BONNER — The Blackfoot River is experiencing extreme drought conditions and impacts are rippling out throughout the watershed.
“We’re in exceptional drought conditions. D4 drought. We’re the only location in the entirety of the Western US right now in D4 drought conditions,” detailed State of Montana Climatologist Kelsey Jencso.
Low snow-pack and snow melt from this winter’s El Niño have caused an intense drought in Western Montana’s Blackfoot Valley.
For the Blackfoot Challenge, a conservation group working as stewards for the area, the weather meant they had to enact their drought plan – which involves voluntary measures for anglers and recreationists on the water — earlier than ever.
“The first trigger that leads to major action in water conservation is when the river hits 700 cubic feet per second. And so this year we hit that trigger on July 11th,” shared Blackfoot Challenge Water Steward Clancy Jandreau.
While drought isn’t unusual in the Blackfoot, the fact that the drought came so early in the year is causing problems.
“It’s not uncommon to have drought conditions in the Blackfoot but the timing of that drought becomes really important for both fisheries and the working landscapes,” noted Jandreau.
Danny Iverson and his family have been cattle ranching in Potomac for 50 years and have been through dry, hot seasons before.
“This is the worst one I’ve been through as far as stream flow and precipitation,” Iverson expressed. “It’s very, very stressful to ranchers in a drought year. You know, psychologically, it’s just tough.”
Iverson closely monitors the weather so he can be prepared since drought makes for extra work and less money.
“If we have extra hay, we don’t sell it. We try to have our cow numbers at a level that we can carry them through a bad year. Another long term approach we’ve taken to is really paying attention to our soil health,” explained Iverson.
To see how the soil is doing, Iverson uses the Blackfoot Challenge’s soil monitoring program.
Jandreau told MTN that one way to collect soil data is by putting a special tube with a porous, ceramic tip in the soil.
“You can actually measure the pressure as the soil tries to pull or give water. And through it, you can get an understanding of kind of what your bank of moisture in your soil is,” shared Jandreau.
Iverson stated that trying new preparedness methods has helped his ranch tremendously during hard years. For others, he recommends, “A lot of that high tech can help us. So you have to look at innovation and see how it can work on your place.”
As State Climatologist Kelsey Jencso believes, drought is expected to get more frequent and severe.
“We’re going to see these types of conditions in the future. It’s this community-based action that Montana is famous for that will help us to get through these conditions,” he said.
