Posted on 08/08/2004 7:16:27 PM PDT by television is just wrong
Why the West Is Burning A five-year drought has parched soils, lowered reservoirs and weakened forests. And if the past is any guide, the dry spell could go on for decades By J. MADELEINE NASH/SAGE
Monday, Aug. 16, 2004 In California the wildfire season generally ramps up slowly, and the largest fires usually don't arrive until fall. But this year is different, says Riverside County fire captain Rick Vogt, surveying the aftermath of a blaze that swept through the rural community of Sage, 80 miles from San Diego, with unseasonal intensity late last month, blackening more than 3,500 acres. Fire fighters this time were able to contain the flames, but next time they may not be so lucky. A five-year drought has left this always arid region even dryer than usual, and when the hot Santa Ana winds start to blow off the desert in September, it could take only a spark to set off fires that will be much more difficult to control.
Already the fire season in Southern California is breaking records. Last year was bad enough; this year is outpacing it in both the number of fires started (2,749 vs. 2,453) and the amount of acreage consumed (69,167 vs. 38,523). And Southern California is not alone. A fast-moving wildfire exploded in a canyon on the outskirts of Las Vegas two weeks ago, forcing the evacuation of 75 Girl Scouts from a campground in the Spring Mountains — this on top of a fire that threatened the capital of Nevada and another that nearly destroyed a $200 million astronomical observatory in Arizona. Just a few more big ones could easily turn 2004 into one of the West's worst fire years on record.
And no one knows when the drought will end. Scientists believe this dry spell, which has plagued a broad swath of the West since 1999, is more typical of the region than its 60 million inhabitants would care to admit. As Charles Ester, chief hydrologist for Arizona's Salt River Project, a major provider of water and electricity, puts it, "What we took as a period of normal rainfall in the past century was actually a period of abundance."
Consider, for example, the 1922 compact that determines the allocation of water from the Colorado River. Scientists have shown, by studying tree rings and other historical evidence, that the allocation was based on water flows that were the highest they had been for more than 475 years. By contrast, the flows since 1999 rank among the lowest. As a result, Lake Powell, the giant reservoir created on the Colorado by the Glen Canyon Dam, stands some 60% below capacity and seems destined to fall even lower. No wonder that states like Colorado — whose rights to that water are trumped by the rights of California, Nevada and Arizona — are anxiously bracing for a crisis.
At risk are not only natural ecosystems and agricultural enterprises but also the multiple amenities that people living in the West have for so long taken for granted: ski resorts and golf courses, green lawns and lush gardens, swimming pools and hot tubs, not to mention such modern necessities as dishwashers and flush toilets and the hydropower that keeps refrigerators and home computers humming. Caught off guard, political leaders and water-resource managers have been turning to scientists for help. What do researchers know about patterns of drought in North America? What do they think occurred in the mid-1990s when a big chunk of the West abruptly veered from wet to dry? And do they believe that the current shortfall of precipitation is just a temporary dry spell or an ominous realignment of the earth's climate system?
Secrets of Tree Rings That the West is a semiarid region subject to episodic droughts has been understood for some time. What's new is the detailed picture of those droughts that is emerging from a vastly improved network of North American tree-ring records that extend back more than 1,000 years. Those records — some 835 in all — are based on the growth rings laid down by multiple species of long-lived trees, including blue oaks, giant sequoia and bristlecone and ponderosa pines. Interpreting the rings takes skill, but the basics are simple. The rings are wide when moisture is sufficient, narrow when it is not.
From the Aug. 16, 2004 issue of TIME magazine
BTTT!!!!!!!
The coming crisis in America is water rights. The government wants to start regulating deep wells in the mid west. Government believes it is the owner of the water resources below ground. There is a major fight in the Missouri River basin over the rights of upstream plains states to retain water (in man made dams) for recreation and irrigation over the barge industry in lower Missouri River basin states of Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. Compounding the water flow is environmentalists seeking to restore the basin for bird habitat and wetlands restoration.
The environmental impact of piping huge volumes of water from the Missouri/ Mississippi basin would be unacceptable.
Developers in the desert states are going to have to accept that growth cannot be sustained based on regional environmental factors. Water is the basis for life. The coastal states need to process sea water rather than depend on or steal away other peoples livelyhood for their own greedy intentions. Midwest water is not the solution for California.
"Pay for the cleanup of your own damn floods."
I agree. I don't live in a flood plain either.
I also think hurricane and earthquake victims oughta pay for their own mess too. I also think that people living in deserts shouldn't bitch about lack of water.
It's called a 'DESERT' for a reason. People shouldn't live there. Maybe if so much water wasn't wasted on inane desert golf courses and wasteful stupidity like the Venetian hotel in Vegas, there would be more of it for the necesseties.
"Just because we have resources doesn't mean I should try to exhaust them as quickly as possible. Provident living is something that all Americans used to practice."
Your intelligence is exceeded only by your wisdom. I couldn't agree more with the above.
"Our time for choosing is less than three months away..."
That's interesting and rather gloomy. What is your specific source of the timeline, and what makes it better than all the others that have preceeded it?
You really wouldn't want that water.
"It's called a 'DESERT' for a reason. People shouldn't live there. Maybe if so much water wasn't wasted on inane desert golf courses and wasteful stupidity like the Venetian hotel in Vegas, there would be more of it for the necesseties."
They use "grey water" for golf courses, not the potable stuff.
"They use "grey water" for golf courses, not the potable stuff."
Sure, but where does the grey water come from - cactii? Or the depleted Colorado River?
Bermuda has houses with concrete roofs...they are a means to collect every drop of rainwater into cisterns. Being concrete, the rainwater is pretty clean to start.
Monday AUGUST 16, 2004 Edition of TIME? I think it comes out weekly, on Monday. I never noticed that it has a date a week ahead of time on it. Fire near here on I-80.
It is not a belief. It is the owner.
I guess in a perfect world everyone should live in a bubble so as to not be at risk? I could say the same thing about paying for California Earthquakes or Florida Hurricanes or Colorado wildfires.
The whole basis of living is assuming the risk that one won't fall out of bed in the morning and break their neck!
Sleeping in a bunk bed assumes a little more risk. Same with living in a location with a potential hazard. If you live in a desert and run out of water you missed the clue.
No source and certainly no timeline -- just a historical perspective and a conscience. History shows that nothing goes on forever, and it is my belief that God allows His children to stray only so far. How far that is and for how long is completely up to Him. But if we continue down this road, our peril will be certain even if its timing is not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.