WASHINGTON - Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy today called on the Administration to take quick and decisive action to help drought-stricken ranchers and their livestock in western North Dakota.
In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, the delegation urged the Administration to heed the recommendation of the North Dakota Agricultural Drought Task Force and open all state Conservation Reserve Program acreage to aid ranchers who are struggling to sus-tain their herds.
"Many areas of western North Dakota have experienced delayed and poor pasture growth this spring due to continuing severe to extreme drought combined with cool growing condi-tions," the delegation wrote. "Without emergency assistance, producers in the hardest hit areas will likely face insufficient forage supplies...We urge you to swiftly act on the recom-mendations made by the North Dakota Agricultural Drought Task Force to allow immediate opening of all CRP acreage for emergency livestock grazing."
The delegation also noted that recent rains have done little to improve growing conditions. The drought monitor indicates the western half of North Dakota qualifies as D3, or extreme drought, and nearly the entire state is suffering from drought-like conditions.
Ranchers and farmers in western North Dakota have confronted serious drought in recent years, though experts say this year could prove to be the driest yet. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Statistic Services reports that nearly half of the state's pasture has a rating of "very poor" or "poor" conditions.
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Conservation groups from across the state - including the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, Natural Resources Trust, and Ducks Unlimited - support the emergency graz-ing request for CRP acreage.
