Drought, fires and sage grouse dominate Western Governor’s meeting

INCLINE VILLAGE — The long-range forecast doesn’t bode well for the interior West as it chokes on a fourth year of drought and smoke from wildfires.

With the fire season ramping up and temperatures starting to soar, drought and fire dominated the discussion at the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting being held this week at Incline Village on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who has chaired the group for the past year, made drought his signature initiative, bringing together water experts and managers to develop best practices for water management and drought preparation.

From the Colorado River Basin, which has experienced drought for nearly two decades, to Lake Tahoe and groundwater basins around the West, water sources are stressed, and tough planning is needed to ensure urban areas and rural economies can survive as competition for water intensifies.

Sandoval pointed to Las Vegas, which gets 90 percent of its water from Lake Mead fed by the Colorado River, as a model for water management in the driest state in the nation.

“Las Vegas is recognized as a leader in water conservation,” Sandoval said. “But we can and must do more.”

No specifics were talked about, but a report released to the group Wednesday outlined seven items as critical for drought preparation.

While not a surprise, the long-range forecast from Manson Brown, deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, caused Sandoval and other governors concern.

Brown said drought conditions “will persist or intensify” as the summer progresses, and winter months that bring rain or snow are unlikely to deliver drought-busting precipitation.

With the exception of Southern California and the desert Southwest, “winter precipitation is expected to be near normal or below normal West of the Rockies,” Brown said.

Much of the West is seeing the effects of drought through low water levels in rivers and reservoirs and tinder-dry forests. Farm fields are being left bare, and some small communities are trucking in water because of wells gone dry.

Earlier in the day, Sandoval was joined by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on a tour of the Washington Fire burning about 30 miles south of Lake Tahoe. The lightning-sparked fire has burned about 17,000 acres.

About 500 firefighters from state, local and federal agencies are battling the blaze in tall timber in rough terrain.

Wildfires are not confined to Nevada and California. Some 475 fires are burning in Alaska.

Jewell praised the collaboration of fire agencies and said that kind of teamwork is needed tackle other tough Western issues.

“We’re not the enemy,” Jewell said of the federal agency. “We actually work collectively toward a common purpose.”

But Jewell endured some criticism over sage grouse, a chicken-sized bird dependent on a healthy sage brush ecosystem. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a federal court mandate to determine by the end of September whether the greater sage grouse found in 11 Western states and parts of Canada should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

States fear a listing could put the brakes on energy development, mining, ranching and other economic development efforts, seriously crippling Western economies.

Some governors complained of over-regulation by federal agencies and that despite the best efforts of states, lawsuits over the bird will undoubtedly be filed and the expensive efforts to try to stave off a listing will be for naught.

“We have to come up with a plan that is legally defensible,” Jewell said.

She also said she opposes the efforts of some in Congress to delay a listing decision.

“The last thing you want is uncertainty,” she said. “If you delay we will prolong the uncertainty.

“I’m optimistic we’re going to get there,” she told the conference.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find her on Twitter: @SandraChereb