EVANSTON — Drought conditions in Wyoming and specifically in Uinta County are creating multiple layers of consequence. The effects of a prolonged drought on livestock producers, wildlife and forests — and, ultimately, the food supply — go largely unnoticed by the majority of the population until it becomes a crisis. City, county and state agencies are working to keep that crisis from becoming a reality.

“It’s very, very dry — super dry,” Travis McInnis told the Herald. McInnis is the Hydrographer Commissioner for the State Engineering Department and commonly known as the local water master.

According to McInnis, Sulphur Creek Reservoir was only 87% full (13% lower) this year due to very little snow this past winter and the water from there to the Hilliard area was turned off on Monday, June 21.

Evanston Director of Public Works Gordon Robinson reported to the City Council on June 22 that Sulphur Creek Reservoir had dropped from 87% capacity on June 1, down to 80% in just 10 days. He said they are currently pulling water from Bear River which they normally don’t start to do until the middle July. Gordon said the City of Evanston has been impacted by the severe drought. City government entities are reducing their water usage and irrigation water by 30% to 60%, compared to a normal year, and they ask residents to do their part by practicing water conservation.

Gov. Mark Gordon has created a drought disaster page for tracking conditions. The site contains a map of the US and assigns a number to each area according to the severity of the drought conditions. As reported in the U.S. Drought Monitor, automatic federal designation applies when, during the growing season, any portion of a county meets the D2 (severe) drought intensity value for any length of time.

The designations range from D0 = abnormally dry; D1 = moderate drought; D2 = severe drought; D3 = extreme drought; up to D4 = exceptional drought. As of June 15, Uinta County is designated as a D2 (severe drought) area and nearly all of the neighboring state of Utah has extreme and exceptional drought conditions.

Uinta County ranchers and livestock producers are faced daily with severe consequences from the prolonged drought in Southwest Wyoming. They are losing financially in the beef market and their lifestyle is threatened daily.

Piedmont rancher and livestock producer Earl Guild said, “I’ve already sent two loads of 80 cows to market and am sending 210 heifers off tomorrow. I will try to keep my steers until September but may have to sell them sooner if I run out of hay.”

Guild said he just doesn’t have enough feed to keep them any longer as he had to cut back on a hay crop due to lack of enough water. The Guilds have two reservoirs of their own on their property but one of those has been used to stock fish for a tourist trade business. Guild said that business may be seriously hurt if they have to use that water for stock.

He said the price on beef will drop drastically due to the fact that other livestock producers are faced with the same predicament. 

“My cattle are in a pretty good spot now as we moved them to a higher altitude of 8,500 feet, where there is more forage, but if we don’t get any rain, things could get bad. I have some hay now but not enough and if you can find hay to buy it is costing $300 per ton or more now,” Guild said.

Local rancher Mike Sims is facing the same situation as Guild.

“I can remember back 60 years, and this is the driest year and the worst drought I have ever seen,” Sims said. “First we had no snow, a dry spring, and then frost, and now extreme heat. For the first time ever, I am feeding hay to my cows in June. I think I can get through this summer with what I have; I have some hay from last year left over.”

However, Sims said he is forced to water for his animals. He said he will run out of reservoir water rights in a week. He has approximately 600 cows and 10,000 sheep. He said his lamb crop was poor this year as the feed for the ewes was poor. Sims owns a 1,000 gallon water truck and gets water from the Blacks Fork in Lyman and the Little Muddy in Kemmerer.

“I see the situation as a matter of national security if ranchers and farmers aren’t helped,” Sims said. “Think of the food supply. If the state would classify our area as a D3, we could get help from the American Recovery Plan Act. As it is, we don’t qualify and we need money to haul water and buy hay to keep our livestock alive.”

Mike Davis, who ranches outside Evanston in the Yellow Creek area, said he too has been hauling water and may have to sell some cows this fall. He said his normal hay production is down by 20 to 25% and the price of hay will soon skyrocket. 

“Because of the high heat and the wind we are experiencing, my fields are burning up. I have one field that I can’t get water to and this is the first time in nearly 30 years I won’t get a crop of hay there,” Davis said. “I work hard to conserve water because it is like gold. My neighbors and I work together to conserve but we will be out of water this coming weekend.”

Joe Brown, fifth generation rancher and livestock producer at Hilliard Flat, has sold half of his cattle herd already and has only one-fourth of hay needed to feed his livestock. He too said the prices for beef will be reduced drastically because ranchers all over the West will be selling early. Brown said he has rights to water from the Whitney Reservoir and is holding that for his livestock, then he will either haul the water or run it down ditches.

“This is the worst drought in my lifetime and I was born in 1977,” Brown said. “June has been the driest month of any I can remember. We can get some financial help from the conservation district but I hope we can survive this drought. Next year will be a very tough situation if we don’t get rain. It will take good management to survive.”

The Farm Service Agency of the USDA offers information to assist livestock producers in applying for 2021 Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) benefits for grazing losses on non-irrigated pastures on privately owned or cash leased land due to drought or fire on federally managed land.  Producers can contact the Uinta County USDA Service Center at 307-787-3859 X2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.

Losses for the cost of transporting water to livestock due to an eligible classification (D3-extreme drought) may be available to ranchers through the emergency assistance for livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish program (ELAP). Ranchers can get information on the stipulations and requirements necessary to obtain the ELAP assistance by contacting their county USDA service center.