West

Dry in the Rockies
Associated Press, September 14, 2000

Hot, dry weather has wilted Colorado's wheat harvest, parched pastureland and drained reservoirs, spurring the growth of desperation, fear and despair among ranchers and farmers. They worry their livelihoods could be in the same sort of crisis that has stricken the dry South, especially if the winter doesn't bring heavy snows to replenish the soil and fill rivers and lakes. "I honestly think we're going to squeak out of this year," says Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament. "But next spring, if we don't get a good snowfall, we are in serious trouble." For John Shawcroft, trouble already is here. "We have some very, very serious situations here in southern Colorado," says the third-generation rancher who is being forced to move his cattle off national forest land weeks ahead of schedule because of drought conditions.

From Montana to New Mexico, the Rocky Mountain region is parched. Ranchers and farmers are struggling as counties across Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico seek federal disaster relief. Much of the region's water comes from mountain snow that melts, flows into rivers and lakes and is shipped by pipelines to the high plains. Wells tap underground water formations. Now wells are drying up in some spots and some rivers are low because of last spring's low snowpack. Many farmers along the Front Range who irrigate crops have already depleted their share of water. And later-than-normal summer monsoons are little help for farmers who rely on snow and rain for water. Only the Western Slope's fruit growers are reporting bountiful crops. "It is absolutely, positively the driest I've ever seen it here," says Jim Roberts, 51, who farms near Wray in east-central Colorado. He went nearly two months without rain last spring and recent thunderstorms that soaked parts of the plains have skipped his land. Roberts' wheat harvest in July was only a third of what it should have been, and his corn crop is a loss. He normally would be preparing to plant his next wheat crop in less than a month. "But if it doesn't rain, I don't get to plant," he says.

That's the big concern right now, says Darrell Hanavan, executive director of the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee. "It's very critical the wheat crop be planted under good moisture conditions because that usually dictates whether the crop is going to be above or below average," he says. Animals have fared no better. For the first time in his ranching career, Shawcroft has chopped up thousands of pounds of potatoes and scattered them through his field for the cows. "It's desperation measures, you might say," he says. When the potatoes run out, Shawcroft and others in the San Luis Valley will have to sell his calves earlier than usual, hoping that beef prices, on the rise after a big slump, don't plummet again. "I hear every day or two of someone wanting to sell," he says. Original predictions pegged this year's winter wheat crop -- planted in September and harvested in July - at 98.7 million bushels, above the 10-year average of 85.9 million. But the total harvest was 70.5 million bushels, worth $70 million less than initial estimates.