Surprisingly low snowpack in British Columbia is prompting the province and farmers to take early action to hedge their bets as another summer of severe drought looms.
Provincial snow levels are at 63 per cent of normal for April. The latest data sample a record low for more than five decades, since records were first kept.
An amazing 95 per cent of British Columbia’s farmland is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought. conditions.
There has been no respite for ranchers and farmers in areas still plagued by last summer’s extreme drought, says retired rancher Kevin Boon. A section of the Fraser River near Prince George is completely dry, although water levels should normally be rising due to spring snowmelt. More or less the same thing happens in the interior of the south.
“I live right next to South Thompson [River] here and I have never seen it so low. I don’t think there’s much of the river that can’t be crossed on foot right now,” said Boon, also general manager of the BC Cattlemen’s Association.
Snowpack is low throughout BC except the northwest. Areas of greatest concern include Vancouver Island, the Upper East Fraser, Quesnel, Chilcotin, the Central and South Coast and the Skeena-Nass basins, all of which have snow levels below 60 per cent of the historical norm .
Parts of British Columbia’s central interior and northeastern region are heading into summer with a significant “water deficit,” Boon said.
“It’s going to be a challenging and challenging year.”
Many sections of the Upper Fraser River, such as the intersection with the Nechako River near Prince George, are completely dry this spring with little rain and extremely low snowpack across British Columbia. Photo by Ben Fougere
Last summer, the province endured a storm of criticism from farmers and watershed groups for failing to act at the height of the drought. Hundreds of agricultural water users in drier areas received little warning about the restrictions that forced them to turn off their taps.
The British Columbia government is partnering with agricultural groups in a bid to help ranchers and farmers prepare early as the province anticipates a second year of extreme drought. #Climatecrisis
It appears the province took notes, Boon noted.
“They’ve learned over the last two or three years that we have to do more upfront to help and make sure people know what resources are available,” he said.
Mark Raymond, executive director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s extension and support services branch, said the province is working with agricultural associations to talk to farmers early and often in the driest areas well in advance of any potential water restrictions.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water, Land and Resources Management (WLRS) carried out More than 30 workshops on drought and water management. in communities across the province this spring. The goal is better communication to prepare for drought and outline financial supports, programs and water management resources for farmers, Raymond said.
The workshops explain the process and rationale for imposing water restrictions. But the focus is to discuss voluntary water conservation and tactics such as farm or collective water storage solutions, rainwater capture and improving irrigation practices to prevent or delay the need for regulatory measures, he said.
The province funding also dramatically increased to help producers with the cost of improving water storage or irrigation systems, Raymond said.
An additional $80 million was allocated in the recent BC campaign Agricultural Water Infrastructure Program Budgetdesigned to help farmers, industry, communities and groups with the costs of managing, collecting and storing water for crops and livestock.
The program, originally launched in 2023 with $20 million over three years, resulted in more than 100 projects to capture water or install efficient irrigation systems. depending on the province.
The considerable financial boost for urgently needed water infrastructure is a “plus” and an encouraging step, Boon said.
Farmers are still waiting for spring rains to arrive in May and June and for the weather to stay cool enough to delay the thaw, he said.
“We are already behind the eight ball. Now it’s a matter of doing what we can to prepare,” Boon said.
Farmers and ranchers Cultivation of forage crops that require a lot of water, such as alfalfa., hay, grass and corn were the most affected by the restrictions last summer, he said. He raised concerns about the ability to feed livestock and led many to sell their animals.
How many animals were sold, what the overall demand for feed will be and the impacts on the industry are still being worked out, Boon said.
Farmers typically reserve a portion of their forage crops for livestock year-round, but those supplies have been depleted and shortages across Western Canada are increasing the cost and difficulty of obtaining feed, Boon said.
The ranchers association and the province launched a Feed Access program in response to last summer’s unprecedented wildfires and drought, working to connect farmers who need feed with those who can sell it. The program will likely be revived this year, Boon said.
The initiative, together with the Agricultural stability and AgriRecovery programs co-financed by the provincial and federal governments, will help farmers who register before the end of April to help cover extraordinary losses and expenses due to climate disasters, he added.
Workshops and research projects will continue in different areas to examine drought-resistant crop varieties as one among several. of farmers strategies can be used to address water shortages, Raymond said.
Last year, almost 400 water license holders In the Thompson Okanagan region, particularly farmers growing water-intensive forage crops, were affected by water restrictions along the lower Salmon River, north of Prince George and along Bessette Creek, near Vernon.
Industrial users and farmers of forage crops in the Tsolum, Koksilah and Cowichan River basins on Vancouver Island were also ordered to stop irrigating to protect threatened and dying fish populations.
Comox Valley farmers, at a recent workshop for the overburdened Tsolum watershed, expressed frustration at being denied water to protect fish health, noting that the province has done nothing to curb clear-cutting by part of the logging industry, the largest user of land in the region.
Crops and livelihoods are increasingly threatened, while upstream clear-cutting harms groundwater absorption, accelerates snowmelt and causes high temperatures and low water levels in fish streams, a farmer said to applause. of the audience.
Others suggested that the focus of the workshops should not be on simply explaining restrictions, but rather working to coordinate long-term water solutions. Rather than relying on piecemeal strategies for on-farm water storage systems, the best way to resolve drought is through large-scale regional water infrastructure, such as damming lakes or rainwater reservoirs, they emphasized.
Boon agreed that it is urgent that provincial drought workshops begin to rapidly advance regional or collective infrastructure to guarantee water to food producers as the drought continues to advance in the coming years.
“Unless we have water trapped in the ground, we have no way of managing what falls from the sky.”
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer