Been Through the Desert
on a Horse with No Name…. Drought Seminar

by Arthur Gerard Michael
von Boennighausen
I attended the drought seminar with 40 other people at our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church community room. The audience included Fred Berry, Jerry Seifert, Dorothy Nepa and Robert Miller. The seminar was facilitated by a USDA Ethnographer. As part of the seminar the attendees shared their current situation along with any course of action that would help all of us. The consensus was that we are in an extreme drought. People as old as 88 could not remember even the most reliable mountain streams and creeks drying up like this year. Hay production is at 20 percent of normal and many Ranchers have sold off their herd at a very low price as there is not enough grass hay to feed the animals.
Dorothy Nepa told the audience that she has switched from raising Appaloosa horses to lower impact goats and yaks as this is all her 300 acres of pastures can support. Others are moving from ranching to other occupations for a while to pay the bills.
Large scale fire mitigation could offset the loss of ranching income in our local economy by providing timber for lumber and log homes. Slash from the fire mitigation can be turned into wood chips to make plywood, wood pellets or fuel for small power plants.
Some people recognized that not only hay and cattle production were affected but large and small wild animals, fish, eagles and owls. We all need a drink of water! A fox with a den full of kits cannot walk far from the den to find food and drink. As the streams running from the Sangre de Cristo mountains dry up, the animals must walk farther and farther to the source of the stream to get a drink.
Long range government weather forecasts like those from NOAA show no end to this severe drought; historical data shows droughts lasting up to 50 years in our area.
Both the attendees and the general public reading this article can contact local Custer County Conservation District representative Carol Kuisle-Franta at carol.kuisle-franta@co.usda.gov or phone her at: 719-783-2481 for more information. No members of the Custer County BOCC were present…. A delicious lunch was provided by the local Cattle Woman’s association.
Thinking allowed….

To read more from Arthur, see his website at http://westcliffecolorado81252.com/