NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH YEAR
IN
REVIEW 2012
Dry as the Dust Bowl In Neb., serious drought was one of the defining elements of 2012 By DIANE WETZEL dwetzel@nptelegraph.com
The first week of the New Year brought news of more water restrictions on the Republican River by the state Department of Natural Resources, confirming that drought was one of the top stories for 2012. According to the Associated Press, the DNR has ordered more conservation measures in the river basin in order to comply with a long-standing agreement with Kansas and Colorado. The 2012 drought came after a five-year period of more than adequate moisture for the state’s water systems. Lower than average rainfall and extremely hot temperatures threw the majority of the lower 48 states in America into a drought.
On July 2, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman issued an emergency declaration because of drought conditions, and authorized the advance of a starting date for roadside haying in many of the state’s counties. By the end of July, the entire state was designated as being in a severe to exceptional drought. In August, U.S. Senator Ben Nelson was in North Platte, meeting with area farmers and ranchers to talk about the impact of the drought. Weather forecasters noted that winter would not bring any significant increase in precipitation to reverse the drought. December through February is typically dry, so those affected by the drought are crossing their fingers that March and April will bring more than mere showers. Officials at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s National Drought Mitigation Center report that effects of the drought will more than likely worsen in 2013, because the state’s lakes and rivers are shrinking. By Dec. 10, the federal government had paid $8 billion in crop insurance claims, with $483 million paid in Nebraska.
Telegraph file photo
Flames shoot up as a wildfire burns trees and pasture near Lake Maloney on Sept. 27, 2012. Nebraska’s emergency crews and firefighters had a busy summer and fall in 2012, battling many wildfires.
Fires blacken parched land Dry conditions spark dozens of destructive fires By ANDREW BOTTRELL abottrell@nptelegraph.com
With dry conditions across the western half of Nebraska, fires sprung up on a nearly weekly basis in 2012. Rangeland fires began early in the season, with 6,700 acres burning in McPherson and Hooker counties, approximately 50 miles northwest of North Platte on March 22. Fire crews battled fires throughout the summer and into the fall, with the latest rangeland fires on Nov. 24. The worst day of the year for fires in west-central Nebraska may have been Oct. 18. Winds gusting as high as 70 miles per hour, combined with less than one inch of rain in the preceding months, led to a combustible situation from Chapel to Sutherland. The largest of the three main fires reported on Oct. 18 was on the Keith and Perkins counties line, destroying several homes and burning about 10,000 acres of grassland. The fire started about noon on Oct. 18, jumped I-80, closing I-80 for several hours, and burned through the evening hours of Oct. 19. A large fire also claimed several hundred acres of grassland eight miles north of Chapel in rural Deuel County on Oct. 18. A third fire was reported southwest of Sutherland, which threatened several rural homes. Cherry County also reported a fire on Oct. 18 near the unincorporated town of Ely. The largest western Nebraska fires during the summer were the three fires that became known as
2012 INLAND PRESS ASSOCIATION ~ PRESS PHOTOGRAPHIC QUALITY WINNER
the Region 24 Complex, in Keya Paha, Cherry, Brown and Rock counties. Ranchers and farmers in the remote Niobrara river valley fought alongside federal firefighters called in from other fires in Colorado and Wyoming for five days. More than 100,000 acres eventually burned across the four counties, with the fire sparking from dry lightning on July 21. The unincorporated town of Norden was the first community affected, as the fire destroyed much of the Keya Paha County community. Fires also threatened Nebraska’s National Forests in 2012. A several-thousand acre fire, known as the Camp 5 Fire, burned portions of the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey beginning on July 1. The fire shut down Natick Campground and the horse corrals there for several days, and kept ATV trails in the area closed for about a week. The cause of the fire, officials said, was likely dry lightning from storms. Fire also burned in the Nebraska National Forest near Chadron, as well as rangeland north of Chadron in both Dawes and Sheridan counties. On June 29 North Platte fire crews battled a blaze near Lake Maloney that threatened several homes. North Platte fire crews were also called to Lake Maloney on June 30 and July 4 for smaller blazes. Firefighters from North Platte, Wallace and Wellfleet were against called to near Lake Maloney on Sept. 27 for several grass fires along Highway 83. Firefighters in Logan County battled a large blaze north of Stapleton on Aug. 30, which closed Highway 83 for a time. And again, on Oct. 3, nearly 800 acres burned in a fire south of Stapleton in Logan County.