Drought Stories

These drought-related articles were featured in NRCS This Week.

How Does New Mexico Spell Drought Relief? N-R-C-S

NRCS is vigorously responding to drought-stricken farmers, ranchers, and landowners in the New Mexico through a variety programs and services. Through the snow telemetry or SNOTEL and Soil Climate Analysis Network programs, NRCS has provided the State’s farmers and ranchers information on future water supplies.

Since 1996 New Mexico has used nearly $25 million in Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) funds for drought-related EQIP practices and projects in the State. NRCS has invested in improvements to irrigation practices and systems including 364 sprinkler systems, 600 miles of pipelines and concrete ditches, and land leveling on 571 projects. EQIP funds have also been used for livestock water development including installation of 450 wells, 1,179 miles of pipeline, and 1,314 watering tanks. Another $6,632,204 in EQIP program funds have been spent to eliminate brush that sucks water from the State's already dry rangelands. Prescribed grazing is also being applied through EQIP in the many parts of New Mexico.

NRCS conservationists, located throughout the State, have helped farmers and ranchers by providing conservation technical assistance for drought recovery.

The NRCS plant materials center, located in Las Lunas, is expanding its foundation seed acreage to supply the great demand for drought tolerant native grasses and plants to control erosion and suppress weeds on drought-impacted land.

Your contact is Barbara Garrett, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 505-761-4406

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Arizona Drought Woes

Drought and fire conditions continue to be a very high concern to lawmakers and citizens within the State of Arizona with almost daily print and electronic news coverage of fires and drought and fire recovery efforts. NRCS in Arizona continues to work on drought and fire-related projects throughout the State. NRCS engineers, water, soil, and environmental specialists continue their work on fire recovery efforts both on the White Mountain Apache Tribe Reservation and surrounding area. NRCS is also working closely with other Federal, State and local agencies with restoration assistance on the White Mountain Reservation and private lands in the surrounding area. NRCS has set-up a temporary office as part of this effort. NRCS works with volunteers to re-seed and put down straw to re-establish ground cover and sand bag homes to protect them from flooding.

Your contact is Ron Joy, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 602-280-8778, or ron.joy@az.usda.gov.
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Seedy Solutions

Wildfires, combined with extended drought, have devastated millions of acres of forest and grazing lands in the West. Over the past 3 years, more than 272,000 fires occurred on 18.5 million acres across the United States. In the aftermath of the destruction, numerous questions arose. Should intensely burned sites be seeded, and if so, with what species and methods? Will seeding protect soil and water resources and suppress invasive species? Will seeded species impact timber regeneration? NRCS and plant materials personnel have been investigating these questions in Montana since 1974; initially, with disturbed timberland field evaluation plantings, and more recently with fire-impacted watershed monitoring studies. Study results and data from the earlier field evaluation plantings suggest that planting properly selected native or introduced forage grass species can provide the benefits of erosion control, weed suppression, and an enhanced forage resource on a variety of sites without significantly affecting the survival of tree seedlings.

In the studies and on the monitoring sites, burned or harvested and mechanically scarified forest sites were seeded with introduced and native grasses (60-80 pure live seeds per square foot, on average). Other sites were left unseeded as study controls. Permanent transects were installed to monitor changes in ground cover and canopy cover by species. Biomass production of seeded species and other vegetation was determined, and tree regeneration was evaluated. Sites were monitored for a minimum of 10 years. Data show that (1) successfully seeded treatments had little effect on tree seedling survival when compared to control sites, (2) invasive weeds were significantly suppressed by several of the seeded species on some sites, (3) average soil erosion for the 5-year period after successful seedings was about half that of the controls (computed using the Revised Universal Soils Loss Equation-RUSLE), and (4) successful seeding treatments established plant communities nearly as diverse as those on control sites.

Your contact is Larry Holzworth, NRCS plant materials specialist, at 406-587-6838, or Larry.Holzworth@mt.usda.gov.
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Drought Fosters Partnerships

Three partners teamed-up to combat the drought in New Mexico when the city of Albuquerque offered some of its water to get farmers through this summer and to help protect the endangered silvery minnow. In a landmark agreement reached last week, the city of Albuquerque agreed to loan 70,000 acre-feet of city’s San Juan-Chama River water to the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which faces a nearly depleted water supply. The city will also lease up to 40,000 acre-feet to the Bureau of Reclamation to keep the Rio Grande River flowing for the endangered silvery minnow. In exchange, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have agreed to re-visit their concerns regarding the city's drinking water project plan. With streamflows and reservoirs at record low levels, this has been a particularly tough year for New Mexico’s farmers and aquatic life. Cities are enacting strict water restrictions and some 11,000 area farmers who grow alfalfa, corn, chile, and vegetables are facing shortages of water for the irrigation season which traditionally runs through October 31.

Your contact is Barbara Garrett, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 505-761-4406
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Weekly Drought Information Available

Drought continues to grip many sections of the country but objective information about the location and severity of drought is often hard to come by. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor is an interagency product that depicts the spatial extent and severity of drought. The NRCS National Water and Climate Center participates in the production of the Drought Monitor by providing water supply forecasts and climate information that are used by the interagency team to prepare the map every week. Federal agencies, state and local officials, and the media are increasingly using the Drought Monitor to assess drought conditions. On April 8 USDA announced a new assistance effort for drought-stricken livestock producers. The program uses the Drought Monitor to determine which counties are eligible for assistance, and eligibility will be re-evaluated every 30 days to ensure the program is targeted to producers in greatest need. Service Center employees can print a copy of the Drought Monitor for posting every Thursday after 8:30am EDT by visiting http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Your contact is Bruce Newton, Acting Director, National Water and Climate Center, at 503-414-3055, or bnewton@wcc.nrcs.usda.gov
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USDA Authorizes Emergency Relief for North Dakota and South Dakota

Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced this week the authorization of emergency haying and limited grazing for Water Bank Program (WBP) contract holders in drought-stricken North Dakota and South Dakota. “North Dakota and South Dakota livestock producers are experiencing severe drought conditions this year.” Veneman said. “We are announcing this emergency relief measure to provide additional immediate help for producers when they need it most.” Emergency haying on water bank areas in the two States will help producers feed cattle and other livestock. In addition, NRCS also will consider requests to amend producers’ conservation plans to allow for limited grazing where consistent with program purposes. These relief efforts will apply Statewide to WBP contracts consistent with the Secretary’s recent decision on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage.  Full text of the USDA press release can be found at http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/07/0292.doc.
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