Hot, dry weather persists heading into holiday weekend; health advisories issued for 12 lakes

Jul. 1—Drought conditions in North Dakota improved only slightly over the past week, and crops, hay and pasture land across the state continue to suffer.

Meanwhile, another hot and mostly dry weekend is in store for Independence Day revelers.

Exceptional drought, the worst of four categories, still covers about 18% of the state — roughly the north central region, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, published Thursday. Extreme drought, the second-worst category, impacts another 43% — down just 3% from last week — and all of North Dakota remains in some form of drought.

Rainfall helped improve soil moisture and stream flows in some parts of the state, but "In areas which missed out on the heaviest rain, drought continues to impact the region with cattle producers feeling the brunt of the impacts," National Drought Mitigation Center Climatologist Deborah Bathke wrote.

"Producers from Wyoming eastward across the Dakotas are having to make tough decisions as to what to do with cattle, with many selling entire herds," she said.

Struggling producers

This week's crop report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service rates pasture and range conditions in North Dakota as being 65% poor or very poor. Stock water supplies are 74% in those categories. Both percentages are relatively stable over the week.

The first cutting of the alfalfa hay crop is about half complete — slightly ahead of the average pace — and more than half of the crop continues to be rated poor or very poor. Only 10% of the crop is rated in good condition.

The weekly report rates 66% of topsoil moisture and 78% of subsoil moisture in North Dakota as being short or very short of moisture — both slight improvements from the previous week.

Forty-four percent of the state's staple spring wheat crop is rated in poor or very poor condition, down 6% over the week. About one-fourth of the corn crop and one-third of the soybean crop remain in those categories.

Farmers and ranchers during recent drought meetings hosted by state and federal officials have spoken of wheat that is only 3 inches tall but already heading out. The head is where the grain kernels form.

"Any time you have growth that's that minimal, your yield is going to be tied to it," said Tyler Kralicek, agriculture and natural resources agent in Burleigh County for North Dakota State University Extension.

"The healthiness of the plant is severely diminished when it's that tall," he said. "Whatever grain development you're going to have is going to be minimal, as well."

Wheat that short also might not be picked up by a combine, Kralicek said.

Producers who have attended the drought meetings have asked for more help and flexibility from the federal government — including permission to hay Conservation Reserve Program land before Aug. 1, while the hay is still of good quality. CRP acres normally are left idle to prevent erosion and provide wildlife habitat.

Haying CRP acres in mid-July would provide a chance for regrowth if rain were to fall, Bismarck farmer Clark Coleman, chairman of the National Sunflower Association, said during a Wednesday meeting in Mandan hosted by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and attended by the heads of two federal agriculture agencies. If CRP land is hayed in August — even if rain follows — that opportunity is gone, Coleman said.

"Realistically, Aug. 10, we're not going to get much regrowth," he said. "We need to speed the process up."

Hoeven's tour with Risk Management Agency Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy and Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux was continuing Thursday in Carrington and Argusville.

"Our producers are facing historic drought conditions, which impact every corner of the state, with the majority of counties in the extreme drought category or worse," Hoeven said in a statement. "It is critical that Administrators Flournoy and Ducheneaux are here in North Dakota to hear about these challenges directly from our producers."

Lake advisories

North Dakota's Department of Environmental Quality on Thursday issued blue-green algae advisories for a dozen lakes, including Sweet Briar Lake in Morton County.

Hot summer weather contributes to the production of the algae that can produce toxins in the water called cyanotoxins. People and animals who swallow or come into contact with affected water can get sick, and animals can die from it. There's no known antidote for the toxins.

The algae discolor the water and cause foam, scum or mats to appear on the surface. In severe blooms, the water can have the appearance of spilled green paint or green pea soup.

A list of the affected lakes can be found at www.tinyurl.com/WMP-HABS.

Fires and fireworks

Recent rainfall and grass green-up has helped slow the pace of wildfires in North Dakota. They increased only slightly this week, to 1,459 wildfires scorching about 101,100 acres, according to Beth Hill, acting outreach and education manager for the North Dakota Forest Service. The blackened acres are about eight times what burned in all of 2020.

"High and very high fire danger continues today in the western half of North Dakota, so fire prevention should be on everyone's mind to reduce the threat of wildfires to lives and property, especially going into the holiday weekend," Hill said Thursday.

All but eight of North Dakota's 53 counties continue to have some form of outdoor burning restrictions in place, according to the state. Burleigh and Morton counties and the city of Mandan have banned the private use of fireworks this holiday season. Many other communities also have bans in place or restrict fireworks under certain weather conditions, according to the state Forest Service. Most of western North Dakota was in the "high" or "very high" fire risk categories on Thursday, with most of the east in the "moderate" category.

The National Weather Service's five-day forecast calls for hot and sunny weather through the weekend, with high temperatures in some southern areas including Bismarck-Mandan around the 100 degree mark. The 10-day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center favors above-normal temperatures in the Northern Plains.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

More information

Gov. Doug Burgum in April declared a statewide disaster. The State Water Commission reactivated the Drought Disaster Livestock Water Supply Project Assistance Program, and the State Water Commission has approved $4.1 million in funding. The program provides 50% cost share assistance of up to $4,500 per project. For more information, go to www.swc.nd.gov or call the Water Commission at 701-328-4989.

The state Agriculture Department has reactivated the Drought Hotline and interactive hay map. For more information, go to www.nd.gov/ndda.

Information on federal tax relief options available to farmers and ranchers who have sold or are considering selling livestock because of drought is at https://bit.ly/3vGf6OR.

(Reporter Travis Svihovec contributed to this story.)

Reach Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or [email protected].

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