<\/p>\n
For seventh-graders at Dolores Middle School, getting water to our farms so our food can grow, may have been the furthest thing from their mind, but not any more.<\/p>\n
The students, under the direction of teacher Clay Tallmadge, students designed irrigation projects and gave presentations on irrigation last week.<\/p>\n
The students talked of the logging town that once sat at what is now the bottom of McPhee Reservoir and how at one time, the population of McPhee was 4,400 and provided 50 percent of the lumber.<\/p>\n
Others talked of the 1,600 homes that were moved out of the Big Bend area before the reservoir was created.<\/p>\n
\u201cIrrigation is very important in the west,\u201d said Sam Preston.<\/p>\n
A statement that will be even more true this year as forecasters are predicting a dismal year for irrigation supplies as the runoff is not what was hoped for.<\/p>\n
Fourth-grade students sat and listened to the seventh-grade students give their presentations on Friday.<\/p>\n
Justin Halsey, Justin Purkat and Tel Hamilton built a scale model of gated irrigation pipes and demonstrated the project Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows how water would run through the fields,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cWe learned so much about the history of irrigation here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Hamilton, Cameron Elder and Samantha Peterson said they built a model on flood irrigation.<\/p>\n
They used straws to syphon the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned all about siphons,\u201d Elder said.<\/p>\n
Peterson said she learned a lot about them too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have enough water, the siphons won\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The students also traveled to the Watkins farm to learn about irrigation and see it in action.<\/p>\n
Colton Coffman built a water wheel.<\/p>\n
And John Merrick build a contraption called a Shaduf, which was used in Egypt to get water out of the river with a bucket.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people call it a water crane,\u201d Merrick said.<\/p>\n
Tallmadge said the lessons that students learned were important ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater use is important in our community and I think it\u2019s important for our students to learn about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rob Busby, with the NRCS, sat through the presentations and was impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t have a community if it weren\u2019t for irrigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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