[env-trinity] Drought persists despite heavy snow

[Tom Stokely]

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER CONDITIONS:

Drought persists despite heavy snow

Lassen County Times – 1/15/08

 

Jan. 15, 2008 — Despite two feet or more of snow on the ground in some places, Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, and four other counties are still suffering a drought disaster.

The new snow did not impact drought conditions, such as “continued low reservoirs, below-average mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation deficits,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor Web site at drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.


The Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Small Business Administration declared a drought in Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties. The disaster declaration for Shasta and contiguous counties was based on agricultural losses beginning Jan. 1, 2007.


“With both those declarations in place, it does free up small-business loans and some other things that are available through the federal system that normally wouldn’t be available,” said Lassen County Office of Emergency Services Chief Chip Jackson. “Through the secretary of agriculture’s declaration, I believe, it allows for crop losses and a lot of other things.”


Farmers and ranchers who conduct family-sized operations can apply through July 16, 2008, for emergency loans of up to $500,000 for actual losses as a direct result of the disaster. That’s eight months after the two federal agencies declared the drought on Nov. 16, 2007. 


The loans will be available at an interest rate of 3.75 percent. Applicants may contact the local Farm Service Agency on Russell Avenue in Susanville at 257-7272 or online at fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistanc1.htm.


Since the secretary of agriculture and the SBA declared the drought, only the two federal agencies can say when the drought is over.


“They won’t even look at it until spring,” Jackson said.


Federal officials will evaluate all the rainfall and snowfall totals reported by local agriculture departments and take into account the water content in the snow, he said. 


Until then, farmers and ranchers may apply for the loans.


“They’re still eligible if they’re ag related (losses) because the crop damages have already happened from last season,” Jackson said.


Small, nonfarm companies that do business directly with growers and producers, such as truckers and agricultural equipment or service providers, and small agricultural cooperatives may apply for SBA economic-injury disaster loans. 


To apply, contact SBA at 800-659-2955 or visit the agency’s Web site at sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.


Jackson summarized the drought declarations for the Lassen County Board of Supervisors at its Dec. 11 meeting. The board got drought information in May from Lassen National Forest Fire Chief Lorene Duffey.


“Where we’re doing snow surveys, in some cases there isn’t any snow to survey,” Duffey told the board at its meeting on May 15, 2007. She reported the drought severity index found eastern Lassen County in severe drought and found moderate drought in the west.


In the spring of 2007, the State Water Project estimated the snowpack ranged from 29 percent of average to 46 percent of the normal statewide average — its lowest level in since 1989. 


However, the California Department of Water Resources announced no water shortages in the summer of 2007, because reservoirs and groundwater basins were full from the winter of 2005-2006, the fifth-wettest on record in Northern California, according to the Sacramento Bee. #

http://www.lassennews.com/News_Story.edi?sid=4513&mode=thread&order=0

 
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