CoCoRHS WxTalk Webinar: Measuring beyond precipitation. How is your forest responding to drought?
The topic of drought reporting in forests will be the subject of our "WxTalk Webinar” on Thursday, September 26, 2024. Join us as Peter Goble, of the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado presents this insightful webinar.
Space is limited to the first 500 registrants, so register today! We will notify the first 500 who register of their acceptance to the Webinar. Those who aren't able to attend will be able to watch this episode on-line the following day.
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CoCoRaHS WxTalk: Measuring beyond precipitation. How is your forest responding to drought?
Presenter: Peter Goble, Colorado Climate Center
Date: Thursday, September 26, 2024
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern, Noon Central, 11:00 AM Mountain, 10:00 AM Pacific
"The US Drought Monitor (USDM) is a critical tool used to assess drought conditions and plan drought responses. However, data collection and monitoring can be challenging, especially in remote locations. Reports in forested areas, both empirical and anecdotal, are often sparse. Consequentially, forest conditions are underrepresented in the US Drought Monitor process, and quality of drought appraisal suffers. Resource managers and professionals working in forested landscapes are often acutely aware of current conditions and are frequently the first to observe drought-related changes in forest/vegetation health, soil moisture, streamflows, and patterns of human use.
Peter has worked with the US Forest Service to increase CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring in forested areas across Colorado. Targeted outreach raised the number of Colorado CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring reports collected in the months of May-September from 346 in 2021 to 610 in 2022. These additional reports were used in the US Drought Monitor Process to observe progress in forestland health as drought conditions ameliorated during the 2022 monsoon season. Additional Condition Monitoring reports were particularly helpful on the San Juan National Forest. May-September participation increased from 3 to 39 reports in Archuleta County and from 16 to 52 reports in La Plata County.
In this webinar Peter talks about what we have learned from these additional Condition Monitoring Reports in forested areas so far, and plans to continue to fill the drought impact data gap in forested areas."
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