A way to work  

November 12, 2009

H&N photo by Jill Aho   Larry Peacore removed thick brush, like that seen behind him, and the lower limbs of many juniper trees with the help of a small grant facilitated by the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District.

      Larry Peacore has spent his falls and springs the past five years clearing out brush and juniper on about 50 of his 385 acres.

   The Keno-area rancher purchased his property 16 years ago and began by ridding it of scrap metal. Then he began removing rocks from an unproductive pasture. Then he focused on the wooded area that rings the green flatland.

   Clearing brush, trees

   With the financial assistance of an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board grant facilitated by the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District, Peacore has removed hundreds of juniper trees, some just seedlings and others old and large. He has cleared brush that stood 3.5 to 4 feet high.  

   “The big benefit is seeing it cleared up and useable,” Peacore said. He runs 30 or 40 pairs of cattle up on the land for a month or two to keep the brush down. “Of which we couldn’t do any of that before.”

   Sleeping easier

   Peacore also sleeps easier at night knowing he has been able to reduce the fire hazard   that surrounded his home.

   “We’ll have something left if a fire comes through, whereas my neighbor may not,” he said.

   Peacore has been given two 75-25 grants. The government pays 75 percent of the project cost and Peacore picks up the other 25 percent.

   He estimates one project cost between $11,000 and $12,000, and the second around $6,000. He did the work with his own equipment and has been using the juniper for fence posts and firewood.  

   He said he was conscious of the herds of deer that also call his land home when doing the projects and left stands of mahogany as winter forage.

   “I left as much as I could for the wildlife,” he said.

   Upgrading irrigation

   Since 2002, Jason Chapman has completed four irrigation projects on his alfalfa fields and pasture lands to save water and energy. Moving away from old wheel line and sprinkler systems, Chapman has upgraded irrigation on 553 of his 750 acres.  

   The Environmental Quality Incentives Program, part of the 2008 Farm Bill, has provided Chapman with funding for projects he would not have been able to afford alone.

   “All of our projects have been over $100,000,” Chapman said. “We’re a pretty small operation, mostly cattle. We would never have been able to financially afford to do that.”

   Chapman installed   three pivot sprinkler systems. His most recent project was enclosing an above-ground irrigation ditch in buried pipe and creating alfalfa risers for flood irrigation.

   “On the center pivots, even the flood project, it’s a lot more efficient way to irrigate than what we had been using in the past,” Chapman said.

   Saving time

   What used to take Chapman 24 hours to irrigate now takes half an hour, he said.

   “With the center pivot system, you go out and push one button then three days later you push another button,” he said.

   “Upgrading our pump and irrigation system, we were able to save energy even though now we’re irrigating with power   requirements.”

   Chapman said the projects each required a different match, ranging from 25 to 50 percent of the project cost.

   The application process was not difficult he said, although the waiting to hear back did take a while.

   “It’s going to take a little bit longer than what you might have thought it would have taken,” he said.  

Side Bar

Watershed Enhancement Board grants     

   The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board funds small grants that are administered through local soil and water conservation districts, watershed councils and tribes. Private landowners, nonprofits, schools, community colleges, state and nonprofit colleges, and government agencies are eligible.  

Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles about different types of agriculture grants. The second article will run Nov. 26.