Could Climate Change Solutions Also Help Drought Conditions?.
— Montana is suffering from wildfires and possibly the worst drought in 30 years, bringing lots of pain to farmers and ranchers.
Brant Quick, a farmer and rancher near Circle, said people in the area are turning to costly solutions such as trucking in hay.
A study by Climate Central found Montana has seen a greater increase in large fires than any other state in the last 45 years.
According to States at Risk, a project that assesses the effect of climate change on each state, Montana faces one of the highest threats from drought over the next three decades.
"It sure seems like climate change is playing a big part, because it just doesn’t seem like these are the normal weather patterns and stuff,” Fix said.
But he said even if humans aren’t the leading cause, we shouldn’t be making the effects worse.
That’s why he’s become an advocate of using cover crops to sequester carbon in the soil.
Quick said the method has a number of benefits, including capturing carbon before it enters the atmosphere, decreasing the ground temperature during situations such as the current drought, and more.
"It also lowers your need for inputs of artificial fertilizers and also will help break up insects and other pest cycles and that type of thing,” he said.