U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack met March 23 with the heads of the Departments of Agriculture for the seven Colorado River Basin states to address the region's historic megadrought, the USDA announced at the time.
Vilsack discussed the impact of the region's ongoing drought on farmers and ranchers, the press release reports, and highlighted both the Biden administration's investments in the affected states and U.S.D.A. resources and programs available to help mitigate the impact of the megadrought and other natural disasters exacerbated by climate change on agricultural and rural communities.
“Through the strategic deployment of financial resources, technical assistance, and cutting-edge research, we are working with communities to help them adapt to the challenges brought on by a changing climate and water scarcity,” Vilsack said in the press release.
In February, Vilsack and the U.S.D.A. announced the Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action, a "comprehensive, multi-state strategy," administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), to address key water and land management challenges across 17 western states, according to the release. The framework includes guidelines for identifying vulnerable agricultural landscapes and 13 strategies to help state leaders, water resource managers and producers respond to priority challenges.
“U.S.D.A. is acting to support producers, forest landowners, and rural communities throughout the Colorado River Basin with a comprehensive approach that will assist impacted producers with conserving water and becoming less reliant on the Colorado River," Vilsack said in the release, "promoting irrigation and water-use efficiency, and recovering from economic damages incurred from the unprecedented and ongoing drought."
Vilsack also announced a $25 million investment to help ranchers and farmers build drought resilience and conserve water in their communities, the release reports. The funds target three new priority areas in addition to 37 existing priority areas in the West in collaboration with NRCS and the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) WaterSMART Initiative. These investments will complement projects by irrigation districts, water suppliers and other organizations that receive WaterSMART program funds from the DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation.
