Generations of the Horning family have farmed in the Willamette River floodplain in south Benton County, and generations of the Horning family have struggled to cope with the rivers sometimes troublesome mood swings.
The most flood-prone portion of their property is the low-lying ground east of Harkens Lake, an old river channel that carried the Willamette’s main flow as recently as the 1930s.
“A lot of years we get so inundated by the river that we have to make up our costs on our other lands,” said Steve Horning, 26, the latest generation of the family to work the land. “Just the overall cost of farming this and the risk is much higher than on any other ground we have.”
Now the Hornings have traded the uncertainty of growing grass seed, vegetables and other traditional crops on the most marginal section of their property for a different kind of cultivation: growing cottonwood, ash and other native hardwoods as part of a floodplain forest restoration project.
Steve Horning — along with his parents, Gary and Jenny Horning, his aunt, Sherie Adams, and her husband, Mark Adams — have just concluded a deal with the Greenbelt Land Trust that creates a conservation easement on 319 acres between Harkens Lake and the mainstem Willamette.
Under the terms of the agreement, the family will retain the title to the property and it will remain on the county tax rolls at the current rate. However, farming will be phased out and the land will be managed for fish and wildlife habitat.
The Hornings received a one-time payment of $1.3 million from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the Bonneville Power Administration. OWEB and BPA will also pay Corvallis-based Greenbelt $293,000 to oversee the easement and manage the restoration project.
The scope of the project will likely expand by another 54 acres next month, when a similar conservation easement is expected to close on neighboring property owned by Bob Pitcher. When combined with adjoining state and county land already being managed for environmental purposes, the deal creates a 500-acre natural area in the midst of farm country.
Harkens Lake, which winds around the western edge of the property, provides important off-channel habitat for a number of sensitive species, including chinook salmon, Pacific lamprey, Oregon chub, Western pond turtles and red-legged frogs. The area is also home to waterfowl, ospreys, eagles, turkeys, deer and the occasional elk.
“This project is an integral part of creating opportunities for broad-scale floodplain habitat restoration on the Willamette River,” said Ken Bierly, OWEB’s deputy director. The agency, which gets a dedicated share of state lottery proceeds for watershed protection, has funded a number of similar projects along the Willamette and its tributaries.
Over the next 10 years or so, the Harkens Lake property will be taken out of grass seed production and replanted with native hardwoods, restoring a floodplain forest ecosystem that was once widespread in the Willamette Valley bottoms but has now almost disappeared from the landscape.
Much of the tree planting will be done by the Hornings themselves under contract with the Greenbelt Land Trust.
“We’re not going to be growing grass or beans or corn,” said Gary Horning, 53. “But we’re still going to be farming this land — hopefully, for generations to come.”
The family will continue to grow crops on the rest of its acreage, which is less prone to flooding. Some of the historic side channels within the Harkens Lake property may be reopened as part of the restoration work, but a revetment around the western edge of the property will remain in place for flood protection.
That was a key concern for the family as they were working out the details of the easement agreement, not only for their own sake but also to ensure the integrity of their neighbors’ land.
“We all as a community down here have similar goals and worries about the river,” Gary Horning said.
“Where I live, I’ve been flooded in for three months at a time. So the river is always foremost in your mind.”
Michael Pope, the land trust's executive director, said the Harkens Lake agreement is already stirring some interest among other riverside landowners that could lead to additional easements down the road.
“Some of their property that’s frequently inundated may not be that profitable to farm anymore,” Pope said. “So what’s the other thing you can do? Maybe part of that business plan is the conservation business.”
Not everybody thinks that’s such a good idea.
The Jackson County Soil & Water Conservation Board recently issued a statement condemning OWEB funding for conservation projects on agricultural land, calling it misguided and inappropriate.
“Taking land out of production,” the board argued, “is counter to the tradition and heritage of the state of Oregon.”
While Pope said he understands that some people have a “philosophical objection” to conservation programs, he rejects the notion that conservation easements pose a threat to agricultural capacity — especially in the Willamette Valley, where close to 98 percent of the land base is privately owned and much of the farming takes place in the floodplain.
“Just a tiny, tiny fraction of that is in conservation easements,” he said. “Compared to urban development or other kinds of development, it’s just a small, small part.”
Contact Bennett Hall at 541-758-9529 or bennett.hall@gazettetimes.com.
