Fire Damage for Ag Producers

For most of us — once a disaster is no longer featured on the evening news or headlines in the newspaper, it fades from our mind. The Manager of Okanogan Conservation District Craig Nelson says that the decimation of Washington’s Carlton Wild Fire is so big, most folks are still wrapping their brains around what happen and where to go from here.
Nelson says that even before the fire there an affordable housing shortage in Okanogan County so finding temporary housing for families displaced by the loss of their homes is paramount priority. He says that to put this in to perspective. The 312 homes lost equals 1 ½% of the county’s housing.  If the same percentage of housing were lost in Seattle’s King County, more than 13,000 homes were have been lost.
Nelson expands on the loss to ag producers
Nelson: “We’ve lost about 30 miles of deer fence around orchards. Which is huge because the largest deer mule herd in Washington winters right in the middle of where this fire is. They are going to be going to orchards to get food. So that is a huge lost. We’ve lost somewhere around 900 square miles of range fence and pasture fence — and I’m betting that will go above 1,000 square miles before too long. We’ve lost livestock water facilities. A lot of farmers lost crops. Orchardists right next to the fire lost rows of trees. There is a lot of things that were lost. We are still trying to get a handle on exactly how much it is. The perimeter of this fire is so big, just trying to go out into the community and getting the information is a daunting challenge in and of itself.”