— Montana cattle producers haven’t had an easy go of it in 2017.
The Montana Stockgrowers Foundation, Southeast Montana Livestock Association and the Montana State University Extension Service hope to offer some advice and services for getting through fire and drought during a Nov. 15 seminar at the Range Riders Museum in Miles City.
The free event is open to the public and will begin at 1 p.m. Anderson says there is no count on how many producers or how many cattle were affected this year by fire and drought.
Though fires burned throughout the state, the largest was the Lodgepole Complex Fire, which scorched more than a quarter million acres in eastern Montana.
The eastern part of the state also has had the longest-lasting drought conditions, including the 12.27 percent of the state still in extreme drought.
"We will start to see the impacts of fire and drought as we move into next year," Anderson says.
Amy Iverson, a certified public accountant from Billings, will present information on options for managing tax issues related to decisions made during financial stress caused by drought conditions.
Brandon Willis, owner of Rancher’s Insurance LLC of Utah, will provide information on deciding whether to use forage, pasture and rangeland insurance products.
Andy Roberts, animal research scientist at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, will explain how to reduce the input cost of a cow herd while maintaining productivity through changes in heifer development programs.
Lance Vermeire, rangeland ecologist at Fort Keogh, has done extensive study on the effects of grazing on rangeland production following fire and drought, and he will present strategies that allow for recovery of range condition with grazing animals.

Heavy precipitation is erasing years of extremely dry conditions in parts of California, with the latest federal report showing that just over 51 percent of the state remains in drought — and no areas have the worst rating, "exceptional drought."
It’s the first time since January of 2014 that no part of California was in the exceptional drought category, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor report from weather and agriculture experts.
In January of 2016, more than 40 percent of the state had that unwelcome distinction.
Before and After: The Rain’s Impact on Three California Reservoirs | Drought Watch | KQED Science https://t.co/HJEIEU58eL — KQEDscience (@KQEDscience) January 25, 2017 Currently, nearly 39 percent of California is also free of the more benign "abnormally dry" status — which, one year ago, covered the entire state.
Drought conditions persist mainly in the south, affecting nearly 25 million people, according to the drought monitor.
And Dan Cayan, a climate researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, tells KQED that while some areas have already received a winter’s worth of water, the risk of drought shouldn’t be discounted.
"I’m a little reluctant to say the drought’s over, even though conditions have markedly improved," says Cayan, citing the need to replenish groundwater aquifers.
Relief from the drought has come at a cost, as powerful and drenching storms also brought flooding, mudslides and damage — including to the iconic "Pioneer Cabin Tree," the sequoia that was carved into a tunnel in Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
Since Oct. 1, precipitation is running well above normal levels across the state, according to the National Weather Service.
The agency’s office in Sacramento adds that wet conditions are likely to return next week.

Even with the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir now full, questions remain as to how the reservoir got so low during late September and early October.
According to Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority staff, nobody is sure why the reservoir declined so quickly, but leaking stream release gates and the authority releasing more than the required amount of water into the Rivanna River could have accelerated the drop.
But the authority issued a drought watch, which enacts voluntary water use restrictions, on Oct. 3.
At an RWSA meeting Oct. 24, while answering questions about the drought, Mawyer said the authority had been over-releasing water into the Rivanna.
Overall, 108.84 million extra gallons of water were released in August.
In the recent interview, Mawyer said the RWSA wants to release a little more water than the required amount, but that on some days in August the authority should have adjusted the gate more closely to the required amount.
There are three pipes, or gates, that let water out of the reservoir.
The metered gate is the main release pipe.
Mawyer said the two unmetered gates were leaking, releasing a total of about 3 million gallons per day that, until early October, were not being counted in the total release figures.
Even a brand-new gate has allowable leakage through it.” Currently, the RWSA has lowered the amount leaking to about a half million gallons a day total, and that is being factored into the required release.

EMILY GUERIN, BYLINE: In Bear Valley Springs, Mark Anderson and his partner bought a house to get away from city stress.
But then, as he tells it, he found a whole new form of stress – the pine bark beetle.
ANDERSON: You couldn’t even see the house from the street.
Once his trees died, Anderson had to cut them down.
He cuts the trees down.
GUERIN: It can cost up to a thousand dollars to pay a crew like Witten’s to cut down and haul away a single tree.
ED WEAVER: We love the trees and the pine trees – you know, you smell them – and the squirrels running around.
ADRIAN DAS: Even after this very wet winter we’re still seeing trees dying at abnormally high rates in the forests where we’re looking.
GUERIN: His house in the mountains is on the market now.
For NPR News, I’m Emily Guerin in Bear Valley Springs.

SAN ANGELO, TX – The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Drought Monitor update released today has moved several southern Concho Valley areas into level 1 Drought level.
Level 1 is "moderate drought" meaning "water supplies may be low and damage may occur to crops and pastures."
The drought monitor classifies drought level on a scale from Level 0 to Level 4.
Colors on the map show where the land is drier than usual for this time of year.
Level 1 — Tan areas are experiencing Moderate Drought: water supplies may be low and damage may occur to crops and pastures.
Level 2 — Orange areas are in Severe Drought: water shortages are common and crop and pasture losses are likely.
Level 3 — Red areas are experiencing Extreme Drought.
Areas in this category may experience widespread water shortages and major losses of crops and pastures; forests in these areas become dry and susceptible to fire.
Failed crops, barren pastures, and tinder-dry forests may be widespread across these areas.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

A moderate drought in Wake and surrounding counties continues and has spread to counties southwest of Wake, the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council reported Thursday.
The moderate drought advisory affects Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Granville, Guilford, Harnett, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Orange, Person, Randolph, Stanly and Union counties.
A moderate drought in Wake and surrounding counties persists and has spread to counties southwest of Wake, the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council reported Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017.
N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council The council advises water users to adhere to local water use restrictions and to minimize nonessential water uses.
The drought advisory is based on data from Tuesday, Nov. 7, and does not factor in the rainfall received later.
Abnormally dry conditions persist in the northern Coastal Plains and Piedmont.
[It’s rained a lot, but there’s a moderate drought in Wake, surrounding counties.]
[NC free of drought, dry conditions for the first time since March 2016.]
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Temperatures averaged below normal in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, northern half of the Plains, upper Midwest, and Florida while above-normal readings occurred across the Southwest, southern Plains, Southeast, Ohio Valley, East Coast, and Alaska.
The rains were enough to remove D0 in most of northwestern Pennsylvania (and into eastern Ohio) except for a small part in the extreme northwestern section of the state where 90-day deficits and low SPIs still lingered after 2-3 inches of rain.
To the south, the lingering D0 area in central Maryland was slightly adjusted northward into southeastern Pennsylvania to reflect the dryness at 60-days as 0.3-1 inch of rain was not enough to erase short-term (60- and 90-day) shortages as some USGS stream flows remained below the lower tenth percentile (much below normal).
South Although western sections of the South were mainly dry, light to moderate (0.5-2.5 inches) rain fell on southeastern Texas, most of Louisiana, eastern Arkansas, and most of Mississippi and Tennessee.
Farther to the north and west (northeastern Texas, western and central Arkansas into southern Missouri) where Harvey rains missed, both 60- and 90-day precipitation has been less than 50% of normal, creating 4-8 inch shortages.
In southern Missouri, however, 60- and 90-day indices were quite negative, along with precipitation deficiencies of 4-8 inches below normal (less than 50% of normal) even though some areas in eastern sections reported 0.5-2 inches of rain this week.
However, with the recent wetness across much of the northern half of the West, and since the abnormal dryness and drought were short-term in western and southern sections (e.g. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, southwestern Montana), it was easier to justify improvements across this area as compared to long-term drought in northern and eastern areas (e.g. northern and eastern Montana, the Dakotas).
Light to moderate rain (1-1.5 inches) is expected in a narrow band from central Texas eastward to coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, along the far western Gulf Coast, and in the northern Great Lakes region.
It should be dry in the Southwest, Great Basin, and northern and central Plains, with only light amounts (less than 0.5 inches) elsewhere.
Drought Intensity Categories D1 Moderate Drought D2 Severe Drought D3 Extreme Drought D4 Exceptional Drought Drought or Dryness Types S Short-Term, typically less than 6 months (e.g. agricultural, grasslands) L Long-Term, typically greater than 6 months (e.g. hydrologic, ecologic) Source: National Drought Mitigation Center

City workers monitor the height of the water in the wells on a weekly basis to be sure it isn’t dropping too fast or too far.
There have been days this summer in which that amount climbed to 2 million.
The wells’ water levels dropped about 12 feet from the beginning of May to the end of July, but they are still a comfortable 24 feet higher than the level at which water pumps might run dry.
The last time the water fell to that critical height was several years ago, at the end of a three-year drought, Krauel said.
About half of Carroll County is in a moderate drought right now, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
That’s slightly better than a couple of weeks ago, when most of the county was suffering from drought conditions.
In Carroll, May was wetter than normal.
The total effect of the dry conditions on the city’s water supply might not be seen for months, Krauel said, as the Dakota Sandstone aquifer — from which the city draws water — recharges.
“When we came out of the three-year drought three years ago, the Sandstone aquifer barely recharged at all.
Just a few feet,” Krauel said.

The head of the U.N. World Food Program said he plans to visit North Korea, which is facing drought and "a lot of people starving," and will ask for greater access to the secretive nation.
David Beasley said in an interview with The Associated Press late Monday that "we want to make the case very clearly that innocent children should not starve to death."
While the WFP already has a team in North Korea, Beasley said the agency is asking the government to give them more access so the U.N. can ensure that those in need are getting assistance.
Malnutrition is a significant problem in North Korea and many people suffer from chronic malnutrition because of diets lacking in vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats, WFP says.
According to WFP, the U.N. is seeking $52 million for North Korea in 2017, but has received just $15 million.
He didn’t say when his visit would take place, responding with a laugh when asked: "Sooner than you think, maybe."
The U.N. food agency’s work in North Korea aims to provide nutritional support to 650,000 of the most vulnerable pregnant women, new mothers and young children, for whom the risks of malnutrition are most dangerous.
Its aid is channeled through nurseries, hospitals and orphanages in 60 counties, in nine of the 11 provinces.
Because of chronic malnutrition, 28 percent of children under the age of 5 are stunted, meaning they are too small or short for their age because their bodies have not had the nutrients and protein they need to develop and grow, the agency said.
"Maybe the WFP — maybe we’ll be the light in the darkness … (and) help find a way out of this deep, deep dangerous controversy right now," he said.

According to the Western Cape financial performance report of municipalities in the first quarter of the 2017/18 financial year‚ the city has billed ratepayers for R835-million‚ against its R642-million expenditure.
And as of July 1‚ the city had also stopped providing free water.
In addition‚ the city has seen a massive cut in water use by residents‚ amid tougher water restrictions.
Cape Town is not alone.
Three other Western Cape municipalities – Drakenstein‚ George and Stellenbosch – are also looking to collect a tidy sum from water.
Collectively‚ the municipalities have billed over R149-million‚ versus an expenditure of over R38-million.
This means that they are looking at a surplus of R111-million‚ should they collect all the billed amounts.
“There is a difference between billed and collection.
So even though the billed amount might seem excessive‚ the collection rate might indicate that we… didn’t collect that full [amount]‚” said Limberg.
Last year‚ the City’s collection rate was around 80%‚ but it had dropped following the introduction of Level 4 water restrictions.