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The Western United States is entering its 22nd year of a megadrought, with some Western leaders declaring states of emergency. The continued megadrought is a result of the rapidly changing climate, driven by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Part of the problem is that unusual feedback loops are created as climate change drives the planet's systems further from their natural state.
The continued drought has driven depleted water resources across the West. Creeks and rivers in Colorado are running low, while a new report in Arizona has found that groundwater systems are seriously over-allocated, allowing for unsustainable pumping. The massive holding pools of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which allowed human life to thrive in the desert for many years, are already at critically low levels.
Even this year's higher-than-average snowpack in some parts of Colorado won't be enough to help: exceptionally dry soils from last year will absorb much of the melting snowpack, preventing runoff from entering river systems. With less water in river systems, more soils dry out over the summer, creating a feedback loop of hot soils then evaporating water.
The drought is also tied to the West's devastating wildfire seasons. As climate change causes snow to melt earlier in the spring, the landscape becomes drier and drier by late summer and early fall. This dry vegetation makes our forests ripe for fire, which we saw roar across the West last year. However, wildfires create yet another feedback loop: in recently-burnt areas, snow in following years becomes inundated with burnt carbon, which absorbs solar radiation like a black t-shirt and melts the snow even more rapidly the following spring, contributing to a continued cycle of drought.
Drought has serious impacts on many communities in the West, including ranchers. Entering a drought season, many ranchers are faced with the tough decision between selling off cattle that their fields can't sustain—but potentially flooding the market and getting a low price—or risk overgrazing and further drying out their land. One of the best solutions may be focusing on range restoration and enhancing biodiversity. By restoring native, diverse, perennial grassland ecosystems, ranchers can create systems more resilient to climactic changes, while managing to avoid bare soil and preventing overgrazing can help retain moisture in soils and vegetation.
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We were probably always wrong to think about protected places as static."
