Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has declared all 17 counties in Nevada as primary disaster areas because of the losses caused by the drought.
The designation will make farmers and ranchers eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the federal Farm Service Agency, she said.
Gov. Kenny Guinn in September asked the secretary for the disaster designation, noting that from January until mid-September there has been a 40 to 50 percent reduction in rainfall. This has led to a cut in range and forage productions of 40 to 80 percent of normal for farmers and ranchers.
Southern Nevada Water Authority officials said the declaration would have little direct impact on most of Clark County, where about 90 percent of the population lives in urban areas and drinks Colorado River water from Lake Mead.
"It really has no impact in Southern Nevada," water authority spokesman Vince Alberta said. "It applies to agriculture, ranchers and things like that."
Although water authority staff say the declaration will have little direct impact on people living in the Las Vegas area, it underscores the seriousness of the drought's long-term effect.
Southern Nevada has had less than 1 inch of rain so far this year, compared with an average rainfall of 4.13 inches by now.
Lake Mead, which has been as high as 1,229 feet, measured 1,155 feet on Thursday and is still dropping, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
"There is a lot of concern about this dry period stretching for many years, and it's not unfounded," climatologist Kelly Redmond of the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno said.
Richard Orr, area conservations with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency, agreed that the disaster declaration would affect very few Clark County residents.
Farmers north of Clark in Lincoln and Nye counties, however, have been hit hard by the drought, Orr said. Many of those farmers and ranchers depend on rainfall for crops and livestock forage.
But the non-human population of Clark County also is experiencing the drought, he said.
"There's always an impact on wildlife," Orr said. Recent horse roundups in the Spring Mountains near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area have gathered dozens of emaciated animals, evidence of the regional impact.
Wildlife throughout the area may be in trouble for some time.
Last week the National Climate Center, which tracks shifts in droughts and precipitation for the entire nation, said that Southern Nevada was still in extreme drought conditions.
New research indicates the Southwest could be at the beginning of a drought that could last 10 years or longer, federal and private scientists say.
National Weather Service meteorologist Ron McQueen of Las Vegas said it is hard to predict how long the current drought could last.
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