Ag, Policy and Science Leaders to Convene for Drought Monitor

Prominent federal officials will discuss the government’s role in monitoring, preparing for and responding to drought at the fifth U.S. Drought Monitor Forum, October 10-11, in Portland, Ore., and scientists will describe their most recent drought monitoring research.

“The U.S. Drought Monitor Forum is all about stakeholder-driven science,” said Mark Svoboda, conference organizer and National Drought Mitigation Center climatologist. “We’ve got scientists here to listen to the people who are using their work. It’s also a chance for the drought community to showcase our latest successes and findings, and to think about new directions for research.” 

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a weekly map that is produced by federal and academic partners, incorporating comments from about 250 climatologists, extension agents and others nation-wide. Authors incorporate and reconcile a variety of data, relying on experts’ best judgment where data and observations fall short.

Since the U.S. Drought Monitor was first published in 1999, federal drought relief efforts and programs have increasingly relied on it to allocate assistance. The bi-annual Drought Monitor Forums are part of the ongoing effort to refine the assessments to account for more localized conditions.

Keynote speakers, topics, and times are:

• Arlen Lancaster, Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture,"From Snow Surveys to SCAN: USDA's Commitment to Wise Water Use and Drought Mitigation", 8:30 a.m. Oct. 10.
• John Johnson, Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, Farm Services Agency, USDA, “Use of the Drought Monitor with the USDA-Farm Services Agency,” 9 a.m. Oct. 10.
• Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, “Laying Out Drought Activities Within NOAA,” 8:15 a.m., Oct. 11.
• Tim Owen, National Climatic Data Center, NOAA, will provide an update on implementation of the National Integrated Drought Information System (drought.gov), 8:45 a.m., Oct. 11.

Although the scope of the tool is national, the venue will provide an opportunity to focus on the drought-monitoring needs of the West.

Greg Jones of Southern Oregon University will convey a regional perspective with his talk on “Understanding What Drought and Climate Variability Mean to Viticulture” at 9:45 a.m. Oct. 11. A current emphasis of climate research is to be responsive to the needs of specific industries, and to provide information that is current and geographically specific for resource managers.

This year’s Drought Monitor Forum is being sponsored by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), and is being hosted by the USDA-NRCS Water and Climate Center. Conference activities will be at the DoubleTree Hotel (Lloyd Center) in Portland. The NDMC is based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is distributed on-line: http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html, with new maps released each Thursday morning.

For more information:

A near-final agenda and registration information are available at http://snr.unl.edu/ndmcsurvey/usdmforum.html.

Bios on some of the keynote speakers are available on the web:

• Arlen Lancaster: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ABOUT/leadership/chief.html
• John Johnson: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=about&subject=landing&topic=fsb-fp
• Vice Admiral Lautenbacher: http://www.noaa.gov/lautenbacher.html

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