Willow Creek declares consecutive ag disaster

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on June 11, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Two years of dry conditions have prompted the Municipal District of Willow Creek to declare that an agriculture disaster exists.
The M.D. issued a similar declaration last year.
Chief administrative officer Derrick Krizsan said Friday “what we’re seeing is a low amount of runoff, we’re seeing extremely low levels in our rivers, creeks, some of the reservoir dams – Pine Coulee in particular is about 50 per cent capacity. The runoff is complete and we’re entirely now dependent upon any rainfall,” said Krizsan.
The Alberta Crop Report as of May 31 showed the south region’s moisture deficiency is being reported at 86 per cent fair to poor for surface soil moisture. Pasture and tame hay are largely poor to fair and are being consistently reported as delayed and stressed.
There is some irrigated land in the M.D., about 70,000 acres, said Krizsan. Most of that is in the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District but there are some private systems located in the Willow Creek, Pine Coulee, Clear Lake, and Twin Valley project areas.
The entire M.D., however, is about 1.2 million acres in size.
“The extremely dry conditions that we’re experiencing, our pastures are behind, some of the perennial forages in the drylands are certainly not going to produce necessary feed and as a result, we’re starting to see a dispersement of some of our livestock herds,” the CAO said.
Willow Creek runs from the Belly River in the south to north of Nanton.
The purpose of the declaration “is to bring awareness. Our concerns that two years in a row for many of our producers, this is going to be a significant event for them. While we’ve received recent rainfall, the lack of significant subsoil moisture certainly creates a situation where without continued rainfall, we’re going to be in a pretty serious situation,” Krizsan said.
“We have our fingers crossed but the season is advanced enough that under drought conditions, the forages and the pastureland move from the vegetative stage to the reproductive stage and so any additional growth is going to be quite limited. The concern now is for our agriculture producers, both livestock and crop producers who are certainly going to have some challenges ahead.”

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