27.1 Preamble

Drought occurs somewhere every year in the United States and has broad impacts on our nation’s economy and the environment, far beyond those areas experiencing actual drought conditions. Drought impacts public health and safety, instigates conflicts among water users, and reduces quality of life. In some instances disaster relief can exacerbate these impacts through inequitable distribution to those in need.

Economic impacts of drought are easily seen in agriculture and related sectors. Crop and livestock losses directly impact farmers and ranchers, which impact rural economies. In addition to lower crop and livestock production, forests and rangelands are more susceptible to wildfires during extended droughts and endanger communities and wildlife habitats.

Environmental losses are equally pervasive. Wildfires impair air quality and degrade landscapes. Drought conditions increase soil erosion, damage plants, impair water quality, and diminish biological health. Drought also makes areas more prone to invasion of harmful species and insect infestation.

A national drought policy is urgently needed to move the country away from costly, ad-hoc emergency relief and toward a coordinated approach that emphasizes preparedness and cost-reduction. The economic costs of drought to private entities as well as governments at the federal, state, and local level have been staggering. Billions of dollars are being spent every year to deal with the impacts of drought, yet the nation has no policy in place to proactively plan for and mitigate the impacts of drought.

Also, repeated and long-standing efforts at systematic, comprehensive, and long-term water storage projects, which have obvious positive effects towards mitigating drought conditions, have been frustrated by expensive, time consuming, and resource-intensive requirements mandated by the federal government. These often duplicative processes result not only in inefficiency at both the state and federal level, but virtually stalemate the planning of the projects—in practical effect leading to their failure. These failures result in the infliction of significant long-term damage to the water resources and the people who rely upon them, as well as aggravate drought conditions.

27.2  Recommendations

27.2.1 Drought Preparedness. Governors believe preparedness is the highest priority, and must become the cornerstone of national drought policy. A well-designed and implemented drought preparedness program could reduce the need for federal emergency assistance in drought-impacted areas. Therefore, emphasis must be placed on planning to reduce our nation’s exposure to drought’s costly impacts. Measures should include drought planning, risk management, water conservation, consideration of environmental concerns, and public education.

Any policy to proactively plan for and mitigate the impacts of drought must recognize that high quality, long-term data is essential to making the most efficient use or our nation’s water resources. Water availability for social, economic, and environmental demands and the competition between them is a critical issue that must be addressed. Governors urge the federal government to place a priority on funding expansions to the nation’s surface and groundwater data collection networks that will better support the long-term goals of a national drought preparedness policy.

27.2.2 Disaster Relief Programs. Drought preparedness programs can reduce the impacts of drought and the need for federal assisted relief. However, the multitude of federal programs within several federal agencies can cause problems for states and individuals seeking relief. Federal, state, and local programs must be integrated and led by states to maximize efficiency and timeliness of emergency relief. Benefits under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act also should be made available to all farmers and ranchers in all regions of the country.

27.2.3  National Drought Council. Governors support legislation codifying the Interim National Drought Council. The council should consist of a broad range of entities that represent the perspectives of all levels of government and the various regions of the United States. This council should provide technical and financial assistance—through a Drought Assistance Fund—to states, tribes, and local governments to implement drought preparedness and water conservation plans. The council also should assist in providing timely emergency disaster relief in times of drought.

27.2.4 Wildfires. The United States is home to some 747 million acres of forests—about one-third of the country’s landmass. Forested lands are some of the most important and valuable natural resources in America because of their intrinsic relationship with clean air, clean water, and quality wildlife habitat. The nation’s governors recognize that the health of a significant portion of this treasured resource is declining due to a dangerous overgrowth of trees and underbrush, caused by decades of fire suppression and exclusion of forest management activities.

Symptomatic of the nation’s forest health crisis is the growing incidence of large-scale catastrophic wildfires and insect and disease infestations. Catastrophic wildfires have burned millions of acres in recent years in the United States, forcing Governors to deal with polluted air, polluted water, and destroyed wildlife habitat. Pest and pathogen outbreaks have caused similar destruction to forest ecosystems. Proper forest management improves the health of the forest stand and of individual trees in the forest. Healthier forests are better able to withstand devastating drought and native and non-native insect and disease pathogens than are non-managed forests, leading to the decreased amount and intensity of wildfires.

Wildfire protection has become increasingly complex and expensive as more people move into fire-prone landscapes, forest conditions decline, and climate change combine to create larger, more frequent fires. One percent of all wildfires account for 95 percent of all burned acres while consuming 85 percent of suppression costs. These emergency wildfires often drain budgeted suppression dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior and force the agencies to ‘borrow’ funds from other programs designed to actually drive down the cost of fire suppression. Governors recommend catastrophic emergency fires should be paid for in a similar way as other natural disasters and should not be funded within the agencies constrained budgets or at the expense of other agency programs.

As governors, protecting our citizens and their property, as well as our wildland habitats from wildfires is paramount to each of us; and in many of our states, the use of fixed-wing tanker aircraft is a critical asset in this endeavor. Over the past several years, the number of tanker aircraft have been significantly reduced and/or grounded for various reasons. Governors encourage and request that the U.S. Forest Service maximize the number of available fixed-wing air tankers, both contract and military, and use these assets early in any situation to provide maximum support in order to prevent the potential loss of life, property, and habitat. In addition, governors urge greater prioritized availability of surplus federal property for wildland fire protection through the Federal Excess Personal Property Program.

Local, county, state, and volunteer fire departments provide the majority of wildland fire protection for our nation’s private forests, which comprises 58 percent of our nation’s forest resources and watersheds. Governors request continued support and expansion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service’s State Fire Assistance (SFA) and Volunteer Fire Assistance programs that provide needed matching federal funds for local wildland fire protection, including the development of Community Wildlife Protection Plans, which helps communities prioritize preparedness and fuel reduction efforts on state and private forest lands.

Finally, extended drought conditions put the nation’s forests and their surrounding communities at great risk of wildfires. While sufficient funding is necessary for suppression and prevention, additional investment is necessary in fuels reduction, rehabilitation and restoration, and community assistance. It is more cost effective and efficient to proactively protect communities and forests than to restore subsequent damages following catastrophic wildfires. Governors support the priorities of the National Fire Plan and call on Congress to continue to ensure adequate funding is provided to fully implement the plan, as well as the Healthy Forests Initiative.

27.2.5 Water Storage Permitting. Governors urge the federal government to aggressively study the storage permit process as well as the long-range water planning policies of the federal government. The end result of this process should be a streamlined and comprehensive procedure, coordinated among agencies, which efficiently addresses the growing demands for water, the conflicts between its uses, and drought mitigation. This procedure also must dedicate itself to better serving our states and our citizens by shortening the time required to obtain approval of these critical projects.

Time limited (effective Annual Meeting 2009–Annual Meeting 2011).
Adopted Annual Meeting 2001; revised Annual Meeting 2003, Annual Meeting 2005, Annual Meeting 2007, and Annual Meeting 2009.