Panhandle feeling left out to dry

By John David Sutter

Published: June 4, 2008

Wheat farmers and cattle ranchers in the western Panhandle are prodding state government to notice their plight as a yearlong drought, labeled "extreme” by forecasters, has forced farmers to sell off cattle, bemoan failed crops and hope for rain.

"This area is starting to look like the Sahara Desert,” said Ann Boyd, a 76-year-old rancher in Cimarron County, at the western edge of the Panhandle. "There's just nothing here. Even the weeds are dying. The buffalo grass isn't coming up. There's nothing.”

Local conservation officials want the state to move toward declaring Cimarron County a disaster area. They say that could bring needed tax breaks or loans that might help them to get back in the ranching and farming businesses after suffering major hits to crops and livestock this season.

But mostly, they say they feel forgotten. They live in an area that's a five-hour drive from state government in Oklahoma City. They feel ecologically, climatically and socially aligned with the Texas Panhandle or southeast Colorado — not Oklahoma. And they just want someone to notice their plight.

If someone does notice, they'll likely help out, said Hal Clark, chairman of the conservation district in Cimarron County. Clark is inviting any interested state officials — or just downstate Oklahomans — to take a "drought tour” of the Panhandle so they can see how severe the situation is.

Clark wrote a letter about the drought to his county commissioner, John Freeman, who in turn wrote a letter to the governor.

"With the lack of moisture it is impossible for farmers to even start to plant crops, and ranch lands are simply blowing away leaving no grass to feed cattle,” Freeman wrote.

Even without a tour from Clark, you can start to get a picture of the situation from the numbers.

To date, this is the third-driest year on record for the Panhandle, said Derek Arndt, assistant state climatologist at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, and it's the driest start to a year since 1966.

This coming from an area that weathered the Dust Bowl.

While eastern parts of the state have gotten record rainfall this year, the Panhandle has hardly seen a drop of rain in at least a year, Arndt said. Winter snows that grow dryland wheat crops never came.

"The western Panhandle is really in a different climate regime than most of the rest of the state,” Arndt said, adding that weather conditions there are only "loosely connected” to those in the rest of the state.

"The distressing thing is really we're about in the opening weeks of their wet season, if you want to call it that. They rely on summer rainfall kind of like the rest of the state relies on spring rainfall,” he said. "So these coming weeks are make-or-break type weeks, especially for their climate.”

Clark, of the conservation district, said he will sell off his cattle if rains don't come soon. He's running out of grass to feed them, since none is growing; and importing food has become too expensive. Fuel prices don't help, either, he said, adding that he doesn't mean to complain, since fuel prices affect everyone.

He said he remains a "pure optimist” that rain will come.

"It's going to rain next week. It really is,” he said.

Arndt said forecasts for rain are inconclusive, because weather is difficult to predict during the summer season. He said the soil and any living plants will continue to dry out in the hot, dry weather unless rain comes.

Temperatures in the Panhandle over the past several days have exceeded 100 degrees, with some areas consistently seeing readings of 105, Arndt said.

Compound that lack of rain, and you have the drought conditions in the western and central parts of the Panhandle that government forecasters label "extreme,” the second-highest drought rating, after "exceptional.”

Paul Sund, spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry, said he had not heard about the letter, but that doesn't mean the governor isn't looking into action.

"We understand their frustrations because they're obviously in a difficult, difficult situation,” he said, "and we will do whatever we can to help them.”

Clark said his family has been ranching in the Panhandle for more than 100 years. Facing selling off his herd, he said he's still sure the people of the Panhandle will make it through.

"The people out here are pretty tenacious and pretty durable,” he said, "and I guess that's why we love the country — and we stay.”

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