Harney County Cattle Grazing Study

On April 17, students from Burns High School helping with the Harney County website were given the opportunity to examine the landscape and cattle grazing along the Columbia River Gorge and Portland area to see how it differs from Harney County. From the 17 thru the 21 of April we toured the Bonneville Dam and Hatchery, Columbia River Gorge, Laourell Falls, Oregon Beef Council, Jefferson High School, Oregonian, Senator Gordon Smith’s office, Portland, Soup Creek and Soap Creek Valley at Oregon State University. Jamie Moline, Christa Cooper, Mandy Cronin, Rebecca Danner, Eric Garner, Marlon Dick, Tarah McCanna, and Carol Robinson each wrote a brief summery of at least one of the places we visited.

The first stop was the Bonneville dam. It was a very educational place to visit. We learned about chinook, salmon, and steelhead and how they travel up the fish ladders. We also learned about their population and how the dams affected their migration. Seeing the sturgeon ponds was also exciting.

The gorge was created by Bretz floods[Allen and others 1986]. The crests of the floods dropped in elevation from 1000 feet at the Dalles to 700 feet at Crown Point.

Transportation of cattle through the gorge would have been very difficult! Cattle could fall off of the cliffs, or be swept away by the swift rivers. Cattle were trailed over the Barlow Road to the stockyards to avoid the gorge. Later on, the railroad was built to help transport cattle and other goods to Portland.

Dianne Johnston the executive director of the Oregon Beef Council talked to us as well as Dana Peterson, who is the Promotion director. We learned that chicken is beef's main competitor, followed by pork, turkey, and fish. The beef council is trying to promote beef as a main holiday meal. One of the their main promotions is the Beef Blitz. Members of the Oregon Cattlewomen pair up with volunteers from high schools and Oregon State University. They then cook a beef recipe for students in grade schools, junior high, or high schools. You can get to their website at www.orbeef.org. They give a lot of information and even beef recipes. It was a lot of fun.

On the early morning of April 19, 2002 we headed out to Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon to give a presentation to Mr. Mike Rooney’s physical science class about grazing and every day life in Harney County. We opened by talking a little about the history and ways of life and how it differs with 350 miles between us. The students at Jefferson High were very entertained with the idea of early mornings, branding cattle, and slaughtering. In turn we also learned a lot about what they do everyday and how their lifestyle is. After the presentation Brian and Lisa (two of the students at Jefferson High) gave us a tour of the Jefferson High TV studio and other facilities in the school.

The Oregonian is the largest daily news paper and also the oldest in the Pacific Northwest. The tour of the Oregonian started off with a briefing on public outreach presented by Stephanie Oliver (who handles public affairs) followed by a quick look at what goes on in the news rooms at the Oregonian headquarters. We also learned what it takes to present a news paper to the public each and every day. Stephanie, also introduced us to Jason Quick who is one of several sports writers that covers the Trail Blazers games. He said a quick hello, and gave us his insight on the upcoming Portland / L.A game .

PORTLAND

Kows For Kids in downtown Portland.

(Photo: Jimmy Zamora)

Carol and one of the Kows, near the world trade center in Portland.

(Photo: Jimmy Zamora)

Shucking oysters at Dan and Louie’s Oyster Bar.

(Photo: Marlon Dick)

Our experience in Portland was exciting and a lot different from what we are used to. Portland is so much larger and the landscape and culture differs from what’s in Burns. For example; they use the Max, which is a light rail train that gets the general public from place to place in a very short amount of time. The Max was free, convenient and fun.

Our trip to the Lloyd center was an eye opening experience for us. We saw people from various races and cultural backgrounds. The population in Burns is predominately Caucasian and rural. This was an exciting trip for us to get out and interact with people of different backgrounds.

While walking downtown we noticed a few of the 100 fiberglass life-size cows outside of stores. These cows are part of the Kows for Kids fundraiser. Local artists were given the opportunity to create these unique cows to make the public more aware of the children facing severe social, mental, and emotional problems. These cows will be auctioned off sometime in mid-June and the money made will go to charity.

The focus of our trip was how cattle and grazing are affected by urban and suburban activities. We noticed the landscape outside the city wasn’t fit for grazing. All of the ferns, trees and other plants would make it difficult for cattle to graze for forage. They need a variety of grasses and legumes to get a balanced diet.

For dinner that night we went to Dan and Louie’s Oyster Bar and for the first time we all tried raw oysters. This will probably be the last time for a lot of us!

SENATOR GORDON SMITH'S OFFICE

Harney County Students in Senator Smith’s office.

(Photo: Nana Lapham)

View of Willamette river as seen from Senator Smith’s office.

(Photo: Jimmy Zamora)

On the third day of our trip, April 18 we went to the office of Senator Gordon Smith. He was currently unavailable due to a schedule change, so he was represented by his spokesperson Gary Schmidt. Gary gave us a little background on what goes on in the senator’s daily life. He also informed us on the election that will take place in November.
Gary told us that the senator has a policy that all letters and phone calls must be responded to within the next two days regardless of the content. I got the impression that the senator has a fairly firm grasp of our issues in Eastern Oregon. His spokesperson told us that he is very supportive of the ranching community and keeps the ranchers best interest at all times. We think that he does a lot more good in Eastern Oregon than most people give him credit for.
Next a man by the name of Martin Dorn came and answered many of the questions we asked. He told us where the senator stands on issues such as Steens Mountain. He feels that the needs of the ranchers are just as important as the wants and desires of recreational enthusiasts. He does not support the idea to transform the Steens into a national park. He feels that there are certain areas the cattle should not be permitted to graze on. I personally felt that he was a fair man and fully supports the Eastern Oregon way of life.

OREGON CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION

On April 19, we had dinner at Colette’s in Salem with Katie Cate, a member of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. She gave us a brief presentation on Oregon Cattle Men and Women, which represents the Oregon Cattle industry. Katie also gave us a magazine (reference here) and a handout.

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

On Saturday morning we went to the OSU Valey Library to make this virtual tour of our field trip. Students worked with Bob and Albert on the website. We had selected pictures to put on the website. While we were selecting the pictures we had to make a caption to go with that picture. Text descriptions were written about certain sites that we had attended on our field trip. Two of us had taken pictures of the campus while we were on a guided tour. We had taken pictures of several sites that we had seen on the tour. Few pictures of what OSU football team had been doing that day while we were taking our tour. We ate lunch at the MU at Oregon State. The day concluded with a nice baseball game at OSU.

	Group photo of Harney students at Oregon State University. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	OSU Strand Agriculture Hall. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Picture of a field study done in Harney County. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Withycombe Animal Science building at Oregon state University. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Oregon State University football winter workout facility with HC students. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	OSU Beaver practice at Reser Stadium. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	OSU football players at practice. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)

	Eric Garner and Jamie Moline taking a “dip”. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	(left to right) Bob, Carol, Mr. Zamora, Becka, Eric, Christa, Mandy and Tarah listening to the story behind the spring. (Photo: Nana Lapham)
	Eric Garner taking a break from the lecture with a cool sip of water from Sulfur Springs, which is rumored to prolong life. (Photo: Nana Lapham)
	Mr. Zamora examines the clarity of the water in Sulfur Springs. (Photo: Nana Lapham)

A Taste Of Days Gone By - An article about Sulphur Springs written by Steve Lundeberg for the Albany Democrat-Herald

	Students at Jefferson High School watching our presentation. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Eric Garner explaining the butchering of cattle. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Lennie Edwards showing us the control room for the Jefferson High School T.V studio. (Photo: Nana Lapham)
	Eric Garner sitting in Thomas Jefferson’s lap. (Photo: Nana Lapham)
	Students getting responses to their questions. (Photo: Nana Lapham)
	Students in the TV studio at Jefferson High. (Photo: Nana Lapham)

	Dianne Johnston showing the types of things they put out for kids. Dana Peterson, Bob, Becka and Marlon are watching. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)
	Tarah, Christa, Marlon, Becka, Jamie and Mandy talking before presentation begins. (Photo: Jimmy Zamora)