MacInko, George, “The Columbia Basin Project: Expectations, Realizations, Implications,” Geographical Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Apr. 1963), 185-199.
Summary:
This article was written as an overview of the Columbia Basin Project to perhaps “indicate what future developments are to be expected in the field of reclamation” (185). The Columbia Basin Project is a project meant to provide irrigation to the area of the Columbia Basin east of the Columbia River. The northern border is sixty miles south of the “Big Bend” of the Columbia and the southern border is the Snake River. The area was dominated by wheat farming from the beginning of the 20th Century and into the 1930s. “The extensive clearing of natural vegetation and the destruction of soil-binding properties caused by cultivation, in conjunction with low precipitation, led to widespread and severe wind erosion” (186). By the 1930s, the wheat production began a decline as the Project area was seemingly unsuited to grain production. As a result of the apparent failures of dry farming, there was an interest in transforming the Columbia Basin area into an area of irrigation agriculture. Because farmers in the area would not receive enough money returns form crops to pay the cost of irrigation facilities (both maintenance and construction), the project would be managed and funded by the federal government (the Bureau of Reclamation).
The article examines the costs of the project and the ways in which the land was expected to be used and was actually used. Throughout the project, construction costs rose significantly, largely as a result of inflation. There were also several problems in the initial calculations and subsequent negotiations which figured how much the government would pay and how much was to be recouped by charging farmers a per acreage figure which would be paid over time. “The Columbia Basin Project was to be a model of planned land use. But despite detailed planning, actual land use has differed in several way from that expected” (194). These differences are mostly in the type of crops grown. Ten crops (dry beans, alfalfa hay, wheat, potatoes, peas, sugar beets, pasture, field corn, barley, and other hay) make up 90% of the agriculture in the area. Of these crops, dry beans, field corn, potatoes, and small grains exceeded the predicted amount of acreage, while the other crops were well below expected acreage. The author argues, however, that as time passes, the actual land usage will be closer to that expected. The author also emphasizes how economics affects land use: people cannot adhere to land use policy if they cannot afford to. It was economic hardship that “forced farmers to move in the direction of livestock-forage operations,” and land in the Columbia River Basin had been “abused by farmers who had to stay in the cash (row)-crop stage longer than had been expected” (198). The author drives home the point that, “Land use in the Columbia Basin Project emphasizes the futility of expecting farmers to follow what is judged to be ‘scientifically' the best land-use practice if they are unable to finance this practice.”
Critique:
The value of this article is also its biggest caveat: it was written in 1963. It provides an excellent look at the issues surrounding land use policy in the country (particularly in the West) at a time when many significant changes were being made to the area, but it obviously does not address the current situation. The article is written from a 1960s perspective, where the motivation behind land use policy is wholly economic; this is valuable to understanding this track that has led to the land use situation that exists today, but more contextual understanding beyond what is presented in the article would be helpful to see the big picture of land use policy before 1965. Another problem with the article is that it does not look at the environmental issues created by the land use policy created under this project. It also does not address the ways that the project directly (or indirectly) affected the river. There are, however, valuable comments made by the author in reference to land use policy construction, negotiation and implementation which a relevant to the current land use policy.
reviewed by Kristin Johnson
Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
HC 441: Science Colloquium, Columbia River Ecology
Fall term, 2005
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