Changes sought in reporting of drought areas

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Anyone who lives in Weston County knows that the amount of precipitation received depends on where you live and the year. It is common knowledge that one location in the county can receive inches of precipitation from a storm while another area receives nothing. 
According to Peggy Livingston, the lack of consistency, as well as the lack of monitoring, greatly affects the ability of local agriculture producers to access funding during drought situations. The solution begins, she told the Weston County commissioners on Dec. 15, with looking into placing a monitoring center in the county. Livingston is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Weston County.
“The closest monitor site to us is in Red Canyon, in the Black Hills National Forest, in South Dakota,” Livingston said. “That is where the drought monitor contractor was pulling the data from for Weston County in 2016, the last year we had extensive drought issues.”
The last time there was a discussion among local agricultural producers regarding a weather station was when the Beaver Creek Water Shed Study was completed a few years ago, Livingston said. The work had been started, but somewhere along the line the “ball got dropped,” she said.
“I am trying to start that over. I have been in contact with Caleb Clark, the new manager at the Weston County Natural Resource District, and he is working with the National Weather Service to get the ball moving,” Livingston said. “I read that the risk agency is asking for comments, and I discussed with you guys maybe formulating a letter of that need.” 
The program Livingston is speaking of is the USDA Risk Management Agency on recommendations for improvements to the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Rainfall Index Crop Insurance Program. The comment period was recently extended to Dec. 21, according to the department’s website, and Livingston said the commissioners could draft a letter expressing concerns about drought declarations locally. 
“We didn’t get any kind of designation for a while last year … and with a D2 drought designation, it only helps ag producers if it’s a consecutive eight weeks. Our grazing season is from May 1 to Oct. 15, so we only had two to three weeks as a D2,” Livingston said. “That did us no good.” 
As previously reported by the News Letter Journal, the USDA put Weston County in a D2 drought designation beginning Sept. 14. 
The declaration makes Weston County producers eligible to apply for emergency loans. The issue, Livingston said, is the time period associated with the declaration, and the fact that the declaration should have been made earlier and that some areas in the county were in worse conditions than others. 
“I don’t know if the whole county suffered as extensively as us, but I know in the southern part it was tough. Isolated parts throughout the county had way more precipitation than others. One weather station is not going to be a total fix, but it is better than not having any,” Livingston said. “We are looking at a large amount of country with a wide variance in weather conditions.” 
Commissioner Nathan Todd reported that he had begun drafting a letter stating that the commissioners, on behalf of local ag producers, see a lack of diversity in the monitoring of the county. The letter would also state that the county receives a varying amount of precipitation, depending on the area and distance from the Black Hills and that the commission feels that having a monitoring station in the county would give a more accurate account of the weather pattern seen in the county and region in general. 
The commissioners all expressed support for providing a comment and exploring options for a weather station in the county. Commissioner Marty Ertman noted that the requirement for certifying individuals to report precipitation and other weather information should also be explored. 
“Somehow, we need to put in that the process here needs to be reevaluated. It’s not like we don’t have the ability to get this information to them,” Ertman said. 
Commissioner Tony Barton added that if it is a matter of expending money to put in a station, he believes it would be a wise investment for the county to make, depending on the price. 
“I think the benefits outweigh the costs,” Barton said. 
Todd noted that there is no question that a weather station would benefit multiple people throughout the area. 
“We need to get a letter drafted, get that comment to them, let them know we are not satisfied with how we are being monitored,” Chairman Ed Wagoner said. 
Todd said that the letter should include what the county needs to do to get more reporters certified, what could be upgraded to help the situation and any other information that the county may need to consider.