Planning for Drought

Developing a Drought Plan: The Hopi Nation

The Hopi Nation, located in northeastern Arizona, worked with a private consulting group to develop parts of their tribal drought mitigation plan. The risk analysis portion of the plan closely followed the methodology in How to Reduce Drought Risk to identify mitigation actions that the nation can take to reduce their short- and long-term drought risk. A draft of the Hopi Drought Plan was completed in 2000; as of late 2005, it is pending approval by the United States Congress.

Risk Assessment

The Nation conducted detailed drought hazard and drought vulnerability analyses. To complete their hazard analysis, they reviewed all the climate, natural resource, and social characteristics of the Hopi Reservation. They collected and analyzed historical local and regional weather data as well as data from streamflow monitoring stations and information about stock tanks and groundwater monitoring. They also considered how they might use various drought and remotely sensed vegetation-condition indices, long-range forecasts, and the relationships of precipitation with atmospheric phenomena such as El Niño. Finally, the Nation thoroughly researched drought-related resources available on the Internet. The Hopi concluded that the areas most vulnerable to drought and most likely to experience the greatest impacts were (1) range and livestock, (2) agriculture, (3) village water supplies, and (4) environmental health.

Using the results of their risk analysis, the Hopi formulated a drought plan with some unique features: The plan includes current and proposed monitoring systems to evaluate not only changing climatic conditions, but also soil, vegetation, and water resources for farming, ranching, and domestic purposes. Under the plan, the Nation will establish a network of approximately 60 transects representing major climates, soils, water resources, and land uses present on the Hopi Reservation; these will provide a detailed analysis of range conditions and help to identify trends in vegetation health. These monitoring networks can also be used to assess the effectiveness of any mitigation actions that are implemented.

Although the Hopi Drought Plan does not refer to public participation in the drought planning process, it stresses that the Nation will try to incorporate community involvement in determining the best use of available resources during periods of drought and for implementing conservation measures.

Risk Management

The plan also lists short- and long-term drought mitigation and response actions for each of the drought impact areas. For example, the plan suggests the creation of range management plans for each range unit to mitigate range and livestock losses. The Hopi Range Management Plan includes fencing and water-development projects for the unit range management plans to facilitate rotations and proper use of rangelands. Water availability in these range units will be improved by rehabilitating surface-water impoundments, drilling additional wells at key locations, improving water distribution from the supply point to multistock watering troughs, and other conjunctive uses.

The Hopi Drought Plan is unique in that it identifies the agencies responsible for undertaking these mitigative actions and also provides a timeline and a cost estimate for the actions. For example, the plan estimates a cost of $12 million for upgrading the water supply systems of 12 tribal villages through improved pumping capacity, storage tank size, and pipe capacity. The tribe plans to seek funding from various agencies and sources while also enhancing water conservation.