MEMORANDUM

TO: Conservation Districts
FROM: Grant Stumbough, Wyoming Department of Agriculture
SUBJECT: Governors Drought Management Task Force
DATE: June 6, 2002 I have enclosed several documents that were discussed at the Governor's Drought Management Task Force meeting held yesterday. The meeting was well attended. The drought continues to plague Wyoming especially in the North Platte River Basin. However, the recent rains did improve the moisture outlook in the southern and central regions of the state. Critical discussion topics of the Ag and Natural Resource Subcommittee with the whole Task Force are as follows:

1) Drought Preparedness Act of 2002– The Bill was co-sponsored by Senator Domenici from New Mexico and recently introduced into the Senate and House. The Task Force will review the bill and provide comments by the end of next week. The Task Force was very supportive of the concept of the bill. Several members had questions regarding the definition of drought, role of FEMA, and funding source for the Drought Assistance Fund.

2) Tax Code Revision Bill – Senator Thomas has taken the lead in drafting this Bill and Senator Enzi and Representative Cubin have also showed great interest in co-sponsoring the Bill to provide tax relief to producers in designated drought counties. Several proposed changes to the current language include allowing a 4 year timeframe after the end of a designated drought to defer taxes for all livestock sales forced by drought. Also the proposed Bill will primarily focus on providing tax relief for ag producers during drought and will exclude tax benefits for non-drought related adverse decisions by the federal government. The entire Task Force whole heartedly supports this proposed legislation.

3) Range Management Emergency Drought Needs Checklist – The Ag and Natural Resources Subcommittee recently met with the State Historic and Preservation Office (SHPO) to identify ways to streamline the cultural review process while maintaining the integrity of the review. SHPO agreed to send a letter to the Regional Forest Service Office stating that if a "no find" was determined during the cultural review process, then a letter of proceed was not needed from SHPO. The letter has been sent and has been well received by the Forest Service. This should save considerable time in the cultural review process. In addition, a ten day turn around time was identified as a goal in completing the cultural review and endangered species impact assessment. A checklist was developed and is in the process of being finalized to streamline the aforementioned reviews.

4) NRCS Agriculture Management Assistance (AMA) Funds – Currently, cost share dollars are needed to fund water developments during drought and AMA dollars have been discussed as a potential funding source. NRCS in coordination with the State Technical Committee has determined that 2002 AMA dollars will fund last years unfunded EQIP applications which includes some water developments (see attached). A portion of 2003 AMA dollars may be used to fund water developments to ease the impacts of drought for next year. 2003 AMA dollars will not be available until October 1, 2002. The NRCS State Technical Committee will be given the opportunity to "weigh in" and determine if those funds can be used for this purpose.

5) Available Pasture in Surrounding States - The Wyoming Department of Agriculture has worked with the Wyoming Business Council in developing a web page that will list available pasture and forage in the surrounding area. The web page can be found at the Wyoming State Government website under the Wyoming Business Council heading.

Chairman Micheli scheduled the next Governor's Drought Management Task Force Meeting for July 30 in Casper at the UW Extension Outreach Office.

cc
Governor Geringer
State Drought Management Task Force

To Index of Drought Task Force Meeting Minutes