PG&E was in the air checking for dead and dying trees that could potentially be dangerous, and found fewer of them than during the drought years.
They flew for two hours over Hat Creek, Cassel and Old Station, checking for dying trees that could pose a threat to power lines.
"Forest Service will hike out to those locations and verify the condition of the trees, and if they need to be removed, we’ll work with the property owner to hire a contractor to remove that tree," Paul Moreno with PG&E said.
Trees falling on power lines can not only cause outages, but can create electrocution hazard, or spark wildfires.
On Wednesday’s flight, a total of 50 dead trees were counted in the area, a drop from recent years.
"The trend we’re seeing this year is less tree mortality, and that’s good news," Moreno said.
"The tree mortality we’re seeing is above normal, so we’re going to continue to patrol for tree damage and tree hazards," Moreno said.
"Oddly enough, we’re seeing impacts on Juniper Trees, which we hadn’t seen so much before because they’re actually very hardy trees that do well in dry conditions, but years of drought have taken their toll on those," Moreno said.
After they increased patrols from once to twice a year during drought years, things may be looking up.
"We’re hopeful that we can get good bounce back from the effects of the drought with this wet year," Moreno said.

Ditch your grass for native, drought resistant plants.
DALLAS — Here’s a head scratcher for you: Why do we use more water to grow grass than any other crop in America, just to get out every weekend to cut it and throw it out?
Well, a lot of people are now looking to change that, opting for native plants that use much less water and actually contribute to the local environment.
“Why not plant drought tolerant native plants that don’t have to be watered that way,” asked Dana Wilson, the garden adviser at North Haven Gardens.
“Don’t spend your money on water, buy some great plants so that you can go outside, sit in your yard, watch those hummingbirds come, watch those butterflies, the pollinators.
It’s much more rewarding, much more ecologically friendly and it costs less, too.” Of course, if you don’t have a green thumb, any sort of gardening might seem intimidating.
But the pros say, don’t let that scare you off.
“It’s easy, there’s tons of resources out there and they’re drought tolerant, they don’t have to be mowed you can get out in your yard and actually enjoy it instead of mowing it every week and then throwing away all that grass that you worked so hard to grow,” Wilson said.
So it saves water, attracts wildlife and gives back to the environment.
Seems like the natural look is back in!

Wisconsin Farmers Asked To Help Drought Stricken North Dakota.
Wisconsin farmers are being asked to help drought stricken North Dakota.
Because of the drought, ranchers in North Dakota don’t have enough hay or usable pasture land for their cattle, said Donna Gilson, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary spokeswoman.
Wisconsin farmers can help by bringing hay to North Dakota ranchers, or by bringing their cattle to Wisconsin to pasture.
"They haven’t had a lot of precipitation, and they’ve had very high temperatures, high winds, and all those have combined to dry things out pretty well, so that there’s not a lot of hay or forage available right now, and what’s available is not in great condition for their cattle," Gilson said.
The conditions in North Dakota may come as a surprise to some who live in Wisconsin, because of heavy rains here this spring.
"There is a fair amount of the Midwest that is in pretty dry conditions right now.
In a news release, DATCP secretary Ben Brancel said, "Wisconsin farmers have always had big hearts, and this is one more way they can help out their neighbors, even neighbors who are two states away."
Gilson said the rain has been a mixed blessing in Wisconsin.
Storms delayed planting and damaged some crops last week, but others got a jump-start from the wet weather.

Drought forum allows officials, producers to learn from each other.
State and federal officials want to get their information out there, so they brought producers together for a drought forum.
"The hay crop is poor, poor.
The small grains are done.
We’re hoping for the row crops if we get rain in the next few days," "We are really really short on rain right now," said Robert Ferebee, Halliday.
It really hurts us but my son just started with me, farming and ranching, it’s going to be tough on them and those are the guys I’m really rooting for," said Ferebee.
Ferebee was at the drought forum to hear about programs available to help PRODUCERS like him make it through.
Government officials aren’t often out in the fields, so they say input from those who are is invaluable.
Producers hope that natural help comes soon.
Even if the state got rain now, grass and crop quality would improve, but new plants wouldn’t grow.

Drought affecting farmers’ family life.
And they’re not the only businesses struggling.
And the last two years have been really tough for us, " said Katie Heger, co-owner of Heger Farms.
The drought has stunted her family’s crops…
So they’re preparing for a difficult harvest.
And a challenge to the family income.
So retailers like Titan Machinery have seen a dip as well.
"As a company we’ve had to structure some of our inventory where they need to be.
We probably can’t carry as much we were at one point," said Joey Allmaras at Titan Machinery.
"Less customers.

AWRA PPT: ‘Storing Accelerated Glacial Meltwater with Managed Aquifer Recharge’.
This PPT is an expanded version of one presented earlier and the one presented at the AWRA Climate Change Conference.
It includes information on the Yakima Basin Project.
These glaciers provide humanity and ecosystems with ‘free storage’ of freshwater and parcel out water to maintain and replenish freshwater supplies.
During the warm season, glacial meltwater nourishes lower‐elevation ecosystems and human settlements alike.
However, the specter of global warming suggests that these glaciers will melt completely, some relatively quickly, thus eliminating them as a reliable, perennial source of freshwater with potentially disastrous effects for lower elevations.
The recently-funded Yakima Basin MAR project is discussed.
Enjoy!
"The climate system is an angry beast, and we are poking it with sticks."
— Wallace Broecker

North Korea Limits School Hours to Mobilize Students For Drought Measures.
North Korea’s government has reduced school hours in a bid to mobilize students to combat a severe drought affecting the country’s farms, according to sources, who say the public is frustrated that Kim Jong Un’s regime is conducting missile tests instead of devoting state resources to the problem.
The sources from two provinces in northern North Korea, near the border with China, told RFA’s Korean Service this week that all students in high school or above are required to water crops for hours in the morning before classes, which now begin later in the day, amid a lack of precipitation.
One source from Yanggang province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a month of government efforts to irrigate state farms had fallen short and crops are experiencing drought damage, brought on in part by one of the worst rainfall shortages in recent years.
“[For our region,] damage to corn, soybeans, and potatoes is serious, with damage to corn being most severe.” A second source from neighboring Chagang province, who also asked not to be named, told RFA that farms in several parts of his region were also failing due to the drought.
“Chunggang county [150 kilometers north of Manpo along the Yalu] is experiencing even more severe drought damage than Manpo, since the county’s main crop is corn.” Students mobilized To better manage irrigation of the crops, the source said, educational institutions had been assigned an equal number of collective farms to attend to.
“High school and college students have been mobilized for watering crops from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. each day, and their classes now begin from 11:00 a.m.,” he said.
But he added that the drought “cannot be fought with simple manpower,” as merely using water containers to irrigate the crops is ineffective.
Instead, water pumps are needed to deliver water to farms from nearby rivers, the source said, while fire trucks should be deployed to transport water to farms located too far from water sources.
The move caused great discontent among locals, many of whom shop for food and other necessities during the day.

Drought conditions pushed spring wheat futures past $7 a bushel for the first time in almost three years as a six-week rally resumed and spilled over into Chicago contracts.
Recent rain has come too late to save much of crop in the northern Plains in a move some analysts said could trigger "ration pricing" and drive futures toward $8 as millers seek high-quality grain.
The September contract ended 22 cents higher at $7.09 a bushel on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, the biggest mover in a grain complex focused on Friday’s slew of planting and stocks data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Wheat futures have gained around 35% since the rally started in early May.
Hard red winter wheat contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade gained from the soft grain’s advance and the July contract gained 4 cents, or 0.9%, to $4.57 1/4.
Soybean futures rose 2 3/4 cents, or 0.3%, to $9.14 and corn settled down 2 1/2 cents, or 0.7%, at $3.56 3/4.
With crop conditions broadly steady in the latest USDA update, traders have focused on weather events, notably mild weather and rains across parts of the Midwest and the potential for a return to very high temperatures during the crucial July growing season.
Analysts expect a slight reduction to corn acres and an increase to soybean plantings when the USDA reports Friday, alongside an increase in corn and bean ending stocks.
Separately, CBOT operator CME Group Inc. said it would launch an Australian wheat futures contract on July 24, expanding competition with ASX Ltd and expanding its complex following entry to the European market last year.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 28, 2017 15:55 ET (19:55 GMT)

Governor declares drought emergency in eastern Montana.
Conditions are worsening day by day in eastern Montana, and it’s starting to have major impacts on farmers and ranchers in the region.
This is now the worst drought to affect northeast Montana since the U.S. Drought Monitor was first issued in 2000.
The National Weather Service in Glasgow reports significant soil moisture loss in recent weeks.
In May alone, 8.58" of water was lost at one site due to evaporation, leaving the area bone dry.
This area has received a little bit of rain (.12" at Glasgow Valley County Airport) in June, but even that has disappeared.
The order includes 19 counties and two Native American reservations: Blaine, Carter, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Hill, McCone, Petroleum, Phillips, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Valley, and Wibaux counties, and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
Report impacts The National Drought Mitigation Center needs your reports.
Hay Hotline The Montana Department of Agriculture reminds people that its "Hay Hotline" is available.
To access the online hay hotline, click here.

New Salem farmer fights drought conditions.
It’s been a hard growing season for farmers like Jim Bahm.
With land drying up all across the state, farmers are having a tough time getting their crops to grow.
Jim showed us around his New Salem farm, where he says he could be a few weeks away from a bad situation.
Said Bahm.
Jim isn’t the only farmer having problems with the dry conditions.
On Monday, Gov.
In a release, Gov.
Burgum said the dry conditions have “had a detrimental impact on livestock water supplies, crop and pasture conditions.” Jim is one of many farmers who has crops and cattle on his farm.
Jim hopes he won’t have to sell any cows, but without any rain, there isn’t much he can do but remain optimistic.