|
|
Drought has hold on Oklahoma PanhandleOKLAHOMA CITY (AP)--Officials in the Oklahoma Panhandle are appealing for government aid to help with the effects of a drought that has harmed crops and livestock forage. "This area is starting to look like the Sahara Desert," said Ann Boyd, a 76-year-old rancher in Cimarron County, at the western edge of the Panhandle. "There's just nothing here. Even the weeds are dying. The buffalo grass isn't coming up. There's nothing." The yearlong drought, labeled "extreme" by forecasters, has forced farmers to sell off cattle, bemoan failed crops and hope for rain. Local conservation officials want the state to move toward declaring Cimarron County a disaster area. They say that could bring needed tax breaks or loans that might help them to get back in the ranching and farming businesses after suffering major hits to crops and livestock this season. Hal Clark, chairman of the conservation district in Cimarron County, is inviting state officials to take a "drought tour" of the Panhandle so they can see how severe the situation is. Clark wrote a letter about the drought to his county commissioner, John Freeman, who in turn wrote a letter to the governor. "With the lack of moisture it is impossible for farmers to even start to plant crops, and ranch lands are simply blowing away leaving no grass to feed cattle," Freeman wrote. To date, this is the third-driest year on record for the Panhandle, said Derek Arndt, assistant state climatologist at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, and it's the driest start to a year since 1966. While eastern parts of the state have gotten record rainfall this year, the Panhandle has hardly seen a drop of rain in at least a year, Arndt said. Winter snows that grow dryland wheat crops never came. "The distressing thing is really we're about in the opening weeks of their wet season, if you want to call it that," Arndt said. "They rely on summer rainfall kind of like the rest of the state relies on spring rainfall. So these coming weeks are make-or-break type weeks, especially for their climate." Temperatures in the Panhandle over the past several days have exceeded 100 degrees, with some areas consistently seeing readings of 105. "We understand their frustrations because they're obviously in a difficult, difficult situation," said Paul Sund, spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry, "and we will do whatever we can to help them." 6/23/08 Date: 6/13/08 Advertisement
Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2010. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com |
Market Snapshot Inside Futures |
