Posts Tagged: drought

Bad bear behavior can't be pinned on California drought

The drought is a wake-up call to water users all over California, except perhaps its bears. The San Francisco Chronicle suggested in a front page article recently that the winter is too warm for bears to sleep. However, wildlife experts quoted by Mother Jones said the weather isn't to blame.

What motivates some bears to stay awake while others hibernate is still a mystery to scientists, according to Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. He has conducted extensive research on bear behavior.

When small mammals hibernate, their heart rate and body temperature drop and stay low for several months, the article said. Black bears, on the other hand, are much less extreme: They crank down their metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature just enough to get seriously lazy, but are still with it enough to be "perfectly capable of taking a swipe at you if you crawl into the den with them," Baldwin said. Waking them up is not uncommon or difficult.

Generally, temperature has a smaller influence on hibernation behavior than the availability of food. But bears are such proficient omnivores, said California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Jason Holley, that even a drought probably isn't enough to disrupt their hibernation habits, unless it continues for several more years.

Bears are adaptive and mobile. They can find food and water even in a drought, say wildlife experts.

High pressure ridge off California coast is keeping rain away

A high pressure ridge has persisted off the California coast for 13 months, blocking storms that typically bring the state winter rains. The longer it lingers, the less likely it will leave, reported the Christian Science Monitor.

The high pressure ridge system is feeding on itself, “creating a sort of perfect environment for perpetuating the dry conditions," said climatologist Brian Fuchs, from the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb. Gov. Brown last week declared a drought emergency in California and called for 20 percent voluntary water conservation statewide.

Reporter Gloria Goodale sought comment on California's dire straights from Doug Parker, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources California Institute for Water Resources.

"We have seen essentially no rain or snowfall this year and short- and long-term forecasts are bleak for California,” Parker said. This means that California will have very low water deliveries to much of its agricultural sector.

Agriculture is an important part of the state’s economy, Parker pointed out. “This will lead to fallowing of farmland which will reduce output and reduce employment,” he said. That could drive up the prices of certain commodities. In addition, the dairy and meat sectors will be particularly hard hit, he notes, as those sectors will have to import feed.

The drought will also increase pressure on already over-used groundwater supplies, Parker said.

“We have seen dropping groundwater levels in many parts of the state. We expect growers to increase use of groundwater, especially for tree and vine crops.  This will accelerate the decline in groundwater,” he said.

For more information on the California drought, see the California Institute for Water Resources online list of drought media coverage.

California’s Drought is Shaping up to have Large Impacts on Forages

If trends continue as per current predictions, the continued drought in California will have serious impacts to forage production in 2014, affecting...

UC to help ranchers survive winter 2013-14

The first agricultural operations to feel the impact of a drought are dryland ranchers, many of whom rely almost entirely on annual rainfall to grow food for their livestock. The UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources will hold a drought workshop from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 29 in Browns Valley to help these ranchers live on to fight another day, said Glenn Nader, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sutter-Yuba Counties.

"From previous droughts we've learned that feeding the whole herd through the drought may spell the end of business," Nader said. "We plan to provide information on management options and impacts of drought on dryland range and irrigated pasture, feeding options to consider during a drought and how to decide what cows to sell."

Nader is organizing the workshop, "Mitigating Drought - Optimizing Pasture and Supplemental Feed, and Managing Risk," with Jeremy James, director of the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center.

The workshop is designed to provide ranchers with information to manage their herds during a period of low feed supply. Practical tools and strategies to be presented include:

• Getting the most effective use out of limited dryland and irrigated pasture
  
  
• Alternative protein and roughage supplementation
  
  
• Understanding the economics of supplementation
  
  
• Managing animal health
  
  
• Making culling decisions
  
  
• Tax and insurance issues related to drought

The meeting will be at the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center, 8279 Scott Forbes Rd., Browns Valley, CA 95918. The complete agenda is posted online. Registration is $10 and includes lunch. To register, fill in this online form.

The forum will also be webcast for those that cannot attend in person. Register using the same online form.

Seven locations in the state will host meetings with the drought meeting webcast:

City	Location	Contact
Hopland	Research and Extension Center 4070 University Road	John Harper, (707) 463-4495
San Luis Obispo	UC Cooperative Extension Auditorium 2156 Sierra Way	Royce Larson, (805) 434-4106
Livermore	NRCS office 3585 Greenville Road, Suite 2	Alyson Aquino, (925) 371-0154 x116
Ventura	Ventura Farm Bureau 5156 McGrath St	Fletcher Nelson, (661) 945-2604 x111
Bakersfield	UC Cooperative Extension office 1031 South Mount Vernon Ave.	Julie Finzel, (661) 868-6219
Tulare	Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center 18830 Road 112	Jim Sullins, (559) 684-3309
Mariposa	UCCE Mariposa County Office -Ag Complex 5009 Fairgrounds Road	Fadzayi Mashiri. (209) 966-2417

Welcome rain forecast for California

With wet weather in the forecast for much of California this week, Appeal-Democrat reporter Eric Vodden turned to a UC Cooperative Extension expert for commentary.

"Big picture, we need the rain," said Franz Niederholzer, UCCE advisor in Sutter and Yuba counties. "Hopefully, this is just the start of the season."

According to weather.com, 84 percent of California is in "severe" drought. Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and parts of eight other California counties are considered in "extreme" drought.

The National Weather Service's Climate Predication Center is projecting "equal chances of dry and wet this year" because of the absence of either El Niño or La Niña situations.

The weak Pacific frontal system that is sliding slowly southward Tuesday and second upper-level impulse will provide rain over much of the state, as far south as parts of the LA Basin Wednesday. Showers will also likely linger mainly from the southern Sierra and San Joaquin Valley into parts of Southern California Thursday.

"We will take any precipitation we can get," the Appeal-Democrat quoted Curt Aikens, general manager of the Yuba County Water Agency. "It's been relatively dry this November and precipitation is good at this time of the year."

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