Extreme & Extended Drought Workshop Set for Garden City Jan. 9

Lincoln, Neb. – Over fifteen experts in the fields of irrigation, range management, climatology, and drought planning are scheduled to speak at a one-day workshop Jan. 9 in Garden City, Kan., on managing drought on the farm and ranch.

Producers can register now for the workshop, which will be held at the 4-H building on the county fairgrounds. Registration and coffee begin at 8 a.m.

The workshop will feature morning sessions on climate forecasts and aquifer management. Separate afternoon tracks will target the specific needs of ranchers and irrigated-crop producers.

Speakers will include range, climate, water and irrigation specialists from New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado, areas that have experienced recent droughts.  The workshop will also feature farmers and ranchers from across the Great Plains, who will share their experiences and ideas for managing through long-term and extreme drought. 

Speakers include: Joel Brown, New Mexico USDA-NRCS rangeland ecologist; Gary McManus, associate state climatologist with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey; Susan Stover, manager of High Plains Issues at the Kansas Water Office; Julie Elliott, Range Specialist for the NRCS based in Wray, Col.; John Maddux, crop and livestock producer from SW Neb.; Dwayne Rice, NRCS Range Management Specialist based in Lincoln, Kan.; Bill Golden, KSU Ag Economist;  Lynn Myers, western Neb. Rancher; Ted Alexander, rancher from south-central Kan.; Jonathan Aguilar, KSU Water Resource Engineer; Jay Winner, General Manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District; Klaus Wolter, NOAA Meterologist; and Freddie Lamm, irrigation engineer at the Northwest Research Extension Center in Colby, Kan.

The workshop is a joint effort by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Finney County Extension-KSU, and the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).   

The workshop is open to the public and the only charge is an at-the-door $10 fee for a brisket or pulled pork lunch. Space is limited and participants are asked to pre-register by Jan. 3 at http://drought.unl.edu/ranchplan. For more information, please contact the National Drought Mitigation Center at ranchplan@unl.edu or (402) 472-6776.