ClimateWire: As water shortages and severe droughts threaten the nation, comparisons are being drawn to the Dust Bowl, a series of dust storms in the 1930s that destroyed farms across the southern Great Plains. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has warned that a period of “relocation” is possible, just as thousands migrated to California in the Dust Bowl.
“As we see the effects of climate change … we’re going to have to become even more cognizant of our relationship with land, water and wildlife,” said Salazar.
Gary McManus, a climatologist in Oklahoma, worries that global warming could be “catastrophic” for parts of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, the same areas that suffered during the Dust Bowl. He says that the typically dry regions could face severe dust storms with rising temperatures and the constant shifts in weather patterns make droughts more likely. What’s more, the surrounding urban areas and commercial farms are drying up water supplies.
While many residents aren’t worried about global warming, water conservation is a must in the region. For example, Jude Smith of the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge in Texas is filling ditches with hay, hoping to block the flow of dirt in water that can erode the land. Other farmers are just cutting back on water use.
Some worry that the impact of the recession will force farmers to cut back on their land maintenance efforts and ignore lessons from the Dust Bowl. But James Wedel, a 90-year-old retired farmer that lived through the Dust Bowl, says he doubts a catastrophe on that scale could happen again.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see a time like [the Dust Bowl] again,” Wedel says. “We’ve got better farming techniques and we know what we’re up against” (Brian Winter, USA Today, April 9). – JP