Drought Advisory Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. It’s no secret to farmers and ranchers, it’s been a very dry spring, but the Washington Department of Ecology has now confirmed that with a Drought Advisory.
DOE Water Resource Planner, Jeff Marti says the advisory is just to help keep everyone informed …
MARTI … “Our intent is to increase awareness of the conditions. Obviously, in agriculture, folks in that line of business, tend to be very aware of the conditions of their fields, and they’re probably were thinking, what took you so long? But then, there’s a whole other segment of the population that may not be as tuned in.”
Marti says it also helps open up lines of communication …
MARTI … “So, it’s increase awareness, amongst the population, and then also, it gives us an opportunity to make recommendations for people that do need resources or help, we can point them in that direction. So, for agriculture it’s important for those folks to keep really good records this summer so that they can document any losses that they have for the sake of crop insurance or economic loans.”
This drought, Marti says is as bad as it’s been in a very long time …
MARTI … “When we look at the statewide average of precipitation, you know, March and April, that two-month period were the fourth driest since 1895 and the driest since, I believe, 1926. So, you do have to go back a long way.”
Go to the Department of Ecology website at …
www.ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Water-supply/Water-availability/Statewide-conditions/Drought-response/Drought-conditions
… for more information on our drought conditions.
