private ditch company. A district, formed under state statute, would hold public meetings and be able to vote and process decisions in a timely manner.

“They could see the benefits were very positive to going down this path,” James said.

For technical assistance, James asked Farmers Conservation Alliance to work with the ditch company’s modernization committee. During their initial meeting, fixing the dam was discussed.

The alliance’s executive director, Julie O’Shea, said her organization started out manufacturing fish screens for irrigation districts, but after years of designing and installing screens she said her staff found it difficult to fix one piece of an irrigation system without opening a box of other issues.

“We realized there was a great need for irrigation districts to have people come in with expertise – not just from an engineering perspective, but a financial and community-based one,” O’Shea said.

With help from Energy Trust of Oregon, the alliance started working with districts all over the state, serving as project manager. To date, they’ve worked with 11 districts on irrigation modernization plans.

In April, a little more than a year after their first meeting with NRCS and the alliance, the Associated Ditch Company’s board of directors presented their irrigation district proposal to the Wallowa County Commissioners. Rebecca Knapp, the Associated Ditch Company’s attorney, said following the publication of a series of notices, the commissioners will sign an order calling for an election of the landowners within the boundary of the new district.

Dan Butterfield said besides overwhelming backing from the landowners, there is a lot more support statewide to repair the dam than the ditch company realized.

“Everyone seems to know where Wallowa Lake is,” Butterfield said.