Articles

COLO. – Congressman Cory Gardner (R-CO) is asking U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to issue a drought declaration for affected counties in Colorado. Current conditions mirror those of 2002 – the year the Hayman Fire devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of forests, and a year that cost Colorado farmers and ranchers millions of dollars in crop and livestock losses.

“This is a statewide tragedy and all counties, municipal governments, and agriculture will be subjected to water use restrictions or limited water availability,” Gardner wrote in a letter to Secretary Vilsack. “Our county governments are already moving ahead by issuing drought declarations, yet these declarations will not produce the federal assistance they desperately need.”

In the letter, Gardner highlights Weld County, which has petitioned the Governor of Colorado to take emergency action by allowing well-pumped ground water to be used temporarily in the assistance of farmers whose fields and crops are drying-up. A drought declaration for affected counties in Colorado will help them obtain the assistance they need from the federal government in order to combat the dangerously dry conditions.

To read the full letter, click HERE.