Northwest Drought Workshop 2020

Portions of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington have been experiencing abnormal dryness and drought conditions since January 2018. A virtual Northwest Drought Workshop was held on 28 and 30 July 2020 that provided information on drought in the region and how some USDA programs are affected by US Drought Monitor drought designations. The event engaged participants in discussion and information exchange about drought adaptation strategies and information needs, and aimed to clarify how the US Drought Monitor map is made each week and how local climate experts contribute to the weekly process. For more details, find the workshop recordings, presentations for each session, and information shared by participants below (click on each gray box to expand it).

• Session 1: US Drought Monitor & USDA Programs (Workshop Recordings & Presentations)
  Welcome by Holly Prendeville, USDA Northwest Climate Hub

  U. S. Drought Monitor maps and how to report drought impacts by Deborah Bathke and Curtis Riganti, National Drought Mitigation Center

  Webinar recording    U. S. Drought Monitor presentation (pdf)

  Climate and local expert process by Ken Stahr, Oregon Water Resources Department; Troy Lindquist, National Weather Service - Boise, Idaho; Jeff Marti, Washington Department of Ecology

  Webinar recording  Washington presentation

  USDA programs affected by drought designations by Kathey Brucker & Tony Meeuwsen – Farm Service Agency-Oregon

  Webinar recording   FSA-Oregon presentation

• Session 2: East Side Peer to Peer Learning (Workshop Recordings, Presentations, Summary of Small Group Discussions)

  A webinar recording of the welcome and panelist presentations and the welcome by Holly Prendeville, Northwest Climate Hub.

  Panelists:

  • Drought Communication and Rangelands Health Tools by Matt Reeves of the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

  • Promoting Locally-led Innovations in Soil Management by Tabitha Brown, The American Farmland Trust

  • Soil Health by Nick Sirovatka, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

  • Forests and Frought by Derek Churchill, Washington Department of Natural Resources

  Small Group Discussion Content:

  A webinar recording of participants sharing highlights from the small group discussions.

  Summarized notes from small group discussions relevant to regions East & West-sides of the Cascades:

  • Watershed adaptation (pdf)

  • Forestry adaptation (pdf)

  • Agriculture and rangelands adaptation (pdf)

  • Funding (pdf)

  • Communication (pdf)

  • Signs start/end of drought (pdf)

• Session 3: West Side Peer to Peer Learning (Workshop Recordings, Presentations, Summary of Small Group Discussions)

  A webinar recording of the welcome and panelist presentations, and the welcome by Holly Prendeville, Northwest Climate Hub.

  Panelists:

  • Dry Farming by Amy Garrett, Oregon State University Extension

  • Valuing Water: Learning from the Past to Add Resilience to our Future by Kami Ellingson, Siuslaw National Forest

  • Social Marketing Strategies: Inspiring Conservation Stewardship by Aneka Sweeney, Whatcom County Conservation District

  • Soil Health by Cory Owens, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

  Small Group Discussion Content:

  A webinar recording of participants sharing highlights from the small group discussions.

  Summarized notes from small group discussions relevant to regions East & West-sides of the Cascades:

  • Watershed adaptation (pdf)

  • Forestry adaptation (pdf)

  • Agriculture and rangelands adaptation (pdf)

  • Funding (pdf)

  • Communication (pdf)

  • Signs start/end of drought (pdf)

Drought Resources Shared by Organizers & Participants


• Drought data visualization tools and information
  • National Drought Mitigation Center
    • National Drought Mitigation Center Drought Impact Reporter

    • US Drought Monitor

    • North America Drought Monitor Map

    • Northwest State-Level Drought Information

    • National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

    • Pacific Northwest Drought Early Warning System

    • West Wide Drought Tracker

    • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service SNOTEL

    • USGS Current Water for the Nation (stream gauges)

    • GRACE (Groundwater and Soil Moisture Conditions from GRACE-FO Data Assimilation for the Contiguous U.S. and Global Land)

    • National Weather Service

    • National Weather Service Drought Monitoring

    • Climate Toolbox – Suite of Online Tools

    • Climate Toolbox – Climate mapper

    • Climate Toolbox – Historical water watcher

Adaptation Strategies for Rangelands, Farms and Forests
Rangelands

• Adaptation Partnership Library: Climate Change Adaptation Library for the Western U.S. Forests & Rangelands

• Lessons from Southwest Drought Vulnerability Assessment to Inform Grazing Practices on Rangelands

• Drought and Rangelands: Effects and Management Responses

• Synthesis of Grazing and Water Management Strategies in the Great Basin

• Livestock Producer Resiliency Stories and Case Studies

• Near Real-time Forage and Fuel Assessments

• A West-Wide Rangeland Fuel Assessment (monthly recorded, short webinars)

• Incised Stream Restoration in the Western U.S.

Farms

• US Crops and Livestock in Drought

• AgClimate Network: articles on adaptation for agriculture, forestry, and rangelands in the Northwest

• Soil Health Management to Reduce Climate and Weather Risks in the Northwest

• Drought Resistant Practices

Forests

• Effects of drought on forests and rangelands in the United States: translating science into management responses

• Climate Risk Management Practices

• Ponderosa Pine Mortality, The Western Pine Beetle and Drought